Protecting 326M wheels?

J

jamesgarbett

Active member
 South Manchester
Does anyone have a view on how much less prone to cracking these wheels are by switching to non runflats?
I realise this is quite subjective but just trying to decide whether to stick with these wheels and the almost new runflats, or change just the tyres for non runflats, or change the wheels and tyres before they crack

I actually really like the look of the wheels which is partly why I'm dithering, plus it seems daft to bin some perfectly good tyres just because theyre runflats
 
Hi James, I made the conscious decision to remove mine as soon as I got them given how prone the are too cracking.

Came from the main dealer on 326’s with 6mm+ rears and 7mm+ fronts RFT’s

The main difference for me was the handling and how much more compliant the car was on the new wheels with MPS4S’s

Anyway, long story short I only found out yesterday one of mine has the start of a crack as I had a small issue with one of the new wheels (which has been replaced by the tyre fitters with a brand new one :thumbsup: ) and had to use a 326 with NON run flats for a couple of weeks but no more than 50 ish miles for essential journeys and yesterday when they were taking the Michelin off the 326 to put it on the brand new wheel there’s a hairline crack on the 326 :headbang: that most definitely wasn’t there before I changed wheels as we spent fair bit of time checking they were ok when they came off after bringing the car home.

So personally I don’t think there’s much can be done to protect these no matter what type they’re on, the just seem to be a very fragile design. I also upped the width to 265 to give slightly more sidewall

As a comparison I put a brand new set of OE 276’s and they’ve done 4K miles without incident, tyre fitters carelessness apart!

Edit; meant to also mention that all of my wheels have been replaced individually in its life by the dealers either as part of AUC checks or MOT failures.
 
I'm with Andy, I'd get shot at the first opportunity or at the very least ditch the runflats, my car came with decent 18s on runflats, the tyres were off the same week although I kept the 18s for a while, flogged the runflats on facebook market place for 250 i think for the 4, you could possibly get a bit more for 19s. I agree though the 326 are a nice looking wheel and its a bit of a shame to have to sell..also a bit of a minefield to keep as you dont know how many potholes they have been through with previous owners and if the structural integrity is already compromised..tough call really but personally I'd bite the bullet lose a few quid and start afresh
 
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