Disadvantages of 19 inch wheels?

[Chasabi]

Hi all,

I recently attended the Turnpike meet and became jealous of all the lovely 19 inch rims everyone had fitted. My 18 inch 224's now seem tiny and the gap between the arch and the tyre now appears enormous!

I'm thinking about getting some 19 inch wheels and Shaun (a very kind forum member) borrowed me his spare 19's (CSL Replicas) that he had on his Z4m. The rears protruded the arch quite a lot because they were designed for the Z4m but they looked awesome and so long as I was cautious over speed bumps I didn't get any rubbing. The thing is, my car felt heavy and just not as nimble. When I put my 18's back on the old girl felt light and nimble again.... but I can't get over how much better the Coupe looks with 19's.

So my question is; are there any disadvantages to having 19 inch wheels that anyone has noticed?

More expensive tyres is an obvious one. I think the wheels I borrowed from Shaun were probably heavy because they were replicas but also they were too big for my non-M Coupe. Would a correctly fitting set of 19's feel better? I don't want to buy some then regret it.

This is what my Zed looked like on the 19's.

 

[buzyg]

Better on 18's, the way Bangle designed it, IMHO simples. 8)

 

[z4pilot]

Better on 18's, the way Bangle designed it, IMHO simples. 8)

Not necessarily true...

When Bangle designed it, I bet he drew it with 22 inch wheels and rubber band tyres with no arch gap. When the engineers interpreted his design for production, they fitted a range of wheels from 16 inches through to 18. In the early 2000's, 18's were pretty much the biggest wheels offered by any manufacturers on cars of this type, but by the time the E89 came along, 19's were par for the course.

19's will fit if you're sensible with width and offset. Be careful at the front though as this seems to be where you can get rubbing on the arch liner if you are too aggressive with offset. My experience is that there is little in it in terms of comfort or ride, and to most eyes the 19's are visually better.

 

[buzyg]

Better on 18's, the way Bangle designed it, IMHO simples. 8)

Not necessarily true...

When Bangle designed it, I bet he drew it with 22 inch wheels and rubber band tyres with no arch gap. When the engineers interpreted his design for production, they fitted a range of wheels from 16 inches through to 18. In the early 2000's, 18's were pretty much the biggest wheels offered by any manufacturers on cars of this type, but by the time the E89 came along, 19's were par for the course.

19's will fit if you're sensible with width and offset. Be careful at the front though as this seems to be where you can get rubbing on the arch liner if you are too aggressive with offset. My experience is that there is little in it in terms of comfort or ride, and to most eyes the 19's are visually better.

19's is just Vainity. :wink: Now where's the roof down switch.

 

[Chasabi]

Better on 18's, the way Bangle designed it, IMHO simples. 8)

Not necessarily true...

When Bangle designed it, I bet he drew it with 22 inch wheels and rubber band tyres with no arch gap. When the engineers interpreted his design for production, they fitted a range of wheels from 16 inches through to 18. In the early 2000's, 18's were pretty much the biggest wheels offered by any manufacturers on cars of this type, but by the time the E89 came along, 19's were par for the course.

19's will fit if you're sensible with width and offset. Be careful at the front though as this seems to be where you can get rubbing on the arch liner if you are too aggressive with offset. My experience is that there is little in it in terms of comfort or ride, and to most eyes the 19's are visually better.

Are yours CSL replicas?

 

[z4pilot]

Yes - Atomic CSL's from CM Wheels. Haven't weighed them in comparison to the 108's I took off, but subjectively they did feel heavier when I was swopping them over. Can't say I've notice a huge difference on the car though.

 

[Chasabi]

Yes - Atomic CSL's from CM Wheels. Haven't weighed them in comparison to the 108's I took off, but subjectively they did feel heavier when I was swopping them over. Can't say I've notice a huge difference on the car though.

Looks well. Are you lowered? Do you noticed any major changes in acceleration or MPG?

 

[z4pilot]

Yes, it's lowered on eibachs. Can't assess mpg at the moment as they've not been on the car long enough, but I would expect a small hit. Acceleration felt fine on Sunday! Only negative for me at the moment is a slight amount of rubbing when the front suspension fully compresses. Wheels at the front are 8.5 and et38 with 235 section tyres, so perhaps could stop it with 225 section tyres or perhaps swap out the eibachs for coilovers - it is only very slight though - just annoying...

 

[Chasabi]

Yes, it's lowered on eibachs. Can't assess mpg at the moment as they've not been on the car long enough, but I would expect a small hit. Acceleration felt fine on Sunday! Only negative for me at the moment is a slight amount of rubbing when the front suspension fully compresses. Wheels at the front are 8.5 and et38 with 235 section tyres, so perhaps could stop it with 225 section tyres or perhaps swap out the eibachs for coilovers - it is only very slight though - just annoying...

