Quote:
Originally Posted by jwrag2000
I'm downsizing my wheels as the 19s are too fragile, noisy, uncomfortable and look cheap. Going to 189 style 18s and rather than fitting the standard size 255/35 R18 i'm upping the tyre wall size by 10% and reducing the width to 225/45 R18. Front's will be same size. I know this increases the overall wheel and tyre height, but feel it's necessary to give the best ride. What's the overall view, will I ruin my handling in the process? I'm more of a cruiser than a racer.
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OK soooo... I'm guessing you have the same tire sizes as a '06 330i, I'm looking this up on Tire Rack. Since I'm in the US we never got a 330d
that is 225/40-18 front and 255/35-18 rear. 225/45 yes will be a little taller but why not do something like 235/40 front and 265/35 rear? you can fit those no problem, actually probably even 245/40 and 275/35, assuming that the 275s are not too wide for your wheels.
245/40-17 square is actually what I'm running on my E90 (on Style 157s) and that's just about the same as the stock rolling diameter. I'm doing this for the same reasons as you are considering changing, my car came with 19" Style 230s and even doing what I suggest above (keeping stock aspect ratios and using 245/275 widths) I still could not keep from destroying tires. Switched to 17" wheels when I got my last set of tires and no problems since. Previously I was running 245/45-17 and that works as well (I would have done it again, as my speedo was actually more accurate and there seemed to be no downside to the slightly larger diameter, but the latest Michelin all seasons aren't available in that size.) Stock tires are about 830 revs/mile (looking at specs for Pilot Sport 4S) and you really can't fit wider than 245 on the front without suspension mods from what I'm told. 245/35-18 is 24.8" and 840 revs/mile and 245/40-18 is 25.7" and 809 revs/mile. The latter is just about the same diameter as the 245/45-17s that I was running before, but when deviating this far from stock you need to verify for yourself that this will work for you.