[willyFbaby]

New to these forums. Love all the information here.

Anyway, I am thinking of getting 19 or 20 rims. Of course, I know for rims to look good, I would need to lower my car so that it does not look like an SUV.

But the suspension on my coupe looks pretty good (to me). The front only has a wheel gap the size of the key fob turned sideways with buttons facing you. The back has a wheel gap the size of 80% of the key fob straight up with the buttons facing you.

Opinions? I do have the sport suspension package.

[M3_Dylan]

If your going to take the time to mod your car do it right and lower the car.

[BmerMeUp]

+1 ^

[JACL335i]

lower it.... monster truckinnnn

[mauibuilt_328]

99.89% of the people on here will say to lower it lol including myself!haha

[Delusive]

if you put 20's on it then you won't have to lower it much but if you put 19's then yes lower that till you scrape everywhere! lol, jp.

[crzylildude]

YES

[mike-y]

Originally Posted by willyFbaby

New to these forums. Love all the information here.

Anyway, I am thinking of getting 19 or 20 rims.

that's kind of a lot for just one car.. I'd suggest getting just 4 rims and saving your money

[mlifxs]

if you need to ask, why bother doing it?
I think your wheels look pretty good for oe (style 197)

[BmerMeUp]

Originally Posted by willyFbaby

... Anyway, I am thinking of getting 19 or 20 rims. ...

[BmerMeUp]

if you put 20's on it then you won't have to lower it much but if you put 19's then yes lower that till you scrape everywhere!

Guys. With respect, this is the most often quoted misconception that I don't get!

16's, 17's, 18's, 19's, 20's... has no relationship to "wheel gap" or rubbing issues. The rubber height decreases proportionately to the increase in wheel diameter. Taller wheel, Shorter tire.

Overall diameter is routinely maintained to within 3% for RWD / FWD or 1% for AWD.
eg: 225/40/18 is 0.5% to 225/35/19 is 0.5% to 225/30/20.

It's like the guy who was cold one night so he cut the bottom off his blanket and stitched it to the top...

What am I not understanding when this "bigger rim less gap" idea is stated?

[BRGmatthew]

Originally Posted by BmerMeUp

Guys. With respect, this is the most often quoted misconception that I don't get!

16's, 17's, 18's, 19's, 20's... has no relationship to "wheel gap" or rubbing issues. The rubber height decreases proportionately to the increase in wheel diameter. Taller wheel, Shorter tire.

Overall diameter is routinely maintained to within 3% for RWD / FWD or 1% for AWD.
eg: 225/40/18 is 0.5% to 225/35/19 is 0.5% to 225/30/20.

It's like the guy who was cold one night so he cut the bottom off his blanket and stitched it to the top...

What am I not understanding when this "bigger rim less gap" idea is stated?

the phrase "bigger rim, less gap" is indeed true. I had 19s on 2 weeks ago, which were pretty flush with my suspension setup. Then I bought new wheels which were 18s, did not adjust suspension, now I have a wheel gap so big, my arm fits through it.

[Chris_506]

[BmerMeUp]

Originally Posted by BRGmatthew

the phrase "bigger rim, less gap" is indeed true. I had 19s on 2 weeks ago, which were pretty flush with my suspension setup. Then I bought new wheels which were 18s, did not adjust suspension, now I have a wheel gap so big, my arm fits through it.

Hunh. Ok then! It is what it is, I guess!

[gtaccord]

Originally Posted by BRGmatthew

the phrase "bigger rim, less gap" is indeed true. I had 19s on 2 weeks ago, which were pretty flush with my suspension setup. Then I bought new wheels which were 18s, did not adjust suspension, now I have a wheel gap so big, my arm fits through it.

How do the tire sizes compare? If the tires are different then the gap will change . The same way comparing a 225/35 to a 245/35 both on 19 inch rims, the 225 would have a larger gap. Simply changing rim size will not change the gap but if the tire/wheel package is a different overall diameter then that is where the change comes from.

[nc1mike]

Originally Posted by gtaccord

How do the tire sizes compare? If the tires are different then the gap will change . The same way comparing a 225/35 to a 245/35 both on 19 inch rims, the 225 would have a larger gap. Simply changing rim size will not change the gap but if the tire/wheel package is a different overall diameter then that is where the change comes from.

What????

What you said really make no sense at all. You change tire size to maintain over all wheel height or more specifically the wheels rolling diameter.
You would not put a 255/35/18 on a 19" rim you would put a 255/30/19 on a 19" rim....

