More on wheels and tyres (stay awake at the back!)

[Pondy]

But I like to think a Z4M is a sports car!

Too heavy IMO. But the definition of a 'sportscar' is open to debate and always has been I suppose.

 

[Pondy]

Exactly! My 330i is an SE so has a set of Square 17s - had it been a Sport it would have had Staggered 18s despite being fundamentally the same car.

Yep. Our E89 has staggered 19" wheels. My F31 has square 18" (with 225mm). Both have exactly the same engines, just one is an M-sport and the other isn't. Sort of proves the point.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 10:27 pm
Exactly! My 330i is an SE so has a set of Square 17s - had it been a Sport it would have had Staggered 18s despite being fundamentally the same car.
Yep. Our E89 has staggered 19" wheels. My F31 has square 18" (with 225mm). Both have exactly the same engines, just one is an M-sport and the other isn't. Sort of proves the point.

I know. For most of 2019 I had my 330i SE with 17s and my 2nd E86 3.0Si with the same engine, but being a Sport it had staggered 18s.

I've never really considered weight as a factor in defining a sports car though. TBH I think I'd feel a bit too vulnerable driving anything lightweight on busy UK roads, especially down in the South East.

 

[B21]

As has been pointed out, the cars with 17" wheels run a square set up anyway. I tend to agree that on the 20i the lower power gives less cause for concern with running the narrower rears. I may yet add 5mm spacers on the back, but will see how it goes without for a few weeks first.

BMW are paranoid about oversteer..so they tend to use bigger boots on the rear and a lot of camber..doesn’t worry Mercedes ..

Two things, it's more to do with aesthetics than a worry about oversteer and it's BMW UK who decide on what we get, go to the German website and they have a lot more wheel choices, you can even get 225/45 R18 x 255/40 R18 wheels on the M40i. Also my last two Mercedes both had staggered set ups, as do most sports cars.

Both the e85/86 and e89 had a square set up as standard

Only partially correct ..low power cars on E89s could have square set up..N54s E89 only ever came staggered..that was what I was referring too..that is in all European markets

 

[k755]

Had a similar problem car failed Mot due to cracked rear spring and a delaminated rear tyre. So two new rear tyres and a new spring it passed. The Mot tester stated that they had failed 5 cars that day on tyres and blamed the shite roads we drive on. Sums up this country broken Britain!

 

[sars]

BMW are paranoid about oversteer..so they tend to use bigger boots on the rear and a lot of camber..doesn’t worry Mercedes ..

Two things, it's more to do with aesthetics than a worry about oversteer and it's BMW UK who decide on what we get, go to the German website and they have a lot more wheel choices, you can even get 225/45 R18 x 255/40 R18 wheels on the M40i. Also my last two Mercedes both had staggered set ups, as do most sports cars.

Both the e85/86 and e89 had a square set up as standard

Only partially correct ..low power cars on E89s could have square set up..N54s E89 only ever came staggered..that was what I was referring too..that is in all European markets

I believe you said, as it's just above "BMW are paranoid about oversteer" which was a wild overstatement if there was ever one and untrue, stated to push your previous view. As following posters pointed out, wider tyres has more to do with style than performance, which has just got worse with newer models.

 

[tiglon]

Had a similar problem car failed Mot due to cracked rear spring and a delaminated rear tyre. So two new rear tyres and a new spring it passed. The Mot tester stated that they had failed 5 cars that day on tyres and blamed the shite roads we drive on. Sums up this country broken Britain!

Perhaps what is broken is our bizarre insistence on buying cars with huge wheels and skinny tyres that are grossly inappropriate for the roads we have - then we complain that the government haven't spent £100bn this year making all the roads as smooth as a babies arse. I'm as guilty of that as anyone!

I don't think I've ever failed an MOT on tyres, I'd suggest that most who have done do so because they don't look at tyres until an MOT tester fails them. Not aiming any of that at you, but I bet 4/5 of the other tyre fails he had that day were just worn and would have been replaced sooner if the owner had bothered to take a look.

 

[k755]

Agree but as the tyres had only done 4k I assumed they would be ok, the damage was on the inside so difficult to see!

 

[Blurredman]

Agree but as the tyres had only done 4k I assumed they would be ok, the damage was on the inside so difficult to see!

From my tyre-fitter brother, I understand that wear on the insides is common on our cars. Dunno why?

 

[jimbo1958]

When I had my e89 the previous owner suggested he'd had 10+ 326 wheels replaced due to cracks. He was running on runflats though.
I changed the tyres over to Michelin PS4's when purchased and never had a cracked wheel in 5 years of ownership.