Hello everyone! I have just purchased a '07 iTouring 4-door in silver and want to upgrade my tires and wheels before I move on to any other modifications... The car came stock with P205/55 R-16.

Although I drove a lightly-modded Civic for years, I neverchanged out the rubber andwheels that camefrom theprior owner. So... What size(s) of wheels am I limited to on my new M3, assuming I keep the stock suspension and just purchase new wheels with tires? I'm not looking to go real large in diameter, and it would probably look silly anyways without lowering, but I'm mostly looking to go to a wider tire with a smaller sidewall (low-pros)... maybe in the 215/40 range? I'm assuming that the shorter the ratio, the bigger the rim needs to be to keep the relative size? I definitely don't want low pros but small-*** lookin wheels. I'm am amateur at wheels so any tips/help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you were to go with a 215/45/17 then your wheels would be almost exactly the stock size, and tires in that size are a little more prevalent and affordable.

 

215/45x17's would be a littler shorter, improving (howeverslightly) your gearing. (+8.83 revs/mile.)
225/45x17's would be just a tad bigger, improving mileage(in theory) but reducing low end torque. However, the difference is less using the 225's, and a .8" increase in width. (-3.01 revs/miles.)
In keeping with OE diameter, and revs/mile, the 225/45's are your best choice, and you'll still have some sidewall to absorb impacts.

 

Good advice...

Sometimes in car magazines I see wheel-ads that "come with tires". Maybe this is more common than I know (?) Is this something to avoidbecause the free tiresare absolute crap, or is the quality difference not noticeable andthus abetter deal (wheels+tires)?

 

I've never taken advantage of one of those ads, though I have seen them myself. Sometimes trhey seem like a pretty good deal, but you are buying what they want to sell you too.
I bought mine (17"x7"x-50mm Kosei wheels and Kumho ASX 225/45) from the Tire Rack. They will deal on both wheels and tires as a package, andyou get to choose how much you spend on tires. I have found the Kumhos to be a good compromised between price, traction andwear (<$100/zr/400AA rating.)

 

Oh, andif you haven't been trolling and haven't yet seen my wheels/tires...........



BTW: I am STILL on stock suspension too.

 

Very nice! Looks good with the white. I haven't decided if I'm going the black, brushed, or chome route... or anything else for that matter. Imay wait until I tintthe windows so I can visualize how it would look a little better. I'd like to see more pictures of silver sedans with different rims...I'm sure they're around here but I haven't found too many yet. Digging through forums gets tiresome. I will check out Tire Rack. I know my dad has boughtthrough them for hiscars a few times and been pleased with what he got.

 

Hmmm... My own personalopinion... and we all have one, just an A-Hole, silver cars look better w/lighter colored wheels, or at least black w/a lip.Black (only) rims tend todisappear under the light silver color.
Just my .02.

My wheels are med-dark gray, though they might look black in the pic. The color is described as "graphite" which I find very fitting. For me, it was a tough decision between the silver these also come in and the graphite. I chose these 'cause I was tired of cleaning off the brake dust every three day, and these hide it very well.

 

Check Treadepot.com also. I got the tires for my truck about $85 less than I could local and at least $25 less than anywhere online. But they were cheaper on the Toyos and not on some of the others.

 

Cool.... time to start shoppin around