Going from staggered to square?

[molgrips]

I've got 19" staggered wheels on my CLS and whilst they look good they are too rough and really quite noisy. It's a high frequency noise rather than low roar, and it seems to be the actual noise the tyres are making rather than vibrations resonating, as the same sound is really loud if I open the back windows at low speeds!

So 18 rims seem to be a decent compromise all round, but according to the manual in that size I can have either staggered or square - the rears can be 8.5 or 9.5. In the narrower size there is a far greater choice of tyre and they're all quieter, more efficient or both; and way cheaper.

So is there any handling difference not having wider rear tyres, or is it all down to looks? I like a bit of flow on a windy road but I'm in no way an aggressive driver.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

I use all season on 18 inch square set up in winter months . Handling etc isn't compromised.

 

[markjay]

The theory is that wider wheels at the rear help with (a) reducing wheelspin at race-start, and (b) reducing rear drift sideways when over-steering.

To what extent these will be noticeable in normal everyday driving I don't know, but I am guessing not much.

I always preferred the non-staggared setup, because it allows me to rotate the wheels back-to-front every 5,000 miles to ensure equal tyre wear and then replacing all 4 tyres as a set. But I'm guessing not everyone is a penny-pincher like me....