rfc2307
03-08-2008, 08:22 PM
Good Morning,
I recently did lot's of searching about tire sizes for my 1998 E36 M3. I've searched the world over and finally found a set of four 17x8.5 Contours and wanted to run them on all four corners.
So, here is the story, what works and what does not work.
The 255x40x17 Continentals I got rubbed like a bat out of hell (Conti Extreme contact all weather). Had to add 5MM spacers up front, which made the tires stick out past the sheet metal, which, I guess I can get used to. On the rear, I initially put a 5MM spacer too, but had to use the old baseball bat trick to roll the fenders, because if I ran over a dime the tires would scream and all I could hear was all that money being shaved off the tires. Ouch! So...
Next steps. Take the car to have the rear fender lips professionally rolled, next week (more on that later). And/or remove the rear spacers. We'll see what works. Maybe add the factory 10MM spacer to the spring pad in the rear to add some lift as well.
If you try this tire and rim combo, you'll need to get longer lug bolts, at least 5MM longer, get these in ADVANCE. The stock bolts will NOT work with this setup.
Three vendor comments while I'm at it:
Tire Rack. As always, a mixed blessing. They called me with questions about the tire size, but when I did not return their call in a day, they shipped the tires any way. Had they attempted to call a second time, well.... That would be actuual customer service now wouldn't it? All in all, Tire Rack provides good service, not excellent, but consistently good. I would gladly pay a professional, like Tire Rack to provide guidance. But, again, that would be customer service...
"Tire Factory" in Beaverton Oregon, E X C E L L E N T. They were total professionals, really helped me clean up the MESS the other vendor made of my tires.
H M Motorsports in Beaverton Oregon. These guys aren't car guys, they are shoe makers, pretending to be car guys. They totaly butchered my car. I drove in with four 8.5x17 rims and one 7.5x17 rim and two of the 8.5's magicaly disappeared! Go figure?? They were complete and utter jerks, the manager, some twelve year old doofus was beyond belief. The minister behind the counter, "...don't talk mean to me or I'll cry..." was a hoot. All employees must have their personalities surgicaly removed before working there I guess.
I S T R O N G L Y discourage anyone with a car they love going to these guys at H M Motorsports in Beaverton Oregon.
I recently did lot's of searching about tire sizes for my 1998 E36 M3. I've searched the world over and finally found a set of four 17x8.5 Contours and wanted to run them on all four corners.
So, here is the story, what works and what does not work.
The 255x40x17 Continentals I got rubbed like a bat out of hell (Conti Extreme contact all weather). Had to add 5MM spacers up front, which made the tires stick out past the sheet metal, which, I guess I can get used to. On the rear, I initially put a 5MM spacer too, but had to use the old baseball bat trick to roll the fenders, because if I ran over a dime the tires would scream and all I could hear was all that money being shaved off the tires. Ouch! So...
Next steps. Take the car to have the rear fender lips professionally rolled, next week (more on that later). And/or remove the rear spacers. We'll see what works. Maybe add the factory 10MM spacer to the spring pad in the rear to add some lift as well.
If you try this tire and rim combo, you'll need to get longer lug bolts, at least 5MM longer, get these in ADVANCE. The stock bolts will NOT work with this setup.
Three vendor comments while I'm at it:
Tire Rack. As always, a mixed blessing. They called me with questions about the tire size, but when I did not return their call in a day, they shipped the tires any way. Had they attempted to call a second time, well.... That would be actuual customer service now wouldn't it? All in all, Tire Rack provides good service, not excellent, but consistently good. I would gladly pay a professional, like Tire Rack to provide guidance. But, again, that would be customer service...
"Tire Factory" in Beaverton Oregon, E X C E L L E N T. They were total professionals, really helped me clean up the MESS the other vendor made of my tires.
H M Motorsports in Beaverton Oregon. These guys aren't car guys, they are shoe makers, pretending to be car guys. They totaly butchered my car. I drove in with four 8.5x17 rims and one 7.5x17 rim and two of the 8.5's magicaly disappeared! Go figure?? They were complete and utter jerks, the manager, some twelve year old doofus was beyond belief. The minister behind the counter, "...don't talk mean to me or I'll cry..." was a hoot. All employees must have their personalities surgicaly removed before working there I guess.
I S T R O N G L Y discourage anyone with a car they love going to these guys at H M Motorsports in Beaverton Oregon.