What rims fits my 245/40-R17 tires?

Zmirzephyr

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Hello! I´m looking for some rims with a more agressive look. These are what I have fitted today. I´d like to have more spokes (something like the picture below) The only issue is that I dont know which size of rims fits my brand new tires. The tire size is 245/ 40 - R17 (Rear) And 225/45 R17 (Front) a Any help or recommendations would be appreciated.
 
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g8jka

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Style 78's like above (but one piece not splits) usually come in a staggered set up and the rears will take the 245/40 tyres. The fronts are 7.5 width and usually take a 225/45/17 tyre and the rears are 8.5 and take a 245/40/17 tyre.
 

Zmirzephyr

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O I was wrong. Its 245/ 40 R17 at the rear and 225/45 R 17 at the front.
 

g8jka

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O I was wrong. Its 245/ 40 R17 at the rear and 225/45 R 17 at the front.
That sounds right for the wheels you have, originally from the M3 in staggered fitment so them tyres sizes are correct. And will be spot on for a set of staggered style 78's. They are the most common sizes for a staggered setup in 17".
 

g8jka

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Are the rims I have today stock for my 97 1.9?
Looks as if they were an option for the Z3. They were mostly found on the E36 M3, called M3 Contours or Style 23.

Screenshot (21).png


This shows vehicles that had the option of them being fitted. The 1.8/1.9 is on there but it looks like they were the same size all round therefore should have tyres the same width, probably 225/45/17. You may have the wider set fitted to the rear which accomadate the wider tyres, unless they have the wrong tyres fitted or are stretched. You would need to look at the width of the rims which should be stamped on the back of the wheel.
 

Scooblitz

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O I was wrong. Its 245/ 40 R17 at the rear and 225/45 R 17 at the front.
With the tyres you have, it is likely they could have been intended for a staggered setup up. In essence, the tyres could fit a whole host of different 17" inch wheels. Some of the combinations will be with in BMW advised parameters and some of them would be on the side of 'stance' or commonly known as stretching. This is typically done to tyre treads to fit under the wheel arch as per MOT law. For some, they like the looks.

In terms of fitting these wheels and tyres together in a lesser aggressive style i would recommend:

Front 225 45 17 with wheel width 8J or less - Offset ET30 will fit and up. An 8.5j on the front could work but offset would need to be ET35+ at very least.

Rear 245 40 17 9J et9+ - The rears offer huge wheel tyre combo's the fronts are the limiting factor. Essentially 3 series e36 front fitment. % series e39 rear aside from spigot rings.

Currently looking at rims myself and down the rabbit hole of 'wheel fitment'. Depending on what you are looking to achieve, a combination can be made. However, what i've post above will work to achieve a fit without the need for tyre stretch.
 

Zmirzephyr

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Hello guys I'm back! Still have the z3 around, imagine it will stay in the family for quite many years to come. Still interested in this thread though. I still have the same rims as I did when I posted this thread. The only issues I have with them is that I think there is "too much tire" on the fronts. Up front now is 225 45 17, would it be possible to mount 225 40 17 tires on the same rims?

Best regards Jesper
 

the Nefyn cat

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You need to keep the rolling circumference the same, that's why there are 45 profile tyres with 225 width, and 40 profile with 245s. The Z3 is very sensitive to different sizes, back when I had new tyres fitted to one end of my staggered setup and left it a week to have the others done it sent the DSC crazy, just didn't like it at all, and that was just having worn-out tyres and new tyres at the same time. Changing the profile from 45 to 40 will be even worse. Try https://www.willtheyfit.com/ or one of the others out there in googleland to see how much it'd change things to swap sizes.
 

Zmirzephyr

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Thanks for the input! I wounder, how come ýou can change to 18 inch wheels and so forth. I thought the only difference would be a lower front end and a slightly more inaccurate speedometer. Can someone confirm this?

Best regards
 

the Nefyn cat

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Like I said, the DSC wants all the wheels to be turning at the same speed or else it gets carried away with itself. Fitting 18s or 19s is fine so long as you keep the overall size of the tyre the same, with 17s that means 225/45, with 18s 225/40, with 19s I went to 215/35 to keep it as close as possible to the original size. The speedo drive is off the diff, so not affected by changing the front tyre size, but will be affected if you change the rear sizes, as will the gearing. Again, putting the sizes into one of the comparison calculators available on-line will tell you how much things will be altered by changing sizes and profiles.
 
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