Z3 wheel fitment

I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3. Tirerack.com
has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various wheel / tire
combinations, as you all probably know.

I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving to
an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have a +41
offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since I'm
looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?

I would like to go with the following setup. Any thoughts, pro or con?

Front 225/40-18 tire
18x8 +41 offset alloy wheel

Rear 255/35-18 tire
18X9 +20 offset alloy wheel

Thanks for any advice!


Regards

Mark

> wrote in message
m...
>I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3. Tirerack.com
>has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various wheel / tire
>combinations, as you all probably know.
>
> I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving
> to an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have a
> +41 offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since I'm
> looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
> physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
> different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?

Mark, I would go only with what Tire Rack says will fit. When I bought my
'97 Z3 2.8, the previous owner has replaced the stock wheels with M wheels.
While it looked good, I soon found out that there was not enough clearance
in the rear. I do believe the M has wider wheel wells to accomodate. With
casual driving, I did not have a problem. But when I hit a dipped section
in the road, or was driving in a manner that required more suspension
travel, I would be greeted with a terrible crunching sound of the tire
scraping the wheel well. After this happened a few times, the side walls of
the tires started getting damaged. I ended up replacing the wheels with
ones that were the same size, but had the proper offset and have had no
problems.

Hope this helps.

-=- Tom

> wrote in message
m...
>I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3. Tirerack.com
>has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various wheel / tire
>combinations, as you all probably know.
>
> I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving
> to an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have a
> +41 offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since I'm
> looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
> physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
> different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?
>
> I would like to go with the following setup. Any thoughts, pro or con?
>
> Front 225/40-18 tire
> 18x8 +41 offset alloy wheel
>
> Rear 255/35-18 tire
> 18X9 +20 offset alloy wheel
>

Although my Z3 was a '97, it had the same size 16" OEM wheels front and rear
and I felt there was too much understeer. Since a wider rear tire tends to
increase understeer, is this what you want?

Tom K.

Mark, with 17'' rims on the rear & 245x40 tires, the handling of the coupé
is a pain in the ass !
I suspect that with 18'' rims and a lower side, it will almost be impossible
to drive the car unless you only use highways or closed circuits.

Today, with 5-year experience, two kinds of tires (Dunlop Sport & Potenza
S03 Bridgestone), I'd order standard 16'' rims !

Now, it's up to you ...



> a écrit dans le message news:
...
> I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3.
Tirerack.com
> has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various wheel / tire
> combinations, as you all probably know.
>
> I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving
to
> an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have a
+41
> offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since I'm
> looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
> physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
> different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?
>
> I would like to go with the following setup. Any thoughts, pro or con?
>
> Front 225/40-18 tire
> 18x8 +41 offset alloy wheel
>
> Rear 255/35-18 tire
> 18X9 +20 offset alloy wheel
>
> Thanks for any advice!
>
>
> Regards
>
> Mark
>
>

wrote:
> I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3. Tirerack.com
> has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various wheel / tire
> combinations, as you all probably know.
>
> I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving to
> an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have a +41
> offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since I'm
> looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
> physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
> different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?

M cars definitely have wheel well flairs that the standard Z3s do not. I
can park my 1.9 Z3 next to a M or even most of the 6-cylinder non-Ms and
the difference is obvious.
The suggestion to stay with 16s is a good one, IMHO. Tires are
cheaper, and you can get some good rubber in that size.

Thanks to all !!!

Mark



"Rex B" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
> wrote:
>> I was interested upgrading the wheels and tires on my 2002 Z3.
>> Tirerack.com has an excellent site that shows the fitments of the various
>> wheel / tire combinations, as you all probably know.
>>
>> I like the staggered look, with a wider rear tire. I'm considering moving
>> to an 18" setup. Tireracks' 18"x9" rear wheels for the Z3 typically have
>> a +41 offset , however the M Roadster is typically a +20 offset.. Since
>> I'm looking for the wider look, I would like the +20 offset. Is there any
>> physical reason the +20 offset wouldn't work? Is the suspension any
>> different on the M, or are the wheel wells flaired out more on the M?
>
> M cars definitely have wheel well flairs that the standard Z3s do not. I
> can park my 1.9 Z3 next to a M or even most of the 6-cylinder non-Ms and
> the difference is obvious.
> The suggestion to stay with 16s is a good one, IMHO. Tires are cheaper,
> and you can get some good rubber in that size.