16" or 17" Which size are the best?

[M3BMK]

I am currently running on BBS RS - 16 x 8
I have seen some M3s with 17s.

Which size is the best for E30 M3s?

Please Advice...

[Thor]

Heck, some people like running 15" wheels and think 17" wheels are too heavy for the M3.

So is 16" a good compromise? Unfortunately there aren't many tire choices in the 16" size.

[Ironhead]

No easy answer.

On a car with near stock power, 15" are very likely fastest. With 17" you can fit large brakes, but it is very debateable whether a car with stock power needs large brakes. It might seem like 16" is a good compromise, but like Thor said, tires in 16" are very limited.

Honestly, unless you want to run large brakes there is little question 15" are best from a pure performance standpoint.

I personally think 16" or 17" look better, but all else being equal they are much heavier than 15" wheels.

Most cars have gone to large wheels in recent years largely as a fashion trend, not a performance improvement.

[BeastPower]

17" seems to be what many think looks best. I have the BBS RC and I believe that the are relatively light-weight, and therefore do not significantly impact performance.

Cheers, Daniel.

[Jake]

And then you've got BMW who thought 18's were the fastest so they put them on their works cars. And then there are even some current hillclimb M3's that use 19's!

I ran 16's with 215/50R16, Racing Dynamics 16X8 ET15/Toyo R888 (actual width/circumference = 243mm/625mm). Thought they were grand. Then I went to 17's with 205/40R17 (212mm/598mm) R888 and Team Dynamics 17x8 ET15 and never looked back. At the same time I even went from a 3.64 diff to a 3.46 and STILL had better acceleration. I lost a fair amount of weight though.

In my mind I don't see how a light weight 17" set up is worse than a 15" set up. But in all fairness, I never tried a 15" track wheel/tire set up.

Jake

[Az in Oz]

Welcome

As Ironhead has mentioned the 15" are probably the best for standard performance.
I am running 17" and they fit and look great but they do have the obviously drawbacks of being heavier and due to low tyre profile 215/40 fronts, a tad on the harsh side. I have a set of 16" wheels that I drove around on whilst refurb'ing the 17's and they were noticeably more compliant on shitty Sydney roads.

It will come down to personal choice of either comfort or visual enhancement I think, depending on what you are going to do with the car.
I am going to fit some R Componds to my 16's for the track and just live with a bit of harshness from the 17's on a day to day basis. At this stage big brakes are not on the agenda.

Good luck and happy ///otoring

Aaron

[Ironhead]

[QUOTE=In my mind I don't see how a light weight 17" set up is worse than a 15" set up. But in all fairness, I never tried a 15" track wheel/tire set up.

Jake[/QUOTE]


Jake, you have to look at it from an "all else being equal" standpoint. You can get a lightweight 17" wheel that weighs very little more than a stock 15" BUT, if you buy the 15" version of the lightweight 17" wheel design, you can save a ton of weight,,,

[iainrobe30]

Is weight a real consideration when i comes to choosing a wheel set? The advantages are obvious but the handling charactertistics of different wheel sizes and style seems more important?

I swap between 16 sport evo wheels and 17 BBS rs and feel that the balance of the car, turn in and poise much better on the 16's. Anybody else have the same opinion? Running stock susension.

[Chicco]

16" Wheels

I would say your 16" have better turn-in to the 17" is because the offset of the EVO 16" is like ET27 of which are sitting more inside. This gives you a smaller stance?? ( sorry can't think of the correct word or term). As for your 17" RS makes your stance wider.

Chicco

[Jake]

Jake, you have to look at it from an "all else being equal" standpoint. You can get a lightweight 17" wheel that weighs very little more than a stock 15" BUT, if you buy the 15" version of the lightweight 17" wheel design, you can save a ton of weight,,,

Very true. And its really hard to get a real good comparo.

I kinda always assumed the added rubber on a 15" ballon tire would make up for the lack of aluminum. No? I don't know.

Anybody have any 15" wheel weights with Toyo R888 tires?

Jake

[M3BMK]

Thanks for all your input and advice.

I guess the general issue is Looks vs Weight

I'll be running on my 16s for now.
Will be on a look out for nice 17s if something nice comes up, reasonably priced

Meanwhile, I intend to drop the car to its optimum on the 16s to force the 'Look' of out them =)

[sevenM3]

16s on a 2.3. the more torque the deeper the dish.

[diegom6]

Sorry if this has been said in the past (I assume many times) but what would be the correct offset (w/o spacers) for :

16x7.5-8 for front

16x8-9 for rear

and

17x8 for front

17x8-9 for rear?


The stock 15' rim it's et20? Just like regular e30's ?

Thanks

[Reelizmpro]

17's look great on E30 M3s and offer a variety of tire sizes and manufacturers. It's getting harder and harder to find anything in 16's these days. However, back in the day, tuners like ACS, DINAN had 16x8 upgrades that they recommended for the E30 M3.

Diego:

Stock 15" M3 wheels are 15x7 ET30.

Offset for 17x8-8.5 is around ET20 or less.

[Markus]

8x16 ET 20 and 9x16 ET 24 works without rolling fenders
on 8x16 ET 11 and 9x16 ET 08 you'll need a slight rolling from the inside lips from the fenders.Tires for these wheels would be 225/45/16

On 8x17 you could go with ET 10-20 and with 215/40/17 or 225/35/17 you don't need to do anything.
Here is also possible 8x17 ET 20 and 9x17 ET 22/26 (e34 /e39 series style 5 wheels) with 215/40/17 and 245/35/17 here you'll need to roll the inside lip at the rear.

Another option are 8,5x17 ET 13 (without Schnitzer wheels) all around with 215/40/17 or 225/35/17 no fender rolling needed-

with 8,5x17 ET 13 and 9,5x17 ET 13 and 215/40/17 + 245/35/17 you'll need to do rolling at the rear fenders

Markus

Sorry if this has been said in the past (I assume many times) but what would be the correct offset (w/o spacers) for :

16x7.5-8 for front

16x8-9 for rear

and

17x8 for front

17x8-9 for rear?


The stock 15' rim it's et20? Just like regular e30's ?

Thanks