Stock rear 135 tires/wheels on front?

[johnrando]

OK, I know this has been discussed several times... but to go to a square setup with 8.5s all the way around, I always heard it was best to get away from the 255s and go down too 245 or 235. But, I read today that someone was running 255/35 (stock size) on the FRONT, on 8.5s with no issues!? Is that really doable?

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?p=15281954#post15281954

[09mageec]

OooOo! This sounds like something I would very much enjoy, lol. Im curious as too.

[nike001]

Yes. People put smaller width tires on the front to keep the quick steering and so it feels less 'heavy'

[johnrando]

Thanks Dalton. Oh, OK. So you can do the 255s, it's just that the steering will feel lighter without them is what you're saying. Great input. So maybe I'll do the 245s, as I like the "larger tires", but lighter steering is a good thing too. Maybe that's a good compromise. Thoughts?

[nike001]

Yeah, that would work. You probably wouldn't feel that much difference with 245's VS 255's though.

Also, if you're going to be so close to rear specs in the front, you might as well just square it up so you can rotate tires if your car goes through rears faster than it does fronts.

[wsmeyer]

Jon swapped his wheels front to back to see how the front would feel. Don't remember if he said how it felt or maybe he didn't get a chance to tell before oops.

[derbo]

It works. It even clears the 135i calipers by 2mm :)

I know the extra weight will make the car feel a little more heavy in the steering.

[johnrando]

More great input, much appreciated. Maybe I'll swap 255s on the front just to see. I really don't want that heavy steering feel. It probably does make sense that 245 vs. 255 isn't much difference. Makes me think I should look into 235 all the way around.

[JupiterBMW]

Hang tight rando... lemme try and post up a pic.. I haz done this... :biggrin

Edit: Here's a pic of my old car with the OEM wheels swapped, front/back. OEM wheel and tire sizes completely swapped. I can't really comment on the driving of the car as I didn't drive it that hard. The 225 front tires (on the back in this pic) were fairly worn, so I didn't want to drive it too hard. As for the look of that size up front, IMO, it was perfect... I think 4 OEM 8.5" wheels with a 10mm spacer out back would make for a perfect stance...

7535

[johnrando]

Thanks Joop. Did the steering feel much heavier or was it not an issue?

[JupiterBMW]

I really didn't notice, of course, I don't really pay much attention to this... Its hard to get really serious about driving down in South Florida, all the roads are straight and flat, very few curves to enjoy with the exception of onramps... And we only have 2 highways, both of which are... you guessed it.... pretty straight and flat...

I may own the "Ultimate Driving Machine" but I have nowhere near the ultimate driving experience with it... :rofl

[derbo]

More great input, much appreciated. Maybe I'll swap 255s on the front just to see. I really don't want that heavy steering feel. It probably does make sense that 245 vs. 255 isn't much difference. Makes me think I should look into 235 all the way around.

Just keep in mind a 255 tire is heavier than a 225. If you already running a 245, the difference in steering wheel feel isn't that significant.

[JupiterBMW]

Rando... For what its worth, right now I'm running 245/35s all around on my new wheels (8.5"). You can drive the car at the reunion if you'd like... Get a feel for it all you want... Seeing as how you let me drive your beauty!

[Johal E32]

More great input, much appreciated. Maybe I'll swap 255s on the front just to see. I really don't want that heavy steering feel. It probably does make sense that 245 vs. 255 isn't much difference. Makes me think I should look into 235 all the way around.

IMO 235s squared would be perfect. I had 245's up front, and it looked MEAN, but it isn't necessary (I am not a race car driver, lol) and the tramlining sucked! My steering did feel heavier (I didn't mind this)..

Good luck!

[BCS_ZHP]

Rando,
When we bought Preston's car a few months ago, the previous owner told me his tires were replaced within the last year, tread was good so i didnt look too hard at them, stock staggered set up plus he had recently had brakes done. All appeared true but on the drive home the steering felt heavy to me, car tram lined badly, it was a drive with some country roads, some highway, a few on ramps, a pretty good test. So when we got home we immediately went to pull a front tire to inspect the front suspension and discovered that the shop that did the brakes had accidentally swapped front & rear tires/wheels. Preston then told me the look of the car was off to him (he followed in my car) but he didnt know why. We Corrected where each wheel was supposed to be and no more heavy steering, no more tram lining.

