Best size wheels..

[svenga]

Evening All..

Well.. Tomorrow the sport comes out to play for the summer.

Now, i have two sets of wheels, a set of 17'' 5 spoke deep dish (which are favorited by anybody who see's them). And a set of 15'' BBS split reps (Actually OZ, quite rare apparantly).

Style and looks aside.. What do you prefer.. Or think is wise to run an e30 on? they were designed to take 15's as we know, but there are plenty of dirty thirtys running around with 16'' and 17'' shoes..

Im probably asking a silly question really, but feel free to show your opinion or express which and why..

[baur320]

Had allsorts of diameters on mine, but settled on 16s a while back and very pleased.

Any pics of yours?

[svenga]

6 spoke.. My bad

[wullie325i]

most say 16" max but 17" are good too and get rid of balloon spec tires

[magpie]

16's FTW!

[Grrrmachine]

15s or 16s. 17s look daft, and I'm not a fan of those wheels in particular either.

[zd3bx]

Do 16's ride and handle well? Especially a bit wider ones like 7.5J or 8J?

[kangman]

you should put OZ badges on the wheels if there oz's. It;s not like you have them cheap reps off ebay with no brand, OZ is a good brand and you have a much nicer looking wheel then them reps.


I vote the 15s

[pnd]

15's are the best wheel for go i am not interested in show. So if you want to drive the car try 15's or 16's if you want to look like a fool go bigger.

[oomz1975]

Those 16's are nice & a bit different.

[Smellit]

if you everwant to sell the OZ's

ps the 17s dont suit a classic 80s car

[billgatese30]

Never driven with 17's, but 16's are nice to drive with, 15's work well too if you want something smaller

[BATTS91]

I had 16" 9j all round but wouldn't suggest 9j for front feels shite grips too much . when mine was last on road running standard 15" bbs . the best !!!!

[adamski80]

16's 100%
Had 17's rides crap! An inch makes all difference!

[magpie]

16's with a 40 profile tyre or less would be defeating the object ,i run 45 profile on 16's and the ride is good so is the handling .

[adamski80]

As above 45's perfecto

[svenga]

I'm out now with the 15's, think ill keep them on!

[adamski80]

Had azevs 17's get slated now but liked look!
Too many flat spots cos rubber bands...
Now running 16" Hartge on tech 2 which I still don't think they 100% suit.
Better on standard bumper or pre lift motors.

[magpie]

alpina's or bbs rs look good on tech 2's

[adamski80]

True

[harry_p]

Decent lightweight 17s combined with a suitable chassis setup is fine if you accept the compromise in ride comfort.

17s have gained a terrible reputation because most e30s on 17s run weak wobbly alpenarse reps with rubber band tyres and 60mm springs for the arse dragging look.

15s are great, 16s work well and are a bit more sporty and easier to get right than 17s.

[HairyScreech]

Decent lightweight 17s combined with a suitable chassis setup is fine if you accept the compromise in ride comfort.

17s have gained a terrible reputation because most e30s on 17s run weak wobbly alpenarse reps with rubber band tyres and 60mm springs for the arse dragging look.

15s are great, 16s work well and are a bit more sporty and easier to get right than 17s.

Oh so many times this.

It's less about the size and more about the outer diameter and weight of the wheel and tyre combination.

If a theoretical pair of wheels existed, one 15" and one 17" with equal mass and moments of inertia then both would "feel" pretty much the same.

If the e30 m3 is fine on 17" wheels then what changed? After all there is very little difference suspension wise between the m3 and a normal e30.
Personally I think most of it is psychological.

[Brianmoooore]

As above! It's not so much the size of the wheel that matters, it's the weight of the wheel/tyre combo. that matters. Increased weight decreases the ability of the springs and dampers to move the suspension fast enough to keep the tyres in contact with the road.
The down side of large diameter wheels is that they need rubber band tyres to keep the rolling radius anything like correct, decreasing comfort and the ability of the tread to stay flat on the road across its width with changing camber, because of the stiff side walls.

[magpie]

very tempted to weigh my spare wheel,16" RG alpina rep on a 205 45 boot to see how that would work in the laws of physics ?

[HairyScreech]

Would be interesting if we could get together some of the weights of more common wheels, road tyres will not differ much in weight for a given size.

I don't think this is something that has been looked into too deeply.

[retroboyo]

If you fill it with helium, will it be lighter

[HairyScreech]

Only for a short period of time. The helium molecules are small enough to escape through the rubber fairly quickly, like when a balloon goes down.

Although the it will weigh "less" the mass and inertia will remain the same so the actual effect would be negligible.

Ask a stupid question......

[Morat]

Surely the weight of the wheel and tyre becomes more critical as the flex in the sidewall diminishes? This doesn't help the case for a 17" wheel, although I have no doubt that you could set up a good quality wheel tyre combo in 17" if you had the time and money.

[zd3bx]

I had 16" 9j all round but wouldn't suggest 9j for front feels shite grips too much . when mine was last on road running standard 15" bbs . the best !!!!

I had a feeling that 9Js on a E30 would be silly, so I was pretty much right then

I think 8J would be the max for drive/handling...