[mobilejo]

The 19's look great and all, but the low profile tyres and general effect on ride really bother me.

I do this with almost every car I have and I don't know why I keep falling for it:

E46 M3:I went from OEM 18 -> OEM 19 and hated it. IMHO the car was built to handle/ride best on the 18 but looked much better on the 19.

My X5: OEM 19 -> aftermarket 22. Looked shit hot, drove like shit.

My 535d: OEM 18 RFT -> OEM 19 normal rubber. Not any worse but I bet if I put normal rubber on the 18 it would have been an actual improvement.

And now my 320d: Aftermarket 18 -> aftermarket 19 and once again I'm not happy - The car feels 'okay' but I know it should (and did) feel better than 'okay' on the 18 and that was before renewing all of the front suspension and getting a KDS!



So now that the novelty of having 19 has passed, I think I will be buying some OEM 18 MV3 or something and just having them refurbed in black or gunmetal or whatever (not too bothered) and selling the current wheels.

I spend more time driving the car than looking at it so I have to put ride over looks. I don't drive like a race car driver but I am on terrible roads most of the time and the low profile tyres and me just don't get on

[HighlandPete]

^^^^

You know it makes sense, shame that fashion rules over function.

So many cars are spoiled by wrong rims and too low a profile. Then, as we hear so often, "you'll get used to it". AutoCar raised this wheel size issue (in one of their blogs) on 'over-sizing' wheels, most admitted that 'looks' won and ride quality was second.


HighlandPete

[TripleD]

Interesting, as I've got 18's and was looking at getting some 19's!

Is the ride really that bad on them?

[E90325iM-SPORT]

I got 18'' mv3 with runflats .do you want to swap ?Pm me

[Guvernator]

I blame car manufacturers for creating huge wheel arches and gaps you could drive a lorry through which means you are almost forced to go for the big wheel option to make the car look halfway decent. Older cars never had this problem and some of them were on 13"-15" wheels.

Simply solution, make the wheel arches smaller but they won't do it as it means they won't be able to charge you £2k for that nice tick in the 19" option box.

[The_Bear_Yid]

Originally Posted by Guvernator

I blame car manufacturers for creating huge wheel arches and gaps you could drive a lorry through which means you are almost forced to go for the big wheel option to make the car look halfway decent. Older cars never had this problem and some of them were on 13"-15" wheels.

Simply solution, make the wheel arches smaller but they won't do it as it means they won't be able to charge you £2k for that nice tick in the 19" option box.

I think Governator makes a good point there.

I've been after 19s for a while. I like the Star 18s, not to keen on 18 MVs.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Guvernator

I blame car manufacturers for creating huge wheel arches and gaps you could drive a lorry through which means you are almost forced to go for the big wheel option to make the car look halfway decent. Older cars never had this problem and some of them were on 13"-15" wheels.

Simply solution, make the wheel arches smaller but they won't do it as it means they won't be able to charge you £2k for that nice tick in the 19" option box.

I hear what you are saying and many say this, but 'bigger' wheels don't fill the arches anymore than the smaller rims, the OD is the same. Only lowering changes the arch look thing. More rim and the 'filling' the arches is all an optical illusion.

BTW, just look back at some older cars and see what wheel arch dimensions were like. We just accepted it as 'clearance', for going over bumps on our comfortable suspensions.

HighlandPete

[TripleD]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

We just accepted it as 'clearance', for going over bumps on our comfortable suspensions.

Reminds me of the good olde days with a Citreon BX 1.9 GTi, couldn't work out why it jacked itself up so much when started, found the lever after a few days to put it back down to normal

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

I hear what you are saying and many say this, but 'bigger' wheels don't fill the arches anymore than the smaller rims, the OD is the same. Only lowering changes the arch look thing. More rim and the 'filling' the arches is all an optical illusion.

I'd agree with that,and also say that the amount of clearance on some BMW's (mainly on the front) seems ridiculous,some look like they still have the transport blocks in place!

The new 6er is a classic case,looks like it could be an off roader.

[sylonien]

I really hate the gap as well. Tempted with 19" and lowering. But really don't want to sacrifice on ride quality. Just back after driving 360miles today.

Sorry for the hijack. Is it possible to run something large at front other than 225/40/18 to fill the gap a tad bit more?

[xs2man]

If you increase the tyre profile to "fill" the gap, then everything will be out of sync. By that, I mean speedo, odometer etc... Plus it may effect the DTC

[mobilejo]

Funnily enough, a car 'looks' higher on a bigger wheel with lower profile tyre than vice versa (that is when keeping the same o/d). It's all just optical of course but the brain sees that arch gap so much more on bigger alloys.

The ride isn't terrible, but I feel I am compromising on how my car used to feel on 18's.

I'm kind of off mv3's but no way am I buying any flashy aftermarket 18's. I want something OEM in gloss black and to be done with it.

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by xs2man

If you increase the tyre profile to "fill" the gap, then everything will be out of sync. By that, I mean speedo, odometer etc... Plus it may effect the DTC

This is correct, you don't want to increase overall diameter really

[makkan00]

Are those your wheels on fleabay then?
If yes, GLWS mate.

[p1tse]

I like the at list and wheel changes

I've done something similar with my car options

But decided or should I say lack of funds no mods
But I have put a set of smaller 17 wheels from 18s on my 535d with winter tyres on it and actually didn't mind the look too!

So maybe worth thinking of 17s and a decent set of tyres

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Are those your wheels on fleabay then?
If yes, GLWS mate.

Yes, they're mine!

Cheers

Originally Posted by p1tse

I like the at list and wheel changes

I've done something similar with my car options

But decided or should I say lack of funds no mods
But I have put a set of smaller 17 wheels from 18s on my 535d with winter tyres on it and actually didn't mind the look too!

So maybe worth thinking of 17s and a decent set of tyres

I have thought about the M sport 17 but that may be a compromise too much in the other direction (i.e. too much comfort, not big enough visually) which may see me changing again shortly after. I was comfortable on 18's before, and 18's don't look small or big, they just look 'normal', which I can live with.