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RE: Tires and Wheels
- -----Original Message-----
From: ToMoyer@domain.elided [mailto:ToMoyer@domain.elided]
> Well group, lets see how others feel that own older BMW's
> with stock 14" wheels. Did you know that if you want high
> performance tires now that you will have to spend the extra
> money to upgrade to 15" wheels or larger?
Yes, this has been the trend. Back when I bought my first
'90 Civic Si, you could still get high performance tires in
13" sizes. 16" was then considered fairly large and tires in
that size were pretty expensive.
> The only 14" tires available are all-season tires which to
> me are totally unacceptable.
I understand your plight. I was extremely disappointed when
Yokohama discontinued their A509 tire model. They were cheap
but worked really well on my Civic. Now, it appears that
the AVS-I is going away. I guess I wouldn't mind so much, but
they aren't replacing it with anything in 14" or 15" sizes.
I recently got rid of my Civics, so I have no need for 14" any
longer, but I hope that when it comes time for new tires for
my E34 next year or so, I can still get decent 225/60/15 tires
or I'll have to start looking at 16". Maybe I should get a set
of AVS-Is in that size since the Tire Rack still shows them in
stock...
> Everyone is on the "trendy" kick of plus 2 or more wheel/tire
> packages that in most cases do not look right on the car -
The folks buying them would cheerfully disagree! Personally,
I don't care how they look. I care about how well they work
and how much they cost.
> brakes too small, too much wheel and so little tire, not to
> mention that there is a point where too small a sidewall will
> detract from handling performance, especially if the car has
> been lowered and stiffer shocks and springs, and sway bars
> used, the car will actually momentarily leave the ground over
> bumps, thus no traction.
This is more an issue of improper suspension tuning. You
should theoretically be able to get low-profile tires to stay
on the pavement, but mix-and-match suspension/wheel/tire
shopping at mail-order houses is not the way to do it. Even
worse are the U-do-it-at-home spring coil cutters using worn
out stock shocks...
The larger problem as I see it is that _IF_ you don't want to
upgrade your suspension, your car won't even be able to make
use of the increased capabilities these low profile tires can
provide. They don't have the compliance in the carcass that
allows them to roll over a bit with a stock suspension and
not lift the inside of the tire completely off the pavement.
Road and Track actually did a comparison a couple of years
ago on a stock 5-series. The 16" actually did better on the
skid pad than the 17" (same tire model). The 17" had better
turn-in response, as you would expect, but didn't hold the
road as well. I know which feature I'd pick...
And remember -- Formula 1 cars, like the BMW powered Williams
(OBMWC), are still required to use 13" wheels. CART uses 15".
...
> So the question, go for 15" wheels (not too many styles to
> choose from anymore) and hope that the next time tires are
> needed that there are still 15" high performance tires
> available, while adding a bit of handling performance and
> still having some forgiveness in the seat of your pants, or
> spend even more money for 16" wheels and tires, get marginal
> performance on rougher roads, but "look" cool to the "tuning
> trendy" crowd?
If I were spending money on new wheels, I wouldn't hold my
breath that 15" high-performance tires were going to remain
available for more than another year or two. How long do you
plan to keep your car?
Hey -- don't feel bad -- you can probably sell your old wheels
to a track junkie. If the new owner of my old E28 didn't take
my nasty, dirty old TRX wheels with the car (fool...), I'd have
to pay to get them dismounted so I could bring them to the
junkyard. Or make coffee tables out of them...
Regards,
Mike Kohlbrenner
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