E30 M3 18" wheels

Curtis at Powerstation had his M3 on 18's. Personally I thought they looked a bit big, but maybe it is just the look of the rim.

But darylzimm3's rims look sweet!

Pikey

I'll give my tuppence worth - I have the std 15"  BBS wheels on my E30 M3 and would definitely NEVER stick on a set of 18" - for various reasons.

One being it'll ruin the ride - esp. with 35 section tyres.  

Another meaning it will tramline badly on road imperfections (which I really hate - this will make the car a lot slower in normal roads as the steering will be all over the place). 

Plus it'll DEFINETLY dent your acceleration - this is a fact, anyone who try to claim counter is simply wrong.

Another reason would be the cost of tyres, 15" tyres are dead cheap - 18" one isn’t.

Plus it'll totally ruin the handling of you M3 - these cars weren’t designed to run on 18" wheels.  If you lower it, it'll make it even worse and will most like damage you car if you are driving it hard.  I like to break traction as much as possible, the M3 is an excellent handling car and that’s why I bought it, for reaching the limit & sliding in a controllable manner.   Not for outright speed or cornering grip (buy a 4WD car if that’s what you want)  but for handling balance and with narrower tyres it easier to get the car to slide.  I know you can still fo it with wider tyres but it's much easier with narrow ones for the cars power.  

Plus you don’t want to be putting 18" rear tyres on your car too often -cost again.

I also don’t think 18" wheels look right on an E30 M3, make the car look slightly over wheeled.  Modern cars (like an E46) suit big wheels.

I don't intend to change the wheels in my car but if I was it would be 16" max.  17's look grand but I feel even these would spoil the handling

all IMHO

MCC1 wrote: I'll give my tuppence worth - I have the std 15"  BBS wheels on my E30 M3 and would definitely NEVER stick on a set of 18" - for various reasons.  Plus it'll totally ruin the handling of you M3 - these cars weren’t designed to run on 18" wheels.  If you lower it, it'll make it even worse and will most like damage you car if you are driving it hard.  I like to break traction as much as possible, the M3 is an excellent handling car and that’s why I bought it, for reaching the limit & sliding in a controllable manner.   Not for outright speed or cornering grip (buy a 4WD car if that’s what you want)  but for handling balance and with narrower tyres it easier to get the car to slide.  I know you can still fo it with wider tyres but it's much easier with narrow ones for the cars power.

Beg to differ there, so what size rims did some of the E30 ///M3 DTM cars run on... ????????????????????????????????????????????????????

         18"s 

OK there full on race cars, but thats where our ///M3's technology came from, the race track...

So i would say that somewhere down the line that they were designed for 18", or how could it be ?

And as for the other chap, comparing an ///M3 on 18" to a XR2I

Thankyou please   and Merry Chrismas        &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p;     And Good Will to all E30 ///M3 owners...       

Yes, but the DTM track cars were massively strengthened to counter loadings arising under race conditions and running bigger wheel combinations and almost solid suspension. They also ran on surfaces somewhat smoother than good old British Tarmac.

Put on some 18'' race BBS wheels and your car will look fantastic. As for the ride and detrimental effect I can only guess it'll be awful.

Agreed

Circumvent the argument; have one set of 15/16'' for driving and the 18''s for show then we're all happy.

Personally I prefer 18" wheels for handling , the tyre walls are smaller so you dont get the tyre bending under so can corner faster , if it gets too firm with no 'springing effect' you could always fit softer springs , I prefer to run as bigger wheels as possible so you can run bigger brakes , so much better stopping.

With bigger diameter wheels , as the outside radius is flatter you will get more tyre on the ground , a bigger footprint if you like , so more grip.

I think the cars look awesome on 18's , each to his/her own , it would be a bit boring if we all liked the same thing

The only downside is our crap roads which you will get tramlining