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Thread: Should my rims be wider in the back?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Bend, Oregon. USA
    Posts
    94
    My Cars
    1991 BMW 318i Sedan

    Should my rims be wider in the back?

    I am in the market for a E30 and plan to buy one within a month. I have been looking at rims and want to get OZ Superturismo WRC's. I plan to use them with summer tires (I was thinking
    G-FORCE COMP-2 A/S) and only for the summer because where I live we get a fair amount of snow in the winter. I wanted to get 17x7 in the front and 17x8 in the back, but unfortunately they do not make the 17x8 in a 4x100 bolt pattern. Does it make more sense to get 17x6 in the front and 17x7 in the back? Or should i just get 17x7 all the way around? I am not the most knowledgeable about tires and Rims so please don't tear me a new one. This is going to be my first car and I want to learn as much as possible about it so I know what direction I want to go when I get the car. Thanks for any help.
    Last edited by shogun; 06-01-2016 at 06:31 PM. Reason: double posts merged

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    77
    My Cars
    1998 e36 328i - M3 diff
    Having wider wheels in the rear doesn't mean you have to run wider tires. However, it might allow you to run a staggered setup, if you wanted.
    Wider wheels in the rear, or "Staggered" setups can effect understeer - I won't get into that as its easy to search about, and something you should learn about later since this is your first car.
    Secondly, since this is your first car, go with a square setup - same size on all wheels. That way, you can rotate tires around and they will last longer.

    To keep in mind, stock e30 sizes:
    14x6 bottlecaps 195/65/14
    14x6.5 weaves 195/65/14 or 205/60/14
    15x7 euroweaves/style 10 205/55/15

    Also these help a lot in finding out what will fit.
    http://www.willtheyfit.com/
    http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

    Just so you don't have to do the math, if you went with 17x7 all the way around, you can run a 215 or 225/40/17 tire and be within 0.4% of stock - viz. your speedo will be mostly correct!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    608
    My Cars
    Are Slower than yours.
    IMHO go with a square set up.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Bend, Oregon. USA
    Posts
    94
    My Cars
    1991 BMW 318i Sedan
    Quote Originally Posted by JohnRichard View Post
    Having wider wheels in the rear doesn't mean you have to run wider tires. However, it might allow you to run a staggered setup, if you wanted. Wider wheels in the rear, or "Staggered" setups can effect understeer - I won't get into that as its easy to search about, and something you should learn about later since this is your first car. Secondly, since this is your first car, go with a square setup - same size on all wheels. That way, you can rotate tires around and they will last longer. To keep in mind, stock e30 sizes: 14x6 bottlecaps 195/65/14 14x6.5 weaves 195/65/14 or 205/60/14 15x7 euroweaves/style 10 205/55/15 Also these help a lot in finding out what will fit. http://www.willtheyfit.com/ http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp Just so you don't have to do the math, if you went with 17x7 all the way around, you can run a 215 or 225/40/17 tire and be within 0.4% of stock - viz. your speedo will be mostly correct!
    Thank you very much. Also since you seem to be pretty knowledgable about wheels I have one more question. I can get those wheels for much cheaper with an offset of 35. I know the standard E30 offset is 20 and I have done a decent amount of research on this and apparently it is fine as long as I use spacers. Is there any downside to spacers? Also this would mean that if I hit a pothole I could end up rubbing against the wheel well correct?

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