Any benefits in staggered rim sizing?

[Al J]

As previous posts have stated, I'm in the process of buying 18" rims to mount my winter Blizzaks. The rims I've decided on ordering come in 8.5" and 9.5 widths. The car came w/19" rims & Pirelli pZeros.
Is there any benefit in buying two of each width & putting the wider rims in the back & smaller ones in front?
If I get just one width, should it be the larger or smaller?---all four tires are 255X45X18"

 

[walter]

Under normal driving conditions staggered setups will give you the strictly business rear wheel drive look.

In performance situations staggering your tires will allow you to dial in more understeer with your handling. If you notice most cars that have natural tendency to oversteer will come with staggered wheel setups to compensate (think most mid and rear engined cars).

 

[V_Eight]

You can physically fit a wider tire on the rear.

 

[Al J]

So it's not really an issue for winter tires.

 

[V_Eight]

So it's not really an issue for winter tires.

From what i've read (as we don't have "winter" down here), a narrower tire is better for winter. If I had the option of the same size tire on a wider wheel, I would do it because it's minimizing the contact patch just a little bit.