[JupiterBMW]

I will say this... the stock 8" wheels out back without spacers... THAT is a little silly looking... :facepalm

[johnrando]

Looking forward to driving yours Jon, thanks! Bruce, Johal, Derek, thanks for your input. 255s on the front are definitely out then, doesn't sound like there's any real benefit based on the drawbacks.

[derbo]

I will say this... the stock 8" wheels out back without spacers... THAT is a little silly looking... :facepalm

It also leads to broken AW ZHPS :(

[derbo]

Looking forward to driving yours Jon, thanks! Bruce, Johal, Derek, thanks for your input. 255s on the front are definitely out then, doesn't sound like there's any real benefit based on the drawbacks.

I do it. I want 255 all around for my car. :) maybe one of my front wheels are bent.. :whistles:

[danewilson77]

IMO 235s squared would be perfect. I had 245's up front, and it looked MEAN, but it isn't necessary (I am not a race car driver, lol) and the tramlining sucked! My steering did feel heavier (I didn't mind this)..

Good luck!

I have 235 square now. Thinking of moving up to 245 square with this next set. The only issue in doing this is sidewall Imho.

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

[wertyu78]

Jon swapped his wheels front to back to see how the front would feel. Don't remember if he said how it felt or maybe he didn't get a chance to tell before oops.

Lol!

[johnrando]

I have 235 square now. Thinking of moving up to 245 square with this next set. The only issue in doing this is sidewall Imho.

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

Curious that if 255 fits, what do you mean by sidewall being a possible issue with 245s d-dub? (Especially since you have 8's all the way around, right?) Also, curious why you might go up to 245 next?

[JupiterBMW]

I have 235 square now. Thinking of moving up to 245 square with this next set. The only issue in doing this is sidewall Imho.

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

I'm on 245/35 and I think the sidewall is perfect. Dhuuuu eeeeeeet.....

[danewilson77]

Curious that if 255 fits, what do you mean by sidewall being a possible issue with 245s d-dub? (Especially since you have 8's all the way around, right?) Also, curious why you might go up to 245 next?


I'm on 245/35 and I think the sidewall is perfect. Dhuuuu eeeeeeet.....

I guess it isn't too huge of a deal.

What I meant was if I go 245/35 from what I'm on now (235/40 - 94mm) I would lose about 8.25 mm of meat and on the roads around here, I don't want to do that.

My suspension gets beat enough.

Most likely I will go to a 245/40/18 Michelin PSS on this next set. That gives me 4mm more (@ 98mm) than what I have now and about 8.75 mm more than the oem setup (255/35).

I don't think I will visibly see a difference with 4mm more. I'm not tracking the car, and sidewall really isn't a concern for me.

[johnrando]

It seems to me that 235/40-18 square is a really close match/compromise between the front and rear, plus it's about $200 cheaper than 245s, plus no fears of heavy steering. Looks like that's what I'm going to go with, and make 'em Supersports.

[derbo]

It seems to me that 235/40-18 square is a really close match/compromise between the front and rear, plus it's about $200 cheaper than 245s, plus no fears of heavy steering. Looks like that's what I'm going to go with, and make 'em Supersports.

Hoenstly, you will notice the heavy steering for 1-2days. Afterwards, you just become numb to it. It's like drugs. gotta increase the feeeel.

[RITmusic2k]

Man, I wasn't tempted by the all-square setup until this thread got me thinking about the heavier steering feel up front. I WANT that. The scariest thing to me about this car is how easily she seems to be willing to yank around at high speeds.

[johnrando]

Hoenstly, you will notice the heavy steering for 1-2days. Afterwards, you just become numb to it. It's like drugs. gotta increase the feeeel.

lol, good to know.

[zhpnsnv]

Yea I prefer heavy steering. Had I a ZHP, I would consider 4 rears, fo sheezey. Also, if any of you are considering swapping your fronts to the rears and vice versa for testing purposes, please realize the compromising position this puts your car in handling-wise. Please do not push your car with 225s out back and 255s in the front unless you are an experienced drifter.

On my way down to DC last friday I was cruising on the TP with an E46 M3. He had the M68s on for winter wheels, but he had the fronts and rears swapped incorrectly. It looked ridiculous, and I can't imagine how terribly it handles in the snow.

