18" or 19" on E46

[sam ham 0]

Ive got a 2002 3 series coupe and want some advice whether i should go for 18" or 19" wheels

Ive heard that the 19" can make the ride harsher, as i do alot of driving on the open road is it wise??

But then again the 19"s would look better.

In a wee bit of predicament some help would be great!!

[PBOY23 0]

go the 19s will look much better yes the can be harsh if your running small rubber band tyres its really up to what you like better

[hybrid 1039]

It takes a special type of 18 to look good or right on an e46 im affraid, many have tried most have failed.

19's work perfectly with the wheel arch diameter, and the lines flow properly with them.

What you need is to decide weather you are going for a stagged setup or same size alround.

most go staggered.

the size you will need to go to look good and perform a its best for 19 is.

19 x 8.5 fronts on 19x 235 /35% tires

19 x 9.5 rears on 19x 265 /30% tires

I cannot stress how important it is to get the right offset. otherwise it will look either sh*t or you will have guard rub. It is possible to not have both (see my qouted post below)

The ride isn't harsh... yes you do have to take a bit easier over entries to driveways and avoid pot holes but for the most part its fine.

you will need to also go with a new school tire like Falkin fk-452 etc etc as the shamphered tire wall will allow you to sqeeze it under the guards at this offset.

see this previous post I did earlier in the week for mine.

Nope, Basically the hub is set differently

I run 4 inch dish in the rear and run 39 offset. This is a 19x9.5 / 30.

Its possible because of the conical shaped center mesh / spokes. They taper inwards. If you look at a front e46 CSL wheel you will see it infact has a "wave" in the spoke to give it a more 'inward' look. This technique is used by other wheel manufactures to achieve large dish on higher offset wheels.

Find a wheel style you like (for me it was the more classic looking "semi steap dish/lip" instead of my other 19's with dish that were more pie dish looking. But seriously do your research there are plenty of wheels out there and many many different looks. I gave work wheels or performalink a call ... they do some good qaulity stuff and the best thing is .. the own e46's themselves so know what their talking about.

as my sig says "Offset bitches!" ... it really is all in the offset ... you can have any wheel design you like really.

here is mine.

[zenetti 0]

Hi Sam

Hybrid is on the right track with most of his comments.

However I would suggest running the same size wheels all the way round and 225/35/19's or if you are going for 18's then 225/40/18's.

18's still look great on an E46, we tend to recommend going for at least a "+2" sizing. By this I mean if your car has factory 16's put on 18's.

At the end of the day it call comes down to what YOU like and what YOUR BUDGET is.

Your car is a 318i ( ie 1.8 4 cylinder). The 235-35 will be too big for your car.

Years of experience and doing hundreds of BMW's have taught us what works and what doesn't on a BMW.

Cheers

Johno

Edited January 6, 2008 by zenetti

[hybrid 1039]

have a look on e46fanatics.com .. under the showroom on the forums to get the jist of what I'm saying. This will show you different styles on different e46's pretty quickly. 99% of the guys on there run 19 inch.

edit: Sorry I missed the fact you have a 318. non staggered might be the go for you as zenetti said as you wont have the power in cornering to make use of the extra rubber.

just a side note, my 19 inch wheel are still the same diameter in total as my OEM 17 inch wheels with 60% tires. I still use one as a spare wheel as its the same size