[longwood50]

I am looking at 20 inch tires the tire salesperson says that they will not install anything that has less than a 97 load rating for the rear. Will the next size up the 255/35/20fit. None of the 245/35/20 tires have a 97 load ratio.

[Genieman]

Ok so did a quick check, weight of the car is 4150lbs or so..., max permissable weight of the car is abt 5200 lbs (per bmw), which is abt 1300 lbs per tire, that equates to a load rating of 90 (per tirerack). Not sure why ur tire place is being a pain in the a$$, but rather than trying to put on tires of a different size than you want, I suggest you find a tire shop that isn't a pain in the a$$... Having said that, 255/35/r20 is just fine so long as you have appropriate offset on the wheels.

[longwood50]

I believe they calculate the weight with 5 passengers plus a full trunk and full gas tank. The 97 requirement only applies to the rear where most of the added weight would be.

[Genieman]

The OE rear wheels on a staggered M-sport set up are 96 rated... so not sure why their requirement is higher than OEM. Either way, 255 works, but only go with 255 if that's what you want not because that one tire shop has that load requirement.