16's or 17's???

[Straightsix83]

Good Afternoon All, just had a bit of a dilemma with regards to which size alloys will work best. I have heard that with 17's you can compromise handling to some extent and the arches may rub. Has anyone experienced this. Other than 17's i was thinking maybe wider 16's would work better but the same probs may occur. Any light anyone could shed would be great as im a month into E30 ownership and need to absorb as much as possible.

[iDreamBeemer]

Alpinas can do a staggard setup with 7" fronts and 8" rears, there are a few others around depending on your budget.

If you want to keep the handling (without some serious modification to allow for bigger wheels) 16" are as big as you want to go.

[snoops]

17" should be fine depending on how low the car is

[tailoutcharlie]

personal preference i think matey, try and borror to try each, i live in speedbump central and changing to 16s from 17s was a hell of a lot better, also have vastly imroved handling on b-roads which is a nice fringe benefit

[FormerMember]

You can really slam the car with 16" (or even 15") which you can't do with 17" rims. Anyways, it's all up to your personal preferences.
Good tires make up the handling more than rim-size (if the width is 6-8").

[Ajay325]

16"s all the way... I have 17"s but handling is more desirable...

[siddiqi1]

I have 18" Kahns........dropped 40mm at the back anmd no rubbing anywhere even when fully laden with people

However as you can imagine, i can iften feel the bumps very well through the car, handling is exceptional, though i do feel that it acclerates slower but once it gets in its stride its off

Personally i think you're best with 16"s with a nice tyre with some absorption.

Saboor

[whipsey]

i'd probably go for 16's and a nice drop