1996 bmw 318is upgrading rims question

Short answer: no.

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One thing, if it were me I'd go to 16" not 17". There is a penalty in terms of stiffness of ride and comfort and wide-ass 16" are enough to give you that HOLY SHIT slot car handling. 17's in my opinion aren't THAT much better and he ride is pretty severe. But that's a subjective thing and YMMV.

While there may be truth to the rumor that there is a penalty to skip the

16s and go directly to 17s, that's exactly what I did on my 325i (and later my 325iC), and I found no penalty at all. I do mostly freeway driving, and I found no practical difference in the 15s and the 17s, except that the 17s are alot cheaper.

I see no reason to go to 16s, make the jump all of the way to 17s if you are going to make the jump at all.

PS The 3 Series cars work fine with a 225/45x17. The tires fit well, and the speedo is dead nuts accurate at 80+ mph.

Last I looked, the 16" tires were the cheapest of all.