How much are you lowered? Only looks slight

 

[z4pilot]

The car was on standard M-sport suspension originally, until I had a rear spring snap. I only found out on MOT day, so decided to swap them out with eibachs. They only lower the car an additional 10mm at the front and 15mm at the rear, so not too excessive. The ride actually improved over the standard springs although I would still like to swap out the shocks for either konis or bilsteins.

 

[mr wilks]

Yes, it's lowered on eibachs. Can't assess mpg at the moment as they've not been on the car long enough, but I would expect a small hit. Acceleration felt fine on Sunday! Only negative for me at the moment is a slight amount of rubbing when the front suspension fully compresses. Wheels at the front are 8.5 and et38 with 235 section tyres, so perhaps could stop it with 225 section tyres or perhaps swap out the eibachs for coilovers - it is only very slight though - just annoying...

That rub is hard to avoid if et's are around 35-40 & width is 8.5j 8j fronts on 215/225 tyres is ideal but unfortunately not many rep 19s with 8j fronts

Car looked mighty fine on Sunday btw wheels did look suited

 

[Z43.0Si]

The car was on standard M-sport suspension originally, until I had a rear spring snap. I only found out on MOT day, so decided to swap them out with eibachs. They only lower the car an additional 10mm at the front and 15mm at the rear, so not too excessive. The ride actually improved over the standard springs although I would still like to swap out the shocks for either konis or bilsteins.

Don't Eibach do a 20mm and 30mm kit? I guess that's off standard suspension height and not M-sport suspension height?

 

[MrPT]

For a given tyre type, ride is worse, tramlining is worse, arguably easier to kerb. Probably still worth it for the looks, although there are some 18s that seem to look bigger on the car than the 224s (Apex ARC-8 and EC-2, for example).

 

[Ewazix]

Ignoring aesthetics and in answer to your question, Car & Driver US magazine tested a Golf using the same design of aftermarket alloy wheel in four different sizes – 16in, 17in, 18in and 19in comparing them with the car’s standard 15in steel wheel. The 19in set-up resulted in a 10% drop in fuel economy, a 4% fall in the 0-60mph acceleration time, slightly less lateral grip and a less comfortable ride over the road surface. I'm not sure about the physics involved but assume its down to the inertia of spinning up the larger heavier wheels (like a flywheel?).

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Although I prefer my staggered 18"s visually, the car was slightly more nimble on 17"s all round so I think there is something in this.

 

[z4pilot]

The car was on standard M-sport suspension originally, until I had a rear spring snap. I only found out on MOT day, so decided to swap them out with eibachs. They only lower the car an additional 10mm at the front and 15mm at the rear, so not too excessive. The ride actually improved over the standard springs although I would still like to swap out the shocks for either konis or bilsteins.

Don't Eibach do a 20mm and 30mm kit? I guess that's off standard suspension height and not M-sport suspension height?

Yep, I think they quote the drop against the standard SE suspension height.

 

[Chasabi]

Ignoring aesthetics and in answer to your question, Car & Driver US magazine tested a Golf using the same design of aftermarket alloy wheel in four different sizes – 16in, 17in, 18in and 19in comparing them with the car’s standard 15in steel wheel. The 19in set-up resulted in a 10% drop in fuel economy, a 4% fall in the 0-60mph acceleration time, slightly less lateral grip and a less comfortable ride over the road surface. I'm not sure about the physics involved but assume its down to the inertia of spinning up the larger heavier wheels (like a flywheel?).

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Although I prefer my staggered 18"s visually, the car was slightly more nimble on 17"s all round so I think there is something in this.

That's a good read. If the step up from 15 inch to 19 inch resulted in only a 10% decrease in MPG and 4% decrease in 0-60 time, then the change from the standard 17 inch to 19 inch would be less noticeable I would've thought.

 

[Ewazix]

Ignoring aesthetics and in answer to your question, Car & Driver US magazine tested a Golf using the same design of aftermarket alloy wheel in four different sizes – 16in, 17in, 18in and 19in comparing them with the car’s standard 15in steel wheel. The 19in set-up resulted in a 10% drop in fuel economy, a 4% fall in the 0-60mph acceleration time, slightly less lateral grip and a less comfortable ride over the road surface. I'm not sure about the physics involved but assume its down to the inertia of spinning up the larger heavier wheels (like a flywheel?).

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Although I prefer my staggered 18"s visually, the car was slightly more nimble on 17"s all round so I think there is something in this.

That's a good read. If the step up from 15 inch to 19 inch resulted in only a 10% decrease in MPG and 4% decrease in 0-60 time, then the change from the standard 17 inch to 19 inch would be less noticeable I would've thought.

Probably right, I just find it ironic that what's seen as a 'performance upgrade' has the opposite effect :|

 

[markeg]

In the early 2000's, 18's were pretty much the biggest wheels offered by any manufacturers on cars of this type, but by the time the E89 came along, 19's were par for the course...

Apart from the E85 Alpina variants, which came with 19" Dynamics as standard, and 18" Classics as an option (not seen many that took this option, mind)