17's on a E30 325i

[killa325i]

i noticed alot of you guys run 15's and 16's...why no 17's? i found a set of TSW Kyalami's (17in) that are dead ringers for BBS RGR's. anyone have experience with TSW wheels? i know they're not forged like the BBS, but they're half the $$ and me thinks they shall rock

[vodomagoo]

i run 17in kosie's tsw wheels are heavy but from people i know who have had them a decent wheel. imo go with bbs

[SpenceRx]

TSW wheels bend like there is no tomorrow.
Walk away-I would never buy them again.
-Spencer

[Gonzo318is]

i noticed alot of you guys run 15's and 16's...why no 17's? i found a set of TSW Kyalami's (17in) that are dead ringers for BBS RGR's. anyone have experience with TSW wheels? i know they're not forged like the BBS, but they're half the $$ and me thinks they shall rock

Personally, I don't like 17's on an E30... they look out of place for that body style. Just my .02, to each his own.

[vodomagoo]

here is a pic of my track rat i love the look of these wheels, over the winter im selling my 15's and picking up 3 sets of them in 16in for track tires and keeping the 17's for the street

[AndrewBall]

17" will fit but it makes the car just a little higher off the ground and you loose a little performance, acceleration wise. unless your using Mini Van tires on your aftermarket 16" or 15" wheels.

[putnampunk]

17" will fit but it makes the car just a little higher off the ground and you loose a little performance, acceleration wise. unless your using Mini Van tires on your aftermarket 16" or 15" wheels.

STOP TRYING TO GIVE ADVICE!!!!!

17" will NOT make your car run higher.....you have to buy tires with a lower aspect ratio so that overall diameter will be the same. if tire diameter is the same, wheel size doesn't F&*$ing matter!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!11!!

Your 16" wheels ride higher because you bought oversized tires!

You don't know what you are talking about. So STFU!

[vodomagoo]

huh? my car isent anyhigher then when i run my 15's with r compounds all depends on sidewall size i agree with rwh stop spreading false info

[e30 Jeremy]

I think my brother is going to get some TSW wheels when he has money. Go for it.

[einhander]

Is the wheel bending TSW issue an urban legend or do they really bend easily?


If you can swing putting the genuine BBS on there, do it and you won't regret it.


If you're not deadset on putting 17" on, check out the Ronal LS or German ebay for BBS RS wheels. Both of them look stunning on an E30 and are period correct. PITA to clean though.

[AndrewBall]

the tread on my tire is deeper than most yes but 225/50 is not that big. in order to be the same overall diameter on a 17" wheel you would need around 40 to 45 sidewalls. when if you run that on a 16" tire what will be smaller? a 17" wheel with a 45sidewall or a 16" wheel with a 45 sidewall. you can get a 17" and run a 35 sidewall but it will ride like shit. Thats what i said, it depends on the sidewall size. I didnt spread any false info, 17" wheels are ridiculous, unless they are only 7" wide there will be clearance problems. I had to flare my front fenders for 16x7.5 because they were cutting the sidewall. Im still rubbing the liner inside the wheel well. Id go for wider smaller diameter wheels. I dont think you can go wrong there.

[MR 325]

17's don't look too bad but I would not run bigger than 16's myself, but that's just me.

Although, I will be running 15's anyway, lol, since I got a good deal on some BBS's.

[putnampunk]

the tread on my tire is deeper than most yes but 225/50 is not that big. in order to be the same overall diameter on a 17" wheel you would need around 40 to 45 sidewalls. when if you run that on a 16" tire what will be smaller? a 17" wheel with a 45sidewall or a 16" wheel with a 45 sidewall. you can get a 17" and run a 35 sidewall but it will ride like shit. Thats what i said, it depends on the sidewall size. I didnt spread any false info, 17" wheels are ridiculous, unless they are only 7" wide there will be clearance problems. I had to flare my front fenders for 16x7.5 because they were cutting the sidewall. Im still rubbing the liner inside the wheel well. Id go for wider smaller diameter wheels. I dont think you can go wrong there.

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! SO DON'T TYPE ANYTHING!

You never mentioned sidewall, you said 17" would raise the car up a bit.

17" Kopis I love. They look great, even if a little heavy. Hell, they are the same weight as your wheels and an inch larger in diameter. And they are 7.5 in wide, and they fit an E30 fine with the RIGHT sized tires.

My 16x7.5 Type Ts fit fine....WITH THE RIGHT TIRES!!!!!!!!!!!

You had to flare your fenders because have oversized tires. I asked around and wondered if 205/60-15 tires would work, because I could get some fucking cheap and use them just to get around. People said sure. I ran them and rubbed in front like a b!tch.






They were 205/60 instead of 205/55, which may not SEEM like much, but the tires were .7" taller than stock.....so they presented a little problem with rubbing. Using a tire calculator like you should, you can avoid this.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

The PROPER tire for a 16", 225 width is 225/45-16. It is 24in in diameter, EXACTLY the same as 195/65-14.

Uninformed people who talk when they should be quiet and learn! run 225/50-16 and they are 24.9" in diameter, or almost an entire INCH too big! I had massive rubbing issues with .7" larger, so you must have some problems. If you bought the right tires, you would not need to flare your fenders.

