Winter Wheels

brack1e

Member
 Cumbria
I'm looking at fitting some winter alloys to my 2007 Zed roadster and need some advice. I have the 108 split rims which are 8x18 with 225/40r 18 tyres and 8.5x18 255/35r 18. The alloys I have seen are bmw style 44 possibly from a 3 series the sizes are 8x17 with tyre sizes 225/45zr 17, on the inside of the alloy wheel is 8j x 17 H2 15 47 if this helps.
 
Not sure what your question is :?

However the tyre and wheel sizes you are quoting are correct for winter wheels - that is the size BMW recommend on all 4 corners :thumbsup:

Can't say for sure the wheels will fit, but I would be surprised if they didn't coming off a 3 series. Someone will know I'm sure.
 
Bing said:
Not sure what your question is :?

However the tyre and wheel sizes you are quoting are correct for winter wheels - that is the size BMW recommend on all 4 corners :thumbsup:

Can't say for sure the wheels will fit, but I would be surprised if they didn't coming off a 3 series. Someone will know I'm sure.

Lol I was gonna say that isn't a question lol

But yea they will fit

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I think that BMW suggests the same size wheelsand tyres all round to enable the fitting snow chains. I have found that in most of the UK this is not neceessary as modern winter tyres can cope well. Unless you live in the mountains I think that a better compromise is to stick to the same sizes as the standard sizes. I got a set of E46 M3 wheels for my first M coupe from Ebay and fitted Pirelli Sottozeros in std M3 sizes, worked very well and sold them for a very good price to an M3 owner when I sold the car. Dont intend to use my recently acquired Z4MC in snow so wont bother with winter tyres this time.
 
On a staggered set up the weight over the axle is distributed over a great area, so provides less grip than the front. By using the same size wheels all round you reduce the rear footprint of the wheels, and so increase the weight of over the rear axle per square inch of rubber - more grip. Being an engineer, sars is much better at explaining this than me.

Agree that in the UK this doesn't matter so much, and of course you are quoting from experience of 'proper' snow I guess Jbtco, but personally I'd rather stick to the recommended sizes for winter's, firstly for insurance purposes and secondly because the rubber is cheaper, as are the wheels if you are going to buy a set specifically for winter.
 
i will be picking up a spare set of 108's this weekend with the intention of fitting 225/40/18 all around, even on the 8.5 wider rears.

Not only do BMW recommend this even with the wider rears but they are also cheaper!
 
aquazi said:
i will be picking up a spare set of 108's this weekend with the intention of fitting 225/40/18 all around, even on the 8.5 wider rears.

Not only do BMW recommend this even with the wider rears but they are also cheaper!

*like*

Need to sort out mine.
 
Bing said:
On a staggered set up the weight over the axle is distributed over a great area, so provides less grip than the front. By using the same size wheels all round you reduce the rear footprint of the wheels, and so increase the weight of over the rear axle per square inch of rubber - more grip. Being an engineer, sars is much better at explaining this than me.

No that was a pretty good explanation, give yourself a gold star :thumbsup:
 
Jbtco said:
I think that BMW suggests the same size wheelsand tyres all round to enable the fitting snow chains.
you only need fit chains to the driven wheels, so this shouldn't be a major concern :driving:
 
My view is that with the amount of snow each winter even inthe far north a staggered set up is better. I had the winter OEM same all round set up in my E92 and in other than snow it was very tail happy so for uk would go with std wheel sizes with winter tyres as best compromise.
 
sars said:
Bing said:
On a staggered set up the weight over the axle is distributed over a great area, so provides less grip than the front. By using the same size wheels all round you reduce the rear footprint of the wheels, and so increase the weight of over the rear axle per square inch of rubber - more grip. Being an engineer, sars is much better at explaining this than me.

No that was a pretty good explanation, give yourself a gold star :thumbsup:

Thanks sars... Been paying attention :oops:
 
The larger your tire footprint the less grip you have, your best going for the smallest skinniest tyres :)

Having said that had my tyres fitted yesterday 225/40 18 all round, on the Z3 anyways :)

I'm hoping the tyre fitters will be back today as they fitted one tyre back to front :headbang:

Tim.
 
TitanTim said:
The larger your tire footprint the less grip you have, your best going for the smallest skinniest tyres :)



Tim.

Only if actually on snow, and that doesnt happen that much inmost of uk.
 
Jbtco said:
TitanTim said:
The larger your tire footprint the less grip you have, your best going for the smallest skinniest tyres :)



Tim.

Only if actually on snow, and that doesnt happen that much inmost of uk.

Thought it applied to ice too ?

TBH I got the recommended winter wheel sizes because they're insurance-safe and the tyres are cheaper than staggered 18s. Overall winter tyres are simply better when the ground temperature is consistently below 7 degrees because of the different rubber compound, irrespective of weather and whatever their size.
 
Jbtco said:
TitanTim said:
The larger your tire footprint the less grip you have, your best going for the smallest skinniest tyres :)



Tim.

Only if actually on snow, and that doesnt happen that much inmost of uk.

Yepp I thought that until 2 years ago when 99.9% of the UK was blanketed in snow for 3 weeks :) My 1 Series was useless scrap for that time.

But having said that I've decided on the Vredestein Quatrac 3 all season tyres for this winter. I've spoken too a couple of 3 series guys who have run these in snow with no problems at all, theyre snow and mud certified so unless we get 6 ft of the stuff I've passed on full winter tyres and reckon all season will be good enough.

Tim.
 
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