[vexith]

In efforts to improve the ride quality of my car, I have been considering equipping 18" wheels on my car. At the moment I'm rocking 19" with CSL alloys.

I was wondering how big of a difference it would be with this change. Right now with the 19's the car is incredibly bumpy. I was thinking to just equip 18s with the same alloys so the look of the car won't change.

Anyone have any insight into this? Our roads are horrible, especially where I live there is atleast one pothole in almost every street and I'm not even exaggerating

[p1tse]

Are you running on runflats?

Changing runflats to normal will make a huge difference.

My standard setup is 18 then winter tyres at 17s and now upgraded to 19 summer

Got to say I do enjoy the bigger rubber around the 17s

[vexith]

Originally Posted by p1tse

Are you running on runflats?

Changing runflats to normal will make a huge difference.

My standard setup is 18 then winter tyres at 17s and now upgraded to 19 summer

Got to say I do enjoy the bigger rubber around the 17s

Nope , I have normal tyres equipped. Sorry should have made that clearer.

[m1bjr]

On other cars I have owned the smaller diameters (more rubber height) have been a degree kinder.
Can you borrow a set to try, at a car meet maybe?

[bmvee]

It will definitely help moving to 18s. The taller sidewalls will give better cushion. However, you may not like the look of 18s though. I would borrow a set of 18s and try it out before spending hundreds on downsizing.

[Josh1a1h]

The tyres you use make a massive difference.


My car runs better on my current 19s which are the vredestein ultrassac tyres than they did on my 18" mv3's with Michelin PS3!

Obviously all non rft!

So it all depends on the tyre.

[SO8]

I had 18" MV3's on my 320d M sport ... and have 19" 313M's on my 330d ... both E92's.

I prefer the 19's ... overall handles far better and not really much harder a ride if at all. The car doesn't understeer or wash out anywhere near as much on 19's and just feel so much better without being uncomfortable.

I would not go back to 18's ...

FWIW I have 17" winter wheels and whilst they are softer they can't handle the power of the 330d or handle anywhere near the harder bigger wheels ... not that they are really for that.

The lower the size the better the ride quality but the trade off in handling is far greater than the increase in comfort !!!

[vexith]

Some interesting points here, thank you all for your inputs. I may try some better 19" tyres to see if they would make a difference. At the moment im running on Uniroyal rainsport 2 tyres, not sure how well they are rated tbh.

[A_P]

Pirelli and Conti sports will have softer sidewalls than the uniroyals.

P.s what condition are your dampers in? This plays a major part too.

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by SO8

I had 18" MV3's on my 320d M sport ... and have 19" 313M's on my 330d ... both E92's.

I prefer the 19's ... overall handles far better and not really much harder a ride if at all. The car doesn't understeer or wash out anywhere near as much on 19's and just feel so much better without being uncomfortable.

I would not go back to 18's ...

FWIW I have 17" winter wheels and whilst they are softer they can't handle the power of the 330d or handle anywhere near the harder bigger wheels ... not that they are really for that.

The lower the size the better the ride quality but the trade off in handling is far greater than the increase in comfort !!!

I have to say I've experienced the opposite. Whilst I love the look of the 19inch wheels on my car the ride is definatly worse. That's going from 18inch RFT to 19inch standard tyres. Even my wife has noticed now 'crashy' the ride is. Infact I've had to invested in some aftermarket dampers to see if I can get the ride back to a more acceptable level.