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

The market place is full of repro wheels and hundreds of wheel & tyre packages.

Everything depends on the money you wish to spend. Most dealers are not interested in what they consider non branded products, and will not provide you with the answers you need. As regards 18x8 inch wide rims with 225 tyres, this is spot on for typical aftermarket rims, and providing the style you choose is the correct bolt hole arrangement (PCD) and offset from the hub face (ET...varies according to style, lip/ no lip/ flush/ deep dish) you will not go wrong - again all depends on the money you want to spend. Get ideas from Autovogue, potn, ebay, demon tweeks, or 100's of others.

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

Hope this helps!

Many thanks PM9575 & oola for your comments!

I think im going to sweat it out and keep mince pies peeled for a set of 18" AC Schnitzer type IV or Breytons for circa £600-700.

Though am in two minds to keep the originals on now after hearing your thoughts & set up issues - confusing! 

BTW the black laquered finish looks awsome against the green - quite stealthy!

  fellas

http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39466 - 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 - http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/topic2.asp?TOPIC_ID=40611

If they are the 5 spoke annodised original wheels then i haven't seen any aftermarket alloys that look better.

To buy new these cost over £325 EACH !

The motorsport versions look a poor imitation IMHO, as the word motorsport printed around the alloy doesn't look good.

The ACS wheels have the rarity value but still don't look as good.

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

I don't think you'll regret it.  My first m3 evo i did carry out a few mods and resale value suffered and i did end up wishing i had left everything as it was.

This time around i'm keeping everything the way it was meant to be.

The 'starfish' alloys look great, but i don't think came in a polished (annodised) finish.

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