Alloy advice needed!

S

Smartalex

Member
Hi all, I’ve recently found out the rear offside alloy is badly cracked, also both rear tyres are perished! Given the cost, I thought I’d best look for what options I have. The wheels are the 19” m double spoke 326.

So I’m thinking it’s best to go 18” and replacing all four corners. A few questions

If I got a set of non bmw 18”, do the pressure sensors just swap over, with centre caps etc?
Are there any recommendations? Best sizes, best manufacturers?
Is it really worth keeping staggered, or should I go “square”




 
I don't know about the TPMS valves, but I think the OE 18" wheel options were staggered. I had a set of E89 Style 295s on my previous E86 and they were 8J front and 8.5J rear and didn't have any cracks or repairs.

The 17s were "square" - I had a set of 290s on my 3 Series for a while. I'm sure I read somewhere that a square set up wasn't as prone to understeer, but I've never driven one car with both set ups!

The centre caps will fit any BMW wheel and will some aftermarket options, but not others.
 
Update….decided to just replace like for like, although stupid expensive seemed the best option in the medium term. New alloy from BMW, although with a nice discount (thank you), Pirelli run flats on both rear wheels. Seems only Bridgestone and Pirelli do run flats in this size…..and there are no Bridgestones available! (On backorder with no delivery date). Also had to get new valve casing as we couldn’t get the old one off, although luckily the sensor was ok and swapped over. Turned out the old alloy had three cracks on the inner rim and was possibly warped given the army of balance weights on it!
 
Run flats on the 326M wheels are a major contributor to cracking as there is next to no give in the tyre wall. Most members replace with normal tyres and factor in a solution based on needs incase of a flat. Some carry full space saver, others a repair kit.
 
Like others have said, I would avoid run-flats. The consensus is that the adversely affect the ride as well as the issues mentioned above. Also you will save some money…. at least here run-flats are significantly more expensive.
 
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