widest tire on 2003 325ci sports package

sort of new to the whole tire thing and looked back for previous posts to answer my inquiry....

I am running 225 45ZR 17's on my '03 325ci coupe with the sports package....what is the widest tire width I can put on the OEM rims?

235?
Reply to
sportrider90
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Why would you want to do that?

Reply to
Dan

is this a bad thing?

Reply to
sportrider90

I think the real question would be: Is it a good thing? For asthetics? perhaps. It depends on your taste. For performance, no. There will be no gain in performance by going to a

10mm wider tire and may actually hurt your performance.

Now, to answer your original question. Can you go wider than the sport package 225/45-17? In the back, yes, you can fit a 245/40-17. In the front, no, anything wider than 225 will rub.

If you go wider in the back it's called a "staggered" setup. Many people do this to their BMWs, in fact M3's are delivered with this configuration (actually w/ 255 rear rubber). These people think it makes the car look cool, like a drag racer. However it actually upsets the handling on the car the suspension of which was designed for the same width tires front and rear. Putting fat tires on the back will cause the car to understeer worse than it already does.

But they will look cool.

Reply to
Fred W

If fat tyres are a bad thing why don't we all run on 165s?

Reply to
adder1969

"Fred W" wrote

FYI, he was specifically asking if he can put wider tires on his OEM rims. The e46 cars that came with those 245/40/17 tires in the back also came with wider rear rims (8.5" I believe). If his OEM rims are only 7.5" (and only he can tell us how wide they really are), then I wouldn't put 245/40/17 tires on them.

Pete

Reply to
Pete

No one said fat tires are a bad thing.

What people are saying that tire widths are one element of the handling equation, and must be considered along with suspension characteristics to find the best handling combination. And that most individuals don't have the resources to do this better than BMW already has.

-- Larry

Reply to
pltrgyst

..but then he went on to say BMW didn't get it right with the M3, so are you saying BMW were wrong?

Reply to
adder1969

I don't know what the back rim width is....I bought this car used, and it shows up on carfax as a fleet vechicle with sports package (no aftermarket mods relating to wheels), wrapped in 225 ZR45 17's all the way around, so I first assumed this was the standard tire measurements....then reading other postings and forums, I saw some people mention that this particular car came with staggered set-up, with 245's in the back.

if the staggered set-up is that bad, why does BMW produce staggered set-up vechicles???

Reply to
sportrider90

wrote

How do the front tires look compared to the rear ones? If the rears looks more stretched out than the fronts, then you have wider rims in the back. If they look identical, then you have the same size rims all around. Also, wider rims will usually have more lip (the distance between the edge of the rim and the spoke). 1 inch of extra lip should be quite visible with a naked eye.

Pete

Reply to
Pete

You're confused. The 325i sport package comes with 225/45ZR17 all around. The 330i sport package comes with a staggered setup with 245/40R17 rears. They have different tuning of springs and sway bars, and different wheels. You can't (shouldn't) put 245 tires on the 8" rims you have (the 330i has 8.5" rims.) If you do put on a staggered set, you will increase understeer, unless you change your sway bars.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

Reply to
mike

So that the folks who think it looks cool will have increased understeer, and therefore won't get into as much trouble?

Tom K.

Reply to
Tom K.

I wouldn't know, since I don't own an M3, and I don't know that his opinion is correct, either.

-- Larry

Reply to
pltrgyst

Sport package in the UK/europe is 18" rims on which they put 255/35 on the rear and I think they are 8.5" wide. Many of the M3 folk put 245/40/18 on their 8x18s fronts.

If you want to know what size your wheels and tyres are then go and read the numbers!

I suppose having LSD increases understeer too so should I fit an open diff?

;-)

Reply to
adder1969

Please don't confuse Pete any more! ;->

The US had 18" rims as an option, but Pete's talking about 17" so I gave examples of the 17" staggered setup.

FloydR

Reply to
Floyd Rogers

"Floyd Rogers" wrote

I'm not the one confused here. It's the OP ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) that was asking the quesiton. :)

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Hah! I'm sure.

Reply to
Fred W

No. In 2003 there was no 18" option on a 325ci. The stock wheels were

16" and the sport package were non-staggered 17".
Reply to
Fred W

Understeer is an inherently safer condition than oversteer, or even neutral steering, which would still allow a driver to generate oversteer under acceleration. Especially for inept drivers. Remember that half the owners of BMWs are below average drivers.

The real reason that BMW sells cars with a staggered wheel set-up is because the people that are buying the cars think it looks cool. It helps sell more cars. Bling, baby...

Reply to
Fred W

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