E30 Zone

can anyone with 16's or 17's tell me wot kind of ride they get. are 17's too bumpy, especially with sport suspension. 17's better cornering than 16's by a LARGE margin??
thanks for any info.

I had 17's on and found them too nervous, tramlined a lot and on anything but smooth roads were rough riding. I now have 16's on and the ride is much better with better handling. TCCA Motorsport in Sydney Australia who set up track E30's say in their experience 16's are the perfect size for the E30 chassis.

the ride quality in the real world on 16's is no different to 15's, but 17's are for looks really

This is something I wanted to know as well. My Astra came with 17s but I sold them and put on 16s as it handled like crap. It may only be 1 inch but it transformed both the throttle response and the handling.
I dont want to ruin the BM in the same way but I love the 17" Alpinas!

get 16" alpina's then..

without being cheeky! aren't astra GSI's renowned for not handling to well anyway?! but very good for straight line stuff!

Yeah they handle REALLY badly in standard form however you'd be surprised what a few mods can do.
Ive got a full koni adjustable kit on mine and it makes a huge difference. The car turns in perfectly now and the back can be brought into play if you so desire.
Its still not as good as something like a 306 GTI6 but its definitely not bad.

hi guys similar question.

I need to know if 17's will go on without arch work with a 60/40 drop. What is the optimal width? 7.5 x 17? same front and back? What profile tyre???

Are 16's really much better? Aren't tyres in 16" much harder to get hold of??

Does anyone know if Rondell 0058's come in four stud? I've got a ' 90 320i coupe

I have just gone from 15"x7 x-spokes to 16"x7 pina alloys.The ride is just the same (if not a little better ) but it handle's so good now not just me thinking it IT DOES with none of the tram lining you get from 17's.I followed a work mate in on monday and he has a scooby wrx yes he did pull away from me in place's but even he commented on how well i kepted up (we had the same run a couple of weeks ago) all i have changed is the wheels but hope to have a set of billy's on soon and a good set of springs

E30 Adam had a 60/40 drop on 17's and i think all is well

well it sounds like the consensus that 16's give good handling...and 17's seem to be ok but tramline a little and are more for looks??

what width are is optimal?? 8.5 rear 7.5 front or same all round??

wider wheels on the rear will get more power down on the tarmac but affect fuel economy a touch. 7.5 is as large as you can go on the front without causing problems eg rubbing on shock, turning on full lock. I think you can get 9 inch on the back but wheels that with are very rare!

My motor has 16x8 rear and 16x7 front and i find it great IMHO
But with 16's you are limited to a few rim types as no one makes 16's really

yeh i was thinking that...about 16's i have heard getting tyres is quite difficult to...

but it sounds like it's worth the effort...i'm not sure if many aftermarket people will sell different width size front and back as well?

To be honest Ive had 16s on my last 3 cars and although there are slightly less wheels to choose from there are still hundreds of wheels and most of the main tyre manufacturers make tyres to fit.
Check out www.mytyres.co.uk

I went from 14" to 17" and the rolling radius increased by 6mm, and the tyre width increased 10mm. I noticed (on the M-tech suspension) pretty much no difference except when I hit about 90mph and the steering had a very slight shake.
When the car got dropped 60/40 I noticed the difference instantly, however it's certainly not a harsh ride but I spose to give a definitive answer I shoulda swapped back to the 14s to see what that was like dropped 60/40.

Dunno if any of that helps, just thought I'd share my view on things