Hello all,

I recently purchased my first e24, a 1980 Euro 635Csi that needs a little bit of work. When I purchased it the owner had recently sold a set of Alpina's that were on it and replaced it with some e39 15 inch tires temporarily. I had planned on getting hubcentric rings and using those wheels. However, I was recently at a junkyard the day after the arrival of a 82 Euro and it still had the original 14" et22 basketweaves. At only 11$ a pop I took them since they were in good condition and fit properly. The tires on them are shredded but were size 235/60R14, brand BFGoodrich. Using a tire calculator both a 225/60r14 and 235/60r14 are pretty close to the 195/70r14 that was stock. Looking on TireRack both the 235 and 225 tires are available but only with BFGoodrich all season tires.

I would like to know if the 235/60r14 is a good size to go with and if anyone knows other brands or sizes that might be better. I would like to AutoX this car from time to time and I'm not sure how the BFGoodrich tires will handle in those conditions. I like the look of the basketweaves much better than the Style 46 wheels that were just slapped on there which is why I'm considering putting these 14" on the car.

Thanks in advance for any help with this topic!!

Eric

For some reason, 235 seems like a bit wide to put on the stock 14's. Im running a 225/45/17 on an 8inch wide rim. I thought the 14's were a 6inch or something like that. Honestly if you want to have a decent tire to autocross on, you might want to get a wider rim. You could probably just get a set of cheap steel wheels in a 15x8 and put some good tires on them for tracking it, and then just put some 205/65s on the 14s and have a comfortable ride...

-Jeff

Yeah, thats what had me confused, because the wheels had 235's on them and it seemed a bit large. They are 14" X 6.5" wheels. Where would I find some "cheap" 15x8 steel wheels? It seems like all I ever see are alloy wheels for BMW...are there wheels from a different car that would match up offset wise as well as not require hubcentric rings?

Any recommendations of type of tire to put on the wheels for both "regular" driving and track driving?

What are the general tire width limits on various width wheels? I'm sure someone here knows how wide of a tire can be put on a 6.5 inch wheel all the way up to 8 or 9 inch wide wheels.

Go to TireRack.com and select a tire you are interested in (click on the "tires by brand"). After you have chosen the brand and model of tire, there will be a row of links under the tire name, select "Specs". It will give you a table of the tire sizes available and list a range of rim sizes acceptable and the optimum size among other things.

The problem is that I think you are going to be hard pressed to find any kind of "performance" tire you would be happy with at the track in a 14" size, 15" may only be slightly better. Go through the specs of different tire and see what you find.

An option would be to get a set of Blizzak performance winter tires for the 14" rims and go to a 16" or 17" rim for the summer.

I think I have decided on a set of 225/60r14 for all year driving since they only have one tire for that size and its a BFGoodrich All Season Performance tire. It also shows the 225/60r14 being optimally sized on a 6.5 inch wheel so that works out nicely. I guess now I am on the lookout for a good set of larger wheels for track days. Are there any of larger size that will bolt right up without hubcentric rings or is this just something I need to get used to?

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

Eric