"Upgrading the Alloys"

Hi everybody,

Just registered & hope you guys can give me some sound advice + ideas!

I would like to update current original 17" evo wheels to 18" or 19".

I want to make sure i purchase the correct wheel as there appears to be many variations.

Im very keen on brand new repro or second hand AC Shnitzers or Breytons.

My local car accessory shop fella advised to be careful of repro's as they are predominatly poor quality, and not durable as the lacquer finish fading + peels quickly.

Im aware that the ride quality will suffer though have never test driven a similar car with these larger sized rims so unknown to what extent - are we talking Morgan style comfort?

Will there be any acceleration in wear & tear to any components with bigger rims?

After unecessary grief & kicking my local BMW sales advisor up the a*se, ive discovered my front wheels are 7.5J & rear 8.5J, with a 41mm offset???

These repros come in one size ie 8J all around with 225 tyres? 

Do i need to match the standard BMW rim size, and do i need to be careful what size tyres as they may rub or unbalance the car, & what will look the biz.

So in a nutshell can any one recommend suitable alloys + sizes, decent tyres sizes to get the best all round & where to buy them, or other alloys that would look terrific.

Im just a bit pessimistic with car trade telling you any old blarney to get the sale!

Cheers all

Chas

Personally I wouldn't touch an aftermarket copied set of wheels. They are poorly made and have been known to crack on low impact which could cause a serious accident.

I would go for a pair of used AC Schnitzers or similar ... get them re-laquered but stick to genuine wheels. Personally I would also stick with 17's because the car was designed to sit on them and the choice of tyres is great but if you want larger wheels, 18's are probably the largest without making any wheel arch mods .19's would cause you problems and tyres are pretty expensive!

Keep your eyes on ebay and over on the 'For Sale' section on http://www.e36coupe.com/forum as quite a few sets end up for sale on there.

I managed to get a full set of ACS Type II's for £400 which were 7 years old but had only done 5000 miles (I know this as they were on a mates Z3 when they 1st came out) and cost him £2350 at the time ... he let me have them for £400 + I spent £200 on having them powder coated in black and I use them for track days.

http://www.smartgroups.com/picvault/31918314.JPG/003.JPG

Hope this helps!

http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39466

Which wheels have you got? Polished and staggered style 39s?

http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/topic2.asp?TOPIC_ID=40611

Hi Mister G & shroud,

The wheels are:

2nd pic (George's 1st): M-style 24s (polished).

The starfish design!

Many thanks for your input was enlightening & with careful thought im gunna go original........I forget im not 21 anymore!

 again

Chas

If you have a Evo you would probably prefer to keep the rears wider ie 245  i have AC type 3 reps on myne running 225/40/18 front and 255/35/18 rear no rubbing i purchased from leigh tyres but the laqour is comming off when they get tatty i will refurb them myself.

along with the offset look at what make tyres you have as some tyres have more squarer walls than others i was advised to have toyo proxies over avons as avons are more squarer walled hence no rubbing.

goodluck