To buy a 35iS on 19" crackers or not?

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Busterboo

Veteran
Have had a 2010 35iS for 7 years and been a member of the forum since before I bought it. A happy combination. Now, aware of hopefully most of the foibles of the model, I'd like to buy another. It's an excellent car with little/nothing on the market to match it. So far, so good. There is a fly in the ointment, however.

Have found one with 16k on the clock - on new Michelin PS4 on ... the dreaded 19" may-crack wheels.

Now, the question. This car ain't cheap and adding a new set of wheels to the price will probably be a deal-breaker. So, would you buy it regardless of its present wheels and keep your fingers crossed, or walk away?
 
The wheels im assuming are more susceptible to cracking because of the run flats with normal tyres the likelihood it reduced massively. I had the same issue on my mini clubman JCW all 4 were cracked I had them replaced and non runflats and not had an issue.

As long as they are all fine and havent been repaired it wouldn't stop me, if anything they do look a lovely wheel :thumbsup:
 
The question is as Clint Eastwood says…

Using non run flats on 326Ms does reduce the risk of cracking ..allegedly ..but for sure its doesn’t eliminate it..

If it’s a lovely car then you’ll cross that bridge if you come to it..I assume you are getting a full warranty anyway..?
 

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Did they not beef the 296's up around the time of the facelift as it was this style that were a bit fragile? Have a look to see if they have been welded on the inside.
 
i'd buy a car on 19s assuming they werent already cracked and repaired, and were not running runflat tyres. i dont think theres anything the matter with the wheels, really, its the wafer thin, runflat tyres that were put on them.

on the other hand, if you did buy the car, selling the 19s would go a long way towards a set of 18s with tyres on.
 
Busterboo said:
Nictrix said:
Can you negotiate fitting your own wheels to the new car and put the 19s on your old car.
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A clever idea, but a real palaver in practice, I suspect.
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That's a very sensible idea and got to be worth a try :thumbsup: Just ask, tell then that you like your own wheels, perhaps pay a small amount for their work.
 
I've seen this car & it's really nice.

326m wheels at 19" are the very best option to have imho, if you break one then so be it.

They are always available on ebay if the worst happens.

Assuming its the auto trader one, only downsides were the alpine white (prefer mineral) and no heated wheel (pathetic but dealbreaker).

And at that price I would want the BMW dealer warranty. For a non dealer 2014 car I reckon its £5k overpriced.
 
With new P4s fitted assuming everything else was OK I'd take a punt on it and cross my fingers!

18s do fit - the 295s I bought came off a 35is.
 
I personally think the 326m wheels "they will crack; it's just when" scenario is over-hyped (by forums such as this TBH).

It's like saying the N54 'WILL' need two new turbos at sometime very soon.

Yes 326m wheels are prone to crack (no more than 296s though) and yes the N54 is prone to turbo wastegate failures. But not ALL of them!

My old E89 has 326m wheels (now owned by another forum member) with Bridgestone RFTs on all it's life (I know; it was in the paperwork) are all still in one piece and have never been repaired. The car is now ten years old.

Many, many modern large size wheels are prone to cracking; it sort of comes with the territory. You could pick almost any model specific car forum and there will be multiple threads about cracked, or deformed wheels.

And of course the 326m is the best looking wheel fitted to a Z4 IMHO
 
I swapped out my 326M 19" wheels with RFs for some aftermarket 18" with NRFs.

Totally transformed the car and the end cost to me was less than £400.
And for that outlay I got a spanking new set of tyres, whereas the ones on the 326M wheels were due to be replaced.
 
matsmith749 said:
I've seen this car & it's really nice.
Thank you for confirming how it looks.
326m wheels at 19" are the very best option to have imho, if you break one then so be it.
I prefer 18s, but like your last point.
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They are always available on ebay if the worst happens.
Not surprised. :wink:
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A... only downsides were the alpine white (prefer mineral) and no heated wheel (pathetic but dealbreaker).
At least the seats are red. As for the wheel, nor has mine, but I prefer gloves anyway.
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matsmith749 said:
So.... Getting it?
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Will go to look at it, but white - Alpine, Artic or Polar Bear - isn't my favourite, Kansas isn't as good as Nappa, the 'engine-turned metal' trim makes the interior look smaller and ... the owner's put 'M' badges on the wings :sick2: . However, it is one-owner and does have low mileage. We'll see ...
 
i've got 326 wheels which are now 10 years old - they were on runflats for about 8 years - no cracks when i switched to non runflats
 
enuff_zed said:
Bit worried that if you buy 19” crackers you’ll need a hell of a lot of cheese :rofl:
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I think you mean if you get 19"crackers it's a great excuse to buy a hell of a lot of cheese!

There are still a lot of 326m out there happily rolling around on e89's, so as Pondrew says a lot (or even most) of them are probably fine. The risk is there, but there are plenty of risks with any car and they do look spectacular...
 
I live up a farm track and I mean 300yds is basically pot holed to hell and I never had an issues with 326 wheels on R/F - just be sensible and they are the best looking wheel for certain
 
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