Tyres and wheel rims -- quick query....

[carlingofblack]

One for all you wheel and tyre gurus....If a 16" wheel is fitted with 225/55/16 tyres, will 235/50/16 profile tyres fit onto the same rim?

This is all to do with the infuriating situation my Father in Law is having to deal with regarding a British 850i BMW which won't pass its French MOT equivalent unless it is sitting on the 16" wheels which the manual stipulates are "standard". Our Gallic friends seem disinterested that it has worn equally standard MSport 18" rims since day one back in 1994.

THanks for any advice here. Have scoured ebay UK and Germany for rims, and found a set in Germany that have the exact requirements, but sadly the seller has not responded to my question (written in German!!!) regarding whether he is prepared to ship to France. There are loads available for 5/7 series on the above profile, but nothing specifically for the 8.

Cheers.

[AshRS250]

Yes they will. They are within tolerance.

Check this website out.

http://www.etyres.co.uk/tyre-size-calculator.htm

Between the two tyres there is a -1.99% differnece which equates to a -13mm difference in the overall circumference

225/55 being the larger of the two.

HTH

Edited by AshRS250 on Friday 15th April 20:43

[Hammer67]

http://www.tyretraders.com/Tyres_Calculator.aspx


HTH

[carlingofblack]

Cheers guys, fantastic.

[DavidHM]

nur Abholung - Käufer ist für Versand selbst verantwortlich; bin soweit als möglich behilflich

This means collection only as the buyer is responsible for his own shipping. I guess you're sending a courier to get them - the seller will be as helpful as possible he says.

[flemke]

carlingofblack said:

One for all you wheel and tyre gurus....If a 16" wheel is fitted with 225/55/16 tyres, will 235/50/16 profile tyres fit onto the same rim?

This is all to do with the infuriating situation my Father in Law is having to deal with regarding a British 850i BMW which won't pass its French MOT equivalent unless it is sitting on the 16" wheels which the manual stipulates are "standard". Our Gallic friends seem disinterested that it has worn equally standard MSport 18" rims since day one back in 1994.

THanks for any advice here. Have scoured ebay UK and Germany for rims, and found a set in Germany that have the exact requirements, but sadly the seller has not responded to my question (written in German!!!) regarding whether he is prepared to ship to France. There are loads available for 5/7 series on the above profile, but nothing specifically for the 8.

Cheers.

It will fit, no problem. There can be more actual dimensional variation between the same nominal size from different tyre-makers than there is between, say, 10mm of tread width and 5% aspect ratio in the same brand.
However...
1.) In the day, was the 8 MSport with 18" wheels not available from French BMW dealers? Just because it's not in the guy's book does not mean that it's not allowed.
2.) Have you checked that the wheels for the 5/7 won't fit on the 8? It is quite possible that, regardless of whether the precise design was available for the 8, BMW (who are not known for going overboard in putting the strongest brakes possible on their cars) used the same calipers and upright assemblies on the 5 and the 8, in which case the wheels would be interchangeable.
3.) Is the idea that you are getting some wheels/tyres that need only to get inspection approval, or would the F-i-law then use them as normal? If the latter, then you need to think a bit about tyre construction and purpose.
4.) At the same time, have a look inside the wheels on the car to see if there's enough caliper clearance for the smaller wheel. If the car came with a brake "upgrade", it may be that the bigger wheel is needed to clear a bigger caliper.

[carlingofblack]

Thanks. Point 4 concerns me, I'd hate to go ahead with all this and then find that they won't go on due to bigger calipers etc. I have driven the car, and I must say in spite of new discs and pads a little while ago, I would describe braking power as reasonable rather than good. Therefore, I think they'll be standard. He will have to check.

It is an incredibly pedantic rule. The French testers will not pass the car unless it is appearing standard to the spec they hold. BMW GB have not helped in any way, so if we are to get the controlled technique passed and the 850i on French plates, we are in their hands. 16" rims with the tyres stated is what must be worn for the test, so yes, he will have them on once every two years in order to get the car through the test, and then revert to the 18" Msport wheels it originally came with.

[flemke]

carlingofblack said:

Thanks. Point 4 concerns me, I'd hate to go ahead with all this and then find that they won't go on due to bigger calipers etc. I have driven the car, and I must say in spite of new discs and pads a little while ago, I would describe braking power as reasonable rather than good. Therefore, I think they'll be standard. He will have to check.

It's not that tough to check. If you were to post here some close-up images of the 18" wheels on the car now, we might be able to figure it out.

[Pints]

Apologies for the thread derailment, but while the French may be pedantic about this, I can see its value as it would keep horrid BarryBoy type wheels and stretched tyres off the road. Granted, common sense in such matters as the 850 would be good but it's hard to legislate for common sense.

[JustDerv]

It would only keep the horrid "BarryBoy" wheels and tyres off the road for one day a year.

[Pints]

JustDerv said:

It would only keep the horrid "BarryBoy" wheels and tyres off the road for one day a year.

But if they aren't acceptable for an MOT, they'd be illegal OTR, non? So the police would therefore be within their rights to penalise.

[E30M3SE]

If the 16" wheels are a 7.5j X 16 ET15 then there shouldn't be any issues as this is the factory fit size.

For reference BMW Styling 8 and Styling 9 were the OE fit options in this size.

[carlingofblack]

Father in Law is just about the most 'un- Barry boy ' bloke imagineable., but I'll pass that on...!

For info, the wheels it currently has is as in the picture here

http://richardlewis.org/pictures/cars/large/bmw850...

-- fitted standard by BMW at the time of sale in 1994. It is an 850ci, but almost csi specification, 4 wheel steering and electronic adaptive shocks the lot...a lovely lovely car. I'll get him to send a photo over re. the kind suggestion to take a look at the caliper clearance for 16" rims.

[Pints]

Certainly not tarring your FiL with the Barry brush, and I think the froggies are being daft not allowing factory-fitted options to pass the mot.

[carlingofblack]

Ha ha, thanks...and quite agree. Common sense doesn't seem to come into it. There are lots of E39 5 Series 16" wheels on ebay, so I think I'll locate a set for him there, and then ask the good tyre guys in town to source the tyres for it.

[E30M3SE]

E39 16" wheels will not go on without spigot rings, as E39 have a unique 74mm bore , E31 are the more usual (for BMW) 72.5mm.

Remember ET15, which most E39 16" wheels are not, they are ET20 so may need spacers as well.

[carlingofblack]

OMG this is ridiculous...! What 16" BMW wheels will go straight on then, or are there none that will fit without spacers or mods? Thanks, just starting to despair....

[E30M3SE]

Styling 8 or Styling 9's will definately fit, as they were the two types of 7.5j X 16" wheel available from new.

E28, E34 Styling 5's are 7.5j X 16 but with ET20 IIRC , not sure if they will clear the suspension upright, I would have thought that they would as 5mm is a very close tolerance to fun straight from the factory but..........

ETA, just done a quick search on ebay.de for BMW E31 felgen

Styling 9

Another set

Edited by E30M3SE on Saturday 16th April 15:59