Wider tires on same wheels

[aNoodle]

I'm shopping for new tires, and I'm thinkinig about going with the larger size tires for my wheels that are listed in my door jam. I'm currently running 205/55r16. I'm thinking about going to 225/50r16. Discount Tires has a cool calculator (http://www.discounttire.com/dtc/brochure/info/tireMath.jsp) that gave me these results.....

Sidewall Height: -0.1"
Section Width: +0.79"
Overall Diameter: -0.2"
Circumference: -0.7"
Revs per mile: 836.01 vs. 836.69 or .68

The biggest difference is that the tires will be almost an inch wider. My question for you guys out there is what sort of changes should I expect on the feel of the car with more rubber? Will I notice any difference? Will I have to turn the wheel more, less, will the wheel stiffen up? Is it really not gonna change anything much? Would anybody recommend making the switch?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Big Daddy]

I run wider tires than stock on the rear of my M roadster. I believe it makes for better handling! Besides it looks cool!

 

[Tom]

Again I agree with Big Dan. Wider tires offer better handling and braking. The drawback to wider tires is that it makes your car less fuel efficient. Since you are sticking with the same tires, you'll notice very little difference with the fuel economy.

 

[Kirby]

Last month I went from 205/60R15 to 225/45R17 (new rims) on the 325i. I expected a stiffer ride, primarily due to the shorter sidewall. However, the ride actually is NOTICEABLY softer and quieter. I attribute that to the design and quality of the tires, I went from OEM quality Continentals to Pirelli P Zero Neros.

There is no noticeable difference in steering effort at all. Of course, as expected, handling is vastly improved over the old Continental "Flintstone Rockhards". My guess is that the quality and brand of tire you choose will have a much more noticeable effect than the change in width. The change in width will increase the contact patch, which is going to provide a little more traction and grip in corners.

If it were me, I'd probably go for it.

 

[HornyHornet]

I went from 225/45/17 to 245/45/17. Reason was no one and I mean no one had the PZero Nero M+S that I wanted. Every website was out of the OEM size to included TireRack. It increase of course 10mm in width and .4" in diameter (within 1.5%). I can say that with the wider tires the car is much more crisp.

 

[aNoodle]

Thanks guys for the input! [bmwdance]

I think I'll go for the wider tires...only drawback seems to possibly be gas mileage but that could be offset by the type of tread too.

BigD, so you went with staggered tire sizes, different in the back than the front? Is that on the same wheels or your M has larger wheels in the back?

 

[Big Daddy]

M's come with staggered wheels and tires. Factory tire size on the M roadster is front 225/45/17 and rears are 245/40/17. My rear wheels are 9 inches wide and I believe the fronts are 8 or 8.5. The big difference is the offfset.

 

[aNoodle]

That's a lot of rubber! Those can't be cheap to replace...but I guess you get what you pay for...they must cling like crazy.

 

[Big Daddy]

I am told that 295's will fit under the roadster with no mods. I'd like to try it!

 

[frolf]

295's in a roadster, HOLY CRAP!!!

we can only squeeze 245's, 255's rolled on e36 coupe/sedans

 

[gizzy]

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong on this, but I would think that wider tires will only benifit you on dry ground. I would think that you would have a higher tendency to hydroplane on water since the tires would not be able to displace the water as quickly. Snow would also be an issue as the tire would try to ride on top of the snow more due to weight/sq inch being reduced.

If I were only driving the car in good weather, I would love to have wider tires.

 

[Big Daddy]

Gizzy your correct on the hydroplane issue, although some tires disperse water better than others a wider tire in general will hydroplane quicker. And I do only drive the roadster in fair weather.

 

[andreyiv]

Gizzy, you are also correct on the snow issue. If you compare performance of the same tire just different size, you would get better grip in snow with skinnier tires.

 

[aNoodle]

Thanks for everyones help on the tire question. In the end I went with the wider 225/50r16. Here are a couple pics.....

 

[frolf]

that last picture is disgusting. not so much that its a john kerry sticker


but politics won't cross my car.... ever. looks great though

 

[///M SPEED]

aNoodle, you car looks just like my old 2000 328i. I had the Fern Green Metallc with tan leather. It had the same wheels too. I Loved that car. It only had 38K miles when I sold it. I shoud post pics of it sometime...

BTW, your car look great. Love the new tire size.

 

[aNoodle]

that last picture is disgusting. not so much that its a john kerry sticker


but politics won't cross my car.... ever. looks great though

Haahahahahahahahaah....LOL

aNoodle, you car looks just like my old 2000 328i. I had the Fern Green Metallc with tan leather. It had the same wheels too. I Loved that car. It only had 38K miles when I sold it. I shoud post pics of it sometime...

BTW, your car look great. Love the new tire size.

Thanks man. Yeah, post some pics....we love pics! I'm sure you don't miss cleaning these wheels...they are a biyotch. 38k and you sold it? I'm going on 125,000 miles and she's just getting warn in.

 

[///M SPEED]

Thanks man. Yeah, post some pics....we love pics! I'm sure you don't miss cleaning these wheels...they are a biyotch. 38k and you sold it? I'm going on 125,000 miles and she's just getting warn in.

Yea, I don't miss cleaning those wheels. They are a major time consuming pain. They sure look good though. My ///M wheels aren't that much better though.

Yep, I sold it to buy the M3. I think it was a good trade....