Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
You're right 
Not sure where I formed that info.
Not sure where I formed that info.
Car Tyre size. Advice please????
- Thread starter strummer
- Start date
martin clark
pinko bodger
I know which I'd rather drive though
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Both
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
My 1er Coupe is longer, taller, wider and heavier than an E30 M3.......
Greg
2t5b
there's a write up of a direct comparison somewhere. The M3E still has it.I know which I'd rather drive though
one of my friends had one when he was 18. Grrrr
Edit: this is it
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/278245/evolutions_bmw_e30_m3_v_123d.html
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
So a five door hatchback turbo diesel roughly speaking sticks with an M3. One of them you can drive every day and not worry, the other in lhd only needs looking after to maintain its rarity value.
I love the M3, but I'd be scared of ruining it!
I love the M3, but I'd be scared of ruining it!
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
You just have to be sure that the 18" wheels will fit over the brake rotors.
I agree that the Pilot Supersports ride better than most other max performance radials, I'll be putting them on my GTI as soon as I wear out the crap all-season rim protectors that are on it now. It doesn't hurt that they're about $50/corner less expensive than the Bridgestone/Conti/Dunlop/Pirelli competition, and have long tread life too.
For the OP, if you have trouble with scraping the rims on the curb, going from 19" to 18" won't make much of a difference, you'd have to go to a 60-series or worse and that just won't work on your car. What you can do, though, is get tires designed to mount on a Mercedes, they usually specify a protective ridge on the sidewall.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Yep. My Merc has them. And they're very effective.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I had an opportunity to buy an E30 M3 back in 2002 but after driving one back to back with an E30 325i Sport, the 6 pot won. I don't drive every where at 10/10ths all the time so it didn't suit me and I much prefer the m20 engine over an S14 .
Now, an Alpina b6 3.5, that'd do it for me.
Time for a bit of gratuitous car pr0n
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Yum
Odd. The rolling radius of the front and back wheels is different by 1%. At any given speed the rear wheels will be rotating faster than the fronts. If the fronts are rotating at an equivalent road speed of 70mph the rear will be doing 70.7mph
Current:
Front: 1972.72mm
Back: 1953.11mm
The rears should really be fitted with 285 tyres to maintain the rolling radius front/back.
With 285 rear:
Front: 1972.72mm
Rear: 1971.21
That reduces the difference to 0.08%
To be honest I've never bothered to check how other cars with different tyre widths front/back vary, but it does seem odd to have such a variation which could be solved easily with a different sized tyre. If it were a power thing and a narrower tyre would be problematic and no suitable profile was available that would make sense. But this particular combination doesn't make sense to me.
Personally, if it were really causing the car to be unbearable to drive I'd go for the smaller wheel/higher profile option and accept the probable handling compromise on steering reaction and cornering stability. In all honesty though not likely to be that huge. The flip side would be 18" wheels are likely to be lighter and so you may actually gain a smidgen of acceleration.
True. But not very likely to be an issue given it's not a balls to the wall sports car. Most road cars have significant space between wheel and brake disc/caliper.
As you say, best to check though.
eddie pugh
pfm Member
GTM
Does it really matter if the front and rear wheels are rotating at slightly different speeds. After all its not a 4 whhel drive
eddie
Does it really matter if the front and rear wheels are rotating at slightly different speeds. After all its not a 4 whhel drive
eddie
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
Conti Sportcontact2 is a legacy product, at least two generations behind the current iteration of that series. I had them on a 2007 GTI and thought they were fine, but you won't get much more than 25K miles out of them. They're grippy, good in the wet, but maybe not the last word in turn-in responsiveness.
I think the Michelin Pilot Supersport is the pick of that class of tire.
I think the Michelin Pilot Supersport is the pick of that class of tire.
Greg
2t5b
I'd agree with this ^
Greg
2t5b
wholly agreeI had an opportunity to buy an E30 M3 back in 2002 but after driving one back to back with an E30 325i Sport, the 6 pot won. I don't drive every where at 10/10ths all the time so it didn't suit me and I much prefer the m20 engine over an S14 .
Now, an Alpina b6 3.5, that'd do it for me.
Time for a bit of gratuitous car pr0n
It's just a 120d Coupe:
I've driven a 135i, and boy is that a great engine. However, I do too many miles and would end up in jail!
IMO the M135i is/was the best of the entire BMW range. For ME preferable to any of the 'real' M cars. Will be interesting to see the new 2 series replacement...