Alpina B3 - wheels question

I am personally very inclined to your way of thinking! I've never seen a definitive answer either, admittedly.

Worth bearing in mind that 20" tyres are invariably heavier than 19" ones, so the overall unsprung mass is probably closer than anticipated.

How bad are your roads? That'd sway me toward cast wheels, as many forged wheels (with ultra-low profile tyers) end up getting bent out of shape.

I've never had a problem with the forged Mugens on the S2000, but that's comparatively light and has sidewalls. I've heard Audi owners who grumble and end up swapping out their forged for casts!

FWIW, I think the 20" look a bit stupid on a B3 but look acceptable on a B5 due to its colossal size. And the 19"s are probably less of a faff to clean.

You'd best ask on the Alpina Register - the cars are too rare for here.

I’ve got 19s on mine. I think that they look better, but that’s a personal thing, of course. The ride is better and potholes are not so much of a potential disaster if you don’t see them.

I had 20’s on a D5 and they drove me nuts : the lockable centre caps are a pain. One of them rattled, which I could never fix. Also, they tended to seize up on the wheel, which meant that tyre changes and inflating was often very difficult. Trying to prise off a hubcap with a screwdriver on an alloy wheel is no fun at all.

I spent the £2k on HUD and HK.

No, I haven’t. I’ve never felt short of braking power, though. If you’re going to be tracking it, may be worth it, but the std brakes are good.
The best option for me is the HUD. First time I’ve had it and I really miss it when driving another car. Particularly satnav in cities.

The option that gets most comments is the heated rear seats.
My mother never wants to get out of the car

A couple of photos of mine - the Alpina wheels are 20”, the winter wheels are 19s. If anything it drives better on the winters, which backs up what I’ve read in many places!

I haven't driven a B3 with the 19'' Dynamic wheels, but just in case it's of help I don't regret ordering the 20'' Classics for mine. The design and overall look was a big factor, I admit, and I took comfort from plenty of journo commentary on the quality of the ride pre-order. My previous car was a C43 estate, and the B3's ride is several orders of magnitude smoother than that was, although that's partly an unfair comparison given the Mercedes came with run flat tyres. A fair amount of my driving is in and around London, so less pothole risk, but plenty of bumps from things like expansion joints on raised road sections, and the car soaks them up. The engineering on these Alpina cars is just awesome.

But if you prefer the Dynamic design, go for it, and tick some other options with the savings! I can't find any data on the relative weight of the wheel + tyre, but it does look like the 19'' recommends tyres with a 225/40 front and 255/35 rear, compared with 255/30 and 265/30 for the 20'' Classic, so maybe worth checking that out more. You'll definitely get more sidewall cushion with the smaller wheels, but quite a difference in front axle feel?

Green would be a good choice! Good luck with everything.

That is an extraordinary bummer.

I wonder if Ronal still make the wheels for Alpina. Perhaps BBS 20s would be stronger?

Thanks guys, just as a thread hijack update, it’s another new tyre ( they are Alpina specific, although I’m not sure that I am getting an ‘ALP’ one ( the Alpina version of the Pirelli tyre) this time in any case ), it’s due tomorrow afternoon in Wales, so my wife will stay there until Tuesday, which has caused some disruption.

It’s another £300.00 on top of the £130.00 last week ( plus half a day off work) for the latest crack repair, the wheels/tyres to date must have incurred about £2.5 to £3k of unexpected expense which seems frankly ridiculous.

The only positive is that our neighbours in Wales were super helpful, they even had a trolley jack to help my wife when BMW assistance were unwilling to drive up an icy hill.

The Alpina is great, but Mrs Hats 2.0 Macan has only absorbed 4 tyres in 38k miles, it is also roomy, economical with a 525 mile range and suitably comfortable.

To think that I used to read articles about Maserati Biturbos and think to myself what kind of madman would buy something so indulgent, yet something that cannot realistically be relied upon………all that said, I’m sure I’ll still be moaning about this in another 2 years - albeit having bought another 5 or 6 tyres.

Alpina Classic are renown for being soft. In todays pothole world, the Dynamics will last longer.

I would consider tyre side wall size & wheel size in combination. Any wheel with a higher side wall will be much better on our roads.