Good job champ.

With 205/50-16 and 205/55-15 tires, I don't rub much, even when I had 16x7.5 wheels. (maybe the occasional rub with 16's, but only in extreme turning and conditions.....)

"17" wheels are ridiculous, unless they are only 7" wide there will be clearance problems."
You should be telling anyone anything. Don't say there will be clearance problems, you know nothing. Don't waste air by speaking.

Chris Maguire runs 17x8.5 wheels with no problems, it is all about proper offset and tire size. There are also people with 16x9 wheels....also about tire and offset.

If you don't know what you are talking about, just don't speak!!!

(mods: I've tried my best to not attack or use ill-language and editted my post while typing it to try to avoid it, but people who don't know and give false info really annoys me)

Oh, Andrew....the depth of your tread on your tires has NOTHING to do with the size of the tire. That has to do with how long you've run them..... the difference is aspect ratio is SIDEWALL height, not tread.

[randywalters]

Is the wheel bending TSW issue an urban legend or do they really bend easily?

No, not urban legend at all. Even 15 years ago in the VW world we said TSW stood for "Totally Soft Wheels". The Hockenheim was very popular back then and they were notorious for bending just in normal road use. When Gustave first bought his E30 M3 it had 17" Hockenheims on it and they were all slightly bent, but with no visible signs of impact or damage.

Really though, any wheel will bend if it encounters a sharp enough impact, but some are more easily bent than others . . . .

[bimmergurl10]

Can someone put up a picture of 16"s, I'd like to compare.

[putnampunk]

17"


16"




16"


15"


16"


15"

[vodomagoo]

actualy 7.5in rims dont rub at all i can actualy run 225/45/17 in tires no problem. on my 16x7.5's ill be running 225/55/16 if not larger r compounds which actualy are about 235-245 wide depending on brand. your pretty much completly off base about tread it has no relation at all. 17's by no means are rediculous they fit fine imo 18's are over the top, also my 17's weigh less then most peoples 16 and 15's

[AndrewBall]

i havent had any rubbing issues like that. diameter size is fine, it was just the tire was too wide. Even on my Es100's which were 225/45-16 they rubbed on the inside lip of allthe fenders. Rolled the rears and flared the fronts when rolling didnt do enough. But 225/45-16 is wider obviously than 205 or 215. i tried 17" on my car and it looked silly.
As for my tread, it is much deeper than most tires. performance tires atleast. Its alot deeper than AVS ES100's and other like them. The tread depth really doesnt make a difference but it is deeper than you think. Unless you saw them up close you wont believe me but the tread is deeper on the RE750. You might be able to find a tread depth measurment somewhere. Because with thiese tires i can run them for months before the tread is as deep as the Es100's were out of the package. But they are quiet, harder compound, same traction if not more, and they are better in the rain/wet by a whole lot. I know until i put all my camber correction stuff on I had no rubbing problems except on the front, but after the camber correction and all that crap i started scraping the sidewall on my new tires. until i rolled them. You are right I dont know much about tires, so what...

[joecoolinatl]

are the "throwing stars" wheels oem bmw?
what size/ price where can i get them?

[Robstah]

i know i know, m3 is not a 325i, but the contours do look badass.

those throwing stars are pretty sweet through.

[vodomagoo]

those starts are reps. oem ones were 2 peice 5 lug with about a 18 offset i belive

[NoName]

STOP TRYING TO GIVE ADVICE!!!!!

17" will NOT make your car run higher.....you have to buy tires with a lower aspect ratio so that overall diameter will be the same. if tire diameter is the same, wheel size doesn't F&*$ing matter!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!11!!

Your 16" wheels ride higher because you bought oversized tires!

You don't know what you are talking about. So STFU!

Hah, YES!!!!!!

[killa325i]

17" will fit but it makes the car just a little higher off the ground and you loose a little performance, acceleration wise. unless your using Mini Van tires on your aftermarket 16" or 15" wheels.

ummmm...why would it lift the car higher off the ground? when you plus size wheels you decrease the size of the tire to maintain the same rolling diameter (i dont think i spelled that right) so it doesnt affect the speedo, or acceleration...unless the new tire and wheel combo are considerably heavier than the original (unsprung weight) but thanks for your .02

[C ///M]

17x8.5 with 235/40R17 tires...does it look silly to anyone? (I run 17s because its the only diameter for the e30 where I can get wide enough rubber for after the engine conversion, plus, anything smaller won't fit over my brakes.

You are right I dont know much about tires, so what...

If you agree that you're not really solid on the subject of tires, I ask that you don't post your info as gospel. You have posted some mis-information and it's best to try and minimize that spread as much as possible. Thanks.

[vodomagoo]

17x8.5 with 235/40R17 tires...does it look silly to anyone? (I run 17s because its the only diameter for the e30 where I can get wide enough rubber for after the engine conversion, plus, anything smaller won't fit over my brakes.

8.5's are not realy needed though, i can run the same size tire on my 7.5's and i have plenty of traction with the s50. you should realy run 245+ with that wide of a rim your stretching out those tires a bit