Here's a little math 4 u.

255/25.4= 10.04" * .35 * 2 + 18" = 25.02" tall wheel tire combo

255/25.4 = 10.04" * .30 * 2 + 19" = 25.02" tall wheel tire combo

You have to decrease aspect ratio to +1 the tire size so it all stays the same diameter.

[cdgatti]

Even though the true measured outer diameter of the tire doesn't change as you increase wheel diameter, say from a 17 to a 19, the lower profile tire creates an optical illusion that makes the same actual amount of gap look like more. This is why people don't like the look of the larger diameter wheels/tires without lowering a little.

[MonacoBlueE90]

Yes, lower it. The gap in the front is little bit too much. Even though with factory wheels it might look alright as soon as you put after market wheels on it, the gap is going to look bigger. I guess it's, because most after market wheels are more wider/lower offsets, which push the wheel out more.

Also go with 19 inch wheels.

[GmoBmw]

Originally Posted by SCSRe92

LOL

[DUI Elite]

Originally Posted by BmerMeUp

Guys. With respect, this is the most often quoted misconception that I don't get!

16's, 17's, 18's, 19's, 20's... has no relationship to "wheel gap" or rubbing issues. The rubber height decreases proportionately to the increase in wheel diameter. Taller wheel, Shorter tire.

Overall diameter is routinely maintained to within 3% for RWD / FWD or 1% for AWD.
eg: 225/40/18 is 0.5% to 225/35/19 is 0.5% to 225/30/20.

It's like the guy who was cold one night so he cut the bottom off his blanket and stitched it to the top...

What am I not understanding when this "bigger rim less gap" idea is stated?

Are you on stock sizes?

Going from a 16 to 19, I'm having a helluva time realizing how "it makes no difference in wheel gap"

The 19's I have don't fit now that I'm dropped, so not sure what you're talking about. Running a larger rim will definitely cut the wheel gap.

[gtaccord]

Originally Posted by nc1mike

What????

What you said really make no sense at all. You change tire size to maintain over all wheel height or more specifically the wheels rolling diameter.
You would not put a 255/35/18 on a 19" rim you would put a 255/30/19 on a 19" rim....

Here's a little math 4 u.

255/25.4= 10.04" * .35 * 2 + 18" = 25.02" tall wheel tire combo

255/25.4 = 10.04" * .30 * 2 + 19" = 25.02" tall wheel tire combo

You have to decrease aspect ratio to +1 the tire size so it all stays the same diameter.

I understand all of that. You did not understand me correctly.

What I am saying is the following:

Stock Wheel Tire Combo
255/35-18 - 635.7 mm diameter

Common 19" replacement
265/30-19 - 641.6 mm diameter

The difference in diameter being 6 mm or about 0.25 inches. This will cause the gap between the wheel and the fender/body to be about 1/8" smaller with the 19" wheel/tire combo but basically this difference would not be noticeable. In this case, both setups would be basically the same as far as the "gap" went.

Now let's consider the following:

Stock Wheel Tire Combo
255/35-18 - 635.7 mm diameter

Another Common 19" replacement
275/30-19 - 647.6 mm diameter

The difference in diameter being 12 mm or about 0.5 inches. This will cause the gap between the wheel and the fender/body to be about 1/4" smaller with the 19" wheel/tire combo. This would probably be noticeable. In this case, the 19" setup would have a smaller gap.

My point was that you cannot say that a 19" wheel/tire setup will automatically have a smaller gap than an 18" or whatever smaller size wheel/tire setup. It depends solely on the tire that is mounted on the rims.

[BmerMeUp]

Originally Posted by DUI Elite

... Running a larger rim will definitely cut the wheel gap.

Notwithstanding others have said "real life" examples say larger rims make for less gap, mathematically it simply doesn't make any sense.

The tire shoulder shrinks at about the same rate the rim diameter increases because we are always trying to keep our overall diameter the same, regardless...
20" = less rubber / more rim
16" = more rubber / less rim

Wheel calculators show the differences in fractions of an inch, if not identical depending on the ratios and tread widths.

I'm willing to accept it just doesn't make any sense!


(note: Unless, when you say, the 19's, now that I'm dropped... means the FATTER WIDER 19's now that you are dropped... yes, that makes sense [mathematically] for width, hitting the fender, but not for height.)

Sorry for the thread jack, OP!