235s all round on E36 M3?

[kusee pee]

For the track I'm thinking of running 235/40/17s all round on 7.5J rims front and back rather then the staggered wheels with 8.5J at the back. Are there any problems with this or will all be OK? TIA.

[taffyracer]

7.5 might be too small, i used to run 235's on 8" and that was a tad tight, 8.5-9" is what you really need for that size to run properly IMO

[kusee pee]

taffyracer said:

7.5 might be too small, i used to run 235's on 8" and that was a tad tight, 8.5-9" is what you really need for that size to run properly IMO

Cheers Taffy. I've got a set of wheels with them on (Evo fronts) and they seem fine. Will I experience any rear-end problems on track with this size all round or should I stick with wider rears? And will it look silly with narrower wheels on the back or am I being picky?

Edited by kusee pee on Saturday 24th January 20:01

[cosworth330]

I have just fitted new R888's 235/40/17 to 8.5J rear E36 M3 rims & they are about right. I am going with 225/45/17 on the front 7.5J rims as 235 looks to wide. don't forget trackday tyres like R888's appear bigger than normal road tyres as the shoulder & side wall are different. If your using normal rd tyres you will get away with 235 on the front 7.5J rims but i think you'd be better off with 225/45/17.

Simon.

[kusee pee]

cosworth330 said:

I have just fitted new R888's 235/40/17 to 8.5J rear E36 M3 rims & they are about right. I am going with 225/45/17 on the front 7.5J rims as 235 looks to wide. don't forget trackday tyres like R888's appear bigger than normal road tyres as the shoulder & side wall are different. If your using normal rd tyres you will get away with 235 on the front 7.5J rims but i think you'd be better off with 225/45/17.

Simon.

Cheers Simon. Will the narrower rims look silly on the rear of the M3 or am I being paranoid? Will they fit fine?

[_Neal_]

ETA - Sorry, just understood you're talking about narrower wheels on the rear. I probably wouldn't mess with rim sizes front/rear, but that could just be me being conservative.

I do think running front-sized rims on the rear risks making the rear look undertyred and the stance of the car looking a bit "funny".

Edited by _Neal_ on Saturday 24th January 22:32

Edited by _Neal_ on Saturday 24th January 22:32

[HarryW]

I'm running 235/40/17 all round on my M3 wheels. 7.5" at the front and 8.5" at the rear =]

[kusee pee]

HarryW said:

I'm running 235/40/17 all round on my M3 wheels. 7.5" at the front and 8.5" at the rear =]

I think I'm going to do the same. At the moment I've got 4 Evo 7.5J 'fronts' with 235s on and another identical staggered set with my slicks on. I'm going to swap them over so I have the staggered set on the car for the road and the slicks on the 7.5Js for the track.

[MitchT]

The three litre E36 M3 has 235s all round as standard, so I guess it wouldn't look silly on an Evo, though I believe BMW made the change to 225 (front) and 245 (rear) on the Evo to improve handling, so you might want to keep that in mind if you are planning on driving the car hard.

[dan101smith]

For track use a lot of M3 owners go back to the same size front and rear, as it apparently helps dial out some understeer.

[taffyracer]

235 all round is not a problem, it's what i used to run both in 17" and 18" slicks, its fine, but i wouldn't stick a 235 track tyre on a 7.5", it really does need something bigger IMO

[swtmerce]

I have 7.5" wheels all round (328i) and it runs 225 R888's. As taffy says, I think a 235 track tyre is too much for a 7.5" wheel. Indeed, Toyo for the 888 and Hankook for the RS2 recommend at least 8" for 235 width tyres.

[kusee pee]

Cheers guys. The wheels are at kwikfit as I type and I'm going for:

Slicks on the 7.5J all round
Road tyres of 235/40/17 on 7.5J and 8.5J. I'll use these on the track sometimes but they will also be for the road.

I'm looking forward to the handling with the same size tyres all round, will report back if any difference.

[Cliffv8]

MitchT said:

The three litre E36 M3 has 235s all round as standard, so I guess it wouldn't look silly on an Evo, though I believe BMW made the change to 225 (front) and 245 (rear) on the Evo to improve handling, so you might want to keep that in mind if you are planning on driving the car hard.

yep, just looked at my hand book for my 3L and it recommends 235's allround even if your running staggered rims. I've actually got 245's Toyo Proxes on the back of mine on a the 7.5" rim

[RWDKurt]

Also running 235s all round on staggered rims - better IMO than the 225 / 245 combi that the car comes with - less understeer. I believe the limited edition M3GT comes with 235s on staggered rims also.