those are cool!

 

Focus gentlemen, focus!

It is nice to see what this thread had developed into, I only started it in September 2011 and now it has most of the info I need about wheel/tire combos and strut bars

And many thanks to Alexio for fitting 19" wheels with over sized tires and sharing the results
I love the looks and currently on the fence between 18" and 19" with over sized tires.

However, just wanted to clear the offsets on those CS.16 CSL wheels.
Alex, did you get your wheels from here: http://www.modbargains.com/Sportline...Wheels-BMW.htm ?
Are these correct specs?

19x8.5 5x120 +35 20.80 lbs 19x9.5 5x120 +45 22.40 lbs

Also, how is the ride and is there any rubbing with fully loaded car?

Thank you

 

Hi there, hadn't been on the forum recently but received your message in my email. Yep, those are the wheels in 19 size. There are no issues at all that I have found, although I have not loaded the car as you ask.. With self leveling rear suspension though I don't believe that would be a problem. There is one spot on hwy 17 which is a very windy yet fast mountain road from san Jose to santa cruz where there is a dip... If I take that dip a 65mph I can just hear the rear tires rub for a sec... For perspective however, I saw a Vette completely bottom out and take off on that dip yesterday... Which is more a testament to how bad northern Cali roads are. I'm very happy to have taken the leap with these wheel/tire combo... The extra sidewall with these 35 profile tires compared to the recommended 30 aspect ratio fills the gap perfectly with stock suspension IMO... Interestingly... This is the exact same tire size as the sport package on the new 5 series.


EDIT: feel like a total ass for having forgotten this previously. When we took my 18 wheels off, we realized there was a 5mm spacer in rears... It happened to work perfectly with my new 19s so I left it on. Not sure if it makes a difference as clearly from this thread.. I was no expert in tire/wheel combos. However, for accuracy sake I wanted to post this.

 

Glad to hear it is working for you

One dip on the road is not a big deal, I can probably find a few of those in my neighborhood
But the roads here in CO are generally good.

The reason I started thinking in direction of oversized tires was that E61 M5 had it as an option with 19" wheels and I saw pictures of it and it looked great.
However I was not sure if E61 had the same fender wells as M5 to fit those bad boys.

So just to recap, your wheels are
Front: 19x8.5 5x120 +35 with 245/40/19 tires
Rear: 19x9.5 5x120 +45 with 5mm spacers (effectively 40mm offset) with 275/35/19 tires

Wish winter was over to get 19" but in a mean time will look into a winter set of 18"s with oversized tires

One more question: did you notice any difference in acceleration after fitting bigger tires?

 

M5 fenders are wider. You could see if "m3this" made any comparative measurements when he installed m5 fenders but I have been told they are noticeably wider which allows for lower ET up front.

The rear air suspension certainly helps in the loaded up car combination with flush rear wheels though. The Audi I have scrubs on deep highway dips like mentioned above if the car is carrying 4 people or lots of road trip stuff such as multiple crates of apples and tomatoes from the local growers in eastern WA

The acceleration question is interesting however at the time when I got my larger tires, I also got the Dinan stage 2 software and having a 6 spd, it may be hard to tell unless I were timing it. Both my summer and winter tires are same diameter so I don't have an opportunity to feel a difference seasonally either.

The only difference in my sets is that the winter are heavier run flat on the heavier oem wheels while my summer are a non-rft on the lightweight m3 wheels. This weight I can feel simply lifting but I have not weighed them for exact number. I don't want to go down that road of obsession though because I know it will end with new high performance brakes and other nonsense!

 

Vicious circle

 

I don't recall my wheel ET, it's 29 or 32 ? It's whatever they felgen/katalogue page says.

8.5 all 4, the 8.5 wheels I got are lighter so I suppose "performance" increased but handling is going to be more about the tires than the wheels. Also, my winter tires are run flat which are heavier and they're on the heavier oem 8" wheels so there is a noticeable weight difference from my summer to winter set when I lift them around.

 

You started this thread in August but now it's winter. You are in Colorado high or low country? What tires are you using for winter?

 

verified mine to be et 29

 

I am in Denver, in the foothills. But drive to the mountains every weekend to ski.
I guess I took too long for my wheel/tire research and beg of January I could not get my favorite Dunlops Winter Sport 3D tires in 245-45-18 size anymore at Tirerack price I had those tires on my previous car and loved them.


So now I am trying to source 19" BMW wheels (style 128) and there are only 2 available in the US...
I should be able to get by with A/S tires the rest of this winter, even though our March is the snowiest month. I can use wifey's SUV sometimes