Tyre sizes for BBS Style 5's...

Post Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:36 pm

I have:

BBS RC009 ET10 fronts - 8j
BBS RC0010 ET19 rears - 9j

I need some tyres and thinking:

215 40 17 front
225 45 17 rear

Would I have any clearance issues with the above sizes? Think I read that I'll need a 5mm spacer on the front to clear the brake caliper?

I had Maxxis on my old E36 and they were pretty good so thinking of them as to which brand. Any other recommendations?

Cheers

Post Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:34 pm

235 40 17 look better, 225 45 are too tall for an e30 really.

No idea on the spacers, you have 8-series offsets, you'll need to try them on and see, but et10 isn't going to give a lot of room to add a spacer.

With 8in et20 fronts you need a small spacer to stop the back of the wheel hitting the calliper rattle springs if you have disks and pads with lots of meat on them ( assuming you have m3 struts )

Post Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:11 pm

Cheers Harry, got M3 struts fitted.

What brand tyres do you use on your M3?

Post Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:14 pm

I will be going for 215/40/17 all round for the touring when done, its the closest to the stock rolling radius without going for obscure expensive sizes.
Maxxis ma-z1 in that size are about £70 a tyre, if the equivalent toyo was not the same price then that would have been my choice.

Post Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:27 pm

215 40 on a 9j too. Do Maxxis stretch well?

Post Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:48 pm

Well a 9" rim is 228.6mm so your only looking at a 6.5mm per sidewall stretch, should be just a fine fit, doubt they would look that stretched really.

Well not compared to this, seem to be pretty rubbery.

tyrestretch.com/26-07-13-update/gallery/image/11-0_205_50_r15_maxxis_maz1_2/

Post Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:52 pm

215 40 will look rubbish under the wide arches of an e30 m3

I used 215 45 17 and 235 40 17 Toyo t1-r when I had the staggered style 5s on my m3.

Currently its on 225 45 16 t1-r on standard 16in evo bbs.

I've got 225 45 17 toyos on my 9in turbines on my e36, but 225 45 are the standard front size on that, but I think would look wrong on the e30.

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:22 pm

Ahh. Well if he had said it was an m3 originally......

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:53 pm

Assumed you knew about my project

Was that 215 45 on a 8j at the front Harry?

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:07 pm

Yeah. I used both 40 and 45. 40s looked a bit better, but 45s were closer to the same rolling radius as the 235 40 rears.

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:42 pm

Wasn't sure if they were for the project or for the cab rep so went with standard archs.

225/45/17 is what we use on the compact pretty good size/sidewall compromise, much more common as a lot of VAG stuff uses them, fit pretty well with no stretch on 8" m3 wheels.

A 235/40/17 is a touch smaller ~5mm in rolling radius than the above and is what we will be swapping to asap on the compact.

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:47 pm

Think I'm going to go with 225 45 front and 235 40 rear like Harry.

Probably going to go with Maxxis too, seem to be reasonably priced and have a good rep.

Thanks for the input

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:49 pm

Offer up some second hand tyres try them and get your prefered size that way,That's what i did. Im running 215,40 17" 8j up front and settled for 245,40,17" 9j rears over the streched look i got with 235,40,17" on the rear.

215,40,17" front. 235,40,17" rear in photo but changed to 245,4017" rears after realising i would be compromising on grip with the streched tyre.

Post Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:04 pm

ImysE30 wrote:Think I'm going to go with 225 45 front and 235 40 rear like Harry.

Probably going to go with Maxxis too, seem to be reasonably priced and have a good rep.

Thanks for the input

215 45 17 front ;)

Post Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:18 am

Typo

I like the stretch look. What ET are your wheels?

Post Sat Sep 14, 2013 11:08 am

The wheels in the pic are et 46. I offered up the two rears side by side (235 and 245) i was surprised by the difference (actual tyre contact on the road surface) difference between the two. I then drove the car with one on each side (rears) and found that every time i got the rear to step out the side with the 235 (streched) broke traction first, so i rightly or wrongly concluded that the 245 on a 9j rim would equate to better traction, which is why im running 9j in the first place. For me function is more important than looks but hey everyone has different opinions. Trial with secondhand tyres is a bit of a waste of money but you do get to see exactly where you stand rather than relying on other people's opinions, and as you know most E30's run all sorts of ride heights too. Looking at other cars with similar setups, at say santa pod or players might help too.

Post Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:49 pm

Thanks for the input. I'm probably better off with 245 with having a turbo'd cabby. Will test some on, just want to make sure they won't rub on the arches.

Post Sat Sep 14, 2013 11:53 pm

235 is fine. I'm using 225s on the back of a 300bhp e36 with no issues, 245 40 is just too big and heavy for an e30 its the standard size on the back of an e36 m3 evo, combined with 225 45 fronts. 245 40 + 215 40 is a big difference in height, and a big front to rear size difference.

I've found both e30 and e36 handle better with similar size tyres front and back, which is why I run 225 45 16 all round on the e30 and 225 45 + 215 45 on the e36, even if ultimate off the line grip isn't quite so good.

Using a different tyre on each side of the car to compare grip is always going to give odd results as you've got different gearing to each wheel, it'll be harder for the diff to turn the taller tyre so more power will be sent to the other side, so its always going to break traction first.