Max. tire width

[Jonathan]

I have the OEM 5 spoke wheels on my coupe but I only have 195 width tires and they are not softer ZR or VR rubber. Can anyone on here tell me if I can go out to 205 or even 215 and go with a lower profile. Any tire brand recommendations (Avon?). Max size recommendations? I really prefer the OEM 5 spoke over the 16" Alpinal's. Of course choice of these two rim designs are like chocolate and vanilla on this site.

Please advise,
Jonathan

 

[x_atlas0]

As far as I know, the widest you can have without doing modifications is 205 up front and 225 in the back.

 

[30csl]

Thing is though certain tyres have different profiles so you can have two different 205 tyres and one will have a narrower tread area and different shape I think.

I seem to remember measuring cars of my own and the difference being fairly large.

 

[Philip Slate]

As for what brand to chose, check out the Tire Rack reviews. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirebran.jsp
I put some BFG g-Force Sport tires on my daily driver ('94 530iT) and really like 'em. The dry weather handling is terrific (and believe me, I make these bad boys squeal) and the wet weather traction is good, but not great...not usually a problem in SoCal (and don't let Murray catch you driving your coupe in the rain!).

 

[D B Couper]

Bigger Tires

I have the standard 14" wheels and installed Sumitomo HTR 200 tires in the 205/70 14 size after a lot of looking and measuring. While they are not a true high performance tire, they are an order of magnitude better than anything available in the day, and they were around $300 mounted and balanced on the car.

As to how they work, I have just completed the Peak to Peak Rallye which was 1,200 miles around the best roads in Colorado, running with Ferrari's, Porsche Turbos, Corvette ZO6, Aston Martin DB9 and more. As you can imagine, these fellows weren't hanging about and on the twisty bits I was able to keep up albeit with substantially more body roll. The only place I fell behind was on the long upgrades or high speed straights where I would see them disappear. These tires are very predictable, quiet, smooth and have pretty good grip. No interference issues either, despite about 150 pounds of luggage in the trunk and two passengers in a very spirited driving environment. As you can tell, I am pleased with them.

By the way, the coupe got more compliments than almost any of the "Super Cars" except a Porsche GT1 which is "a one of twenty in the world" car.

 

[3CSbeemer]

would 225/xx/14 fit on the OEM wheels?

 

[Stan]

I have 225 x 60 x 14 on all four wheels. Seven inch Alpina rims
The fenders did need to be rolled and I may have been better off with 215 on the front.

http://www.e9-driven.com/RegistryView.asp?RID=21

205 x 70 x 14 were too high and I had rubbing when I hit a bump...

 

[Stevehose]

I also like the stock wheel look and have researched htis a little. I think 225's may be to wide for both the rim and rubbing but someone else here may have some first hand experience. Attached is a comparison of diameters and how they affect the speedo/odometer accuracy. 225's would give you the closest speedo reading to stock 195's, I've had 205's with no problem. This chart is from here:

http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp

 

[G-Man]

I'm running 225/60-14 tires on 14x7 Alpina wheels with no problems on my 70 E3 2800. Problem is, only one tire manufacturer still makes a tire in this size (BF Goodrich) and it's S rated. When my 14" tires wear out, I may go with 15" rims. 14" performance tires in the US market have gone the way of the dinosaur. I've got a set of 15" E34 style 5 wheels sitting in my garage that I found on Craigslist for $100. There are a lot more decent tire choices in 15".

G-Man

 

[m_thompson]

I have 215/60-14 BFG Comp/TAs on stock rims. No rubbing at all. I will replace these with the same size, but BFG Radial T/As.

 

[gwittman]

I use to run 225/60 tires on the rear with my stock 14" wheels and they fit fine. I now run 215/60-14 all around on the stock wheels with no problems with the exception they are getting harder to find in a good high speed tire.