255/40/17 on the rear E36 M3?

[AM-BM]

Will they fit? got 245's at the moment. Anyone tried it?

[naetype]

Yup they will fit the wheels but they'll rub on the arches slightly. Better not or get the arches rolled.

[Neil.D]

Is there a chance of the tyre coming off the rim at higher speeds? Just as its a touch wider that it should be.

[AM-BM]

When you say rub slighty, is that with people in the back or just general?

[ASBO]

why would you want to?

245's are ample (too ample IMO). 255's will also alter the overall balance of the car.

Avoid

[naetype]

AM-BM said:

When you say rub slighty, is that with people in the back or just general?

Pretty much in general, not constantly but with any moderate to large suspension movement you will hear it clearly.

[RWDKurt]

I'm with ASBO. I've dropped to 235s at the rear and it's still over-tyred IMO.

[AM-BM]

I like the look. I don't think it will effect the handling. I'm more concerned with the front end steering feel ;-)

[ASBO]

AM-BM said:

I like the look. I don't think it will effect the handling. I'm more concerned with the front end steering feel ;-)

Erm, it will because you will up the amount of grip at the back relative to the front. In essence, you will actually reduce the amount of 'feel' you have as a result.

Having expreimented with tyre sizes on both cars I can assure you that fitting larger tyres to the rear has a dramatic effect on the way the car drives.

I cannot understand why 'looks' have anything to do with it, they are just black strips of rupper at the end of the day. unless I'm missing something?

[AM-BM]

ASBO said:

AM-BM said:

I like the look. I don't think it will effect the handling. I'm more concerned with the front end steering feel ;-)

Erm, it will because you will up the amount of grip at the back relative to the front. In essence, you will actually reduce the amount of 'feel' you have as a result.

Having expreimented with tyre sizes on both cars I can assure you that fitting larger tyres to the rear has a dramatic effect on the way the car drives.

I cannot understand why 'looks' have anything to do with it, they are just black strips of rupper at the end of the day. unless I'm missing something?

Thanks for your info. I like the look of the 255's. It looks meaner from the rear. I have had many cars and many many different wheel / tyre combinations. And am in the trade myself.
I'm well aware of any handling differences and 1cm of tread width on each rear wheel would equate to 3.92% difference per rear wheel, which I am not concerned about. I would say the wear and tear on suspension components over 10 years of use would have possibly more impact than switching to these tyres.
And driving on the roads rather than the track, I will never be at 100% full bore-track mode.

Edited by AM-BM on Thursday 19th June 13:03

[ASBO]

AM-BM said:

ASBO said:

AM-BM said:

I like the look. I don't think it will effect the handling. I'm more concerned with the front end steering feel ;-)

Erm, it will because you will up the amount of grip at the back relative to the front. In essence, you will actually reduce the amount of 'feel' you have as a result.

Having expreimented with tyre sizes on both cars I can assure you that fitting larger tyres to the rear has a dramatic effect on the way the car drives.

I cannot understand why 'looks' have anything to do with it, they are just black strips of rupper at the end of the day. unless I'm missing something?

Thanks for your info. I like the look of the 255's. It looks meaner from the rear. I have had many cars and many many different wheel / tyre combinations. And am in the trade myself.
I'm well aware of any handling differences and 1cm of tread width on each rear wheel would equate to 3.92% difference per rear wheel, which I am not concerned about. I would say the wear and tear on suspension components over 10 years of use would have possibly more impact than switching to these tyres.
And driving on the roads rather than the track, I will never be at 100% full bore-track mode.

Edited by AM-BM on Thursday 19th June 13:03

What ever floats your boat. However, as you say, I think your cash would be better spent on sorting the suspension than looks, but hey you were never going to listen to us anyway

[AM-BM]

I wanted to know if the tyres would rub, not how you think it might handle!

[ASBO]

They will and it will handle like a dog.

HTH

[M3John]

ASBO said:

why would you want to?

245's are ample (too ample IMO).

What he said ^^

[daveco]

M3John said:

ASBO said:

why would you want to?

245's are ample (too ample IMO).

What he said ^^

Really? Had them on a 325 and on the 330, both came with the car. Both regularly lost traction in the dry when pushed. Childish I know but I do think bigger tyres at the rear look 'cool'; it must go back to when I was kid and I'd judge how fast and powerful a car was by the width of the rear tyres.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

[andygtt]

had 255s on mine and they didn't rub at all.... only chucked em on as they were the same price as the 245's and looked meaner.

edited to add that the handling wasn't transformed either wy by having them on either.... but it did do mostly motorway miles.

Personally I do agree that the car is overtyred at the back

[papercup]

andygtt said:

had 255s on mine and they didn't rub at all.... only chucked em on as they were the same price as the 245's and looked meaner.

edited to add that the handling wasn't transformed either wy by having them on either.... but it did do mostly motorway miles.

Personally I do agree that the car is overtyred at the back

worth pointing out that not all 255s are the same width, widths vary between tyre manufactures. They shouldn't, but they do. So one 255 might rub...

[iguana]

Not a great fan of over tyred motors either, but my car came with 235s all round on 8j bbs & another set 235/255 toyos on gen Alpina rims, they are wider at rear 9j I think, all tyres near new, would have thought the big buggers would have tramlined & made it less fluid handling, but very suprisingly its not.

Is harder to spin up & drift in dry obviously, but is bizzarely more solid feeling in the wet, but thats perhaps the toyos being better then the f1s.

Arches have been rolled to fit in the past, is a tight fit.

[Sport Coupe]

255's were standard fitment on Alpina cars. I do how ever believe that Alpina rolled the arches to make sure there was no rubbing under load, so the only other E36's with 0EM rolled arches would be facelifted 328 Sport's and M3 Evo's.

[derin100]

Sport Coupe said:

255's were standard fitment on Alpina cars. I do how ever believe that Alpina rolled the arches to make sure there was no rubbing under load, so the only other E36's with 0EM rolled arches would be facelifted 328 Sport's and M3 Evo's.

No they weren't.

Original E36 3.0 B3 came with 265/35...the later 3.2L was dropped down to 245 with a 40 aspect ratio.

This debate has gone on long enough, in my humble opinion. As many others have already said here...255/40 WILL fit...but they WILL screw up your handling!

How do I know?

Well, for the most part I ran my B3 on 245/40 at the rear. Just before I sold it I had 255's at the rear (as 265/35 were virtually impossible to get other than at the most extortionate price). Here are some final pics of the car wearing 255's at the rear. Sure, it "looked good" with them but the handling was marred by them.

http://www.bmwclassics.co.uk/gallery/index.php?spg...

Edited by derin100 on Tuesday 24th June 21:16