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Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 13:55 EST
Subject: E30 M3 wheels

>>I need another set of wheel for my E30 M3.  I see all sorts of wheels
>>advertised in ROundel but I'm not sure which will fit.  I have
>>been told that and 5,6,7, series wheel will fit.  IS this true?  What
>>is the maximum circumference?  16"? 17"?

>You may want to be careful about 17" rims.  From a friend who's doing
>research into this very subject, same car, he's hearing a lot of
>*negative* press about using 17s.  Apparently, only 215s fit, and the
>sidewall thickness is pretty small for normal US roads and bumps.
>One contact had to discard a set of Racing Dynamics 5 spoke 17 rims
>due to serious road bumps causing rim flat spots.  Stick to 16s, or smaler.


  You have to be careful, but there are 17" wheels out there that will
work just fine. I'm running 17" 3 piece OZ Racing wheels on my '90 M3,
with no problems. I'm not exactly sure of the sizes, but if anyone's
interested, I can look them up when I get home tonight. I think the
front wheels are 17x7.5 with 215 45 17 tires, the rears are 17x8.5 with
245 40 17 tires. Offset I think is 23mm front and rear.

  Clearance is tight, and I did have one initial clearance problem with
rears, but solved it by trimming off the undercoating which hung over
the wheel well lip in a few spots.

  As far as durability is concerned, I have about 25k miles on the
wheels with no flat spots. I don't mean to bash Racing Dynamics wheels,
but I've heard of their 17" (and smaller) 5 spoke wheels bending quite
easily. I wouldn't conclude that all 17" wheels will suffer road damage
from low profile tires. The strength of the rim has a lot to do with it.

  In case anyone wants to know, I run D40M2's on my wheels and have
about 25k miles on them with no complaints.

  BTW, my car has stock suspension. I do know a couple of people who
run 17" wheels with lowered suspension with no problems.

Ron Checca
'90 M3 Street
'88 M3 Track
'87 325es Road


P.S. As a test, I'm going to check out my 17" wheels on my '88 M3 Track
     car which has Group-N Suspension to see if they'll fit.