[CSBM5]

I have many years of experience running 8.5/255 square on the ZHP. It helps balance out the understeer and allows front-rear rotation. I found no drawbacks other than some minor tramlining once the tires are well worn. I tried it about 8 years back after successfully running 9.5/275 all around on M5. Mike Miller later claimed that it wouldn't fit which I had to chuckle about since I'd been running it with zero issues a good while by then. My daughter bought the car from me a while back, and she installed GC coilovers and has no clearance issues with the rears up front at the desired ride height.

[johnrando]

Good input, thanks.

[derbo]

Best part, it clears GC coilovers and it clears my 135i brakes with no spacers :)

[JupiterBMW]

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?9533-FS-OEM-Style-135M-wheels

:shifty

[RVAzhp]

had to bump this...
it sounds like a lot of you guys are running 245/35 and 235/40 on front 8-inch wheels. Can i get some good pictures of these? i'm looking to "beef" up the front tires a bit when i buy new tires in the coming months. I don't care about having a square setup, i will still be running the 255's in the back just looking for better options on the front. as of now i'll be buying Bilstein Pss coilovers next month so i won't be going super low, just looking for a meaty look to the tire setup.

also, why would changing the front tire change the speedo reading? doesn't it run off a speed sensor in the tranny?

[ELCID86]

had to bump this...
it sounds like a lot of you guys are running 245/35 and 235/40 on front 8-inch wheels. Can i get some good pictures of these? i'm looking to "beef" up the front tires a bit when i buy new tires in the coming months. I don't care about having a square setup, i will still be running the 255's in the back just looking for better options on the front. as of now i'll be buying Bilstein Pss coilovers next month so i won't be going super low, just looking for a meaty look to the tire setup.

also, why would changing the front tire change the speedo reading? doesn't it run off a speed sensor in the tranny?

Someone here recently went with the same rubber on front and rear at Tire Rack's recommendation.

[johnrando]

We were talking about that last night... what does our speedo run off of (front, rear, or "transmission" as RVA said)?

[RVAzhp]

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=565730

This says tranny...and apparently all bmw speedos are off just a little bit (so messing with it a little bit more isn't a big deal).

My 1997 ford ranger is off about 7mph at 60 and closer to 10 mph around 65-70...i made a pretty big tire change there.

[RVAzhp]

now can someone show me pictures of their car with 235s of 245s on the front! thank you :)

basically i would like a look similar to this...but on stock wheels probably with some spacers.

http://www.wrongfitmentcrew.com/forum/showthread.php?885-E46-328i-18x10-et25-265-35-18-(Caution-meaty-tire-content)

[johnrando]

Thanks. Check out Joop's thread, I think he has 'em. jupiterbmw

[wertyu78]

How about 265 up front?12762


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[RVAzhp]

I'm on stock wheels homie! Will 265s even on the rear of our cars?!


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[wertyu78]

I'm on stock wheels homie! Will 265s even on the rear of our cars?!


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You can for 265's on the stock rears.


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[JupiterBMW]

now can someone show me pictures of their car with 235s of 245s on the front! thank you :)

basically i would like a look similar to this...but on stock wheels probably with some spacers.

http://www.wrongfitmentcrew.com/forum/showthread.php?885-E46-328i-18x10-et25-265-35-18-(Caution-meaty-tire-content)


Thanks. Check out Joop's thread, I think he has 'em. jupiterbmw

Here you go.... They're not "STOCK" wheels, but details are below..

Wheels: 18x8.5" ET35 (equivalent to 18mm spacer on OEMs up front and 15mm spacer on OEMs out back)
Tires: 245/35-18
Suspension: H&R sport springs (fronts only)

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k166/jdinisio/2003%20330i%20ZHP%20Pics/Car%20Pics/3FCD0503-8C89-4BD7-9AA8-7986F0358288.jpg (http://s88.photobucket.com/user/jdinisio/media/2003%20330i%20ZHP%20Pics/Car%20Pics/3FCD0503-8C89-4BD7-9AA8-7986F0358288.jpg.html)

[WOLFN8TR]

Hey John too bad you didn't take a look at my car when you were over at the house. I'm running squared 18x8.5's with 235's up front and 245's on the rear with the 5mm spacers you gave me. Looks good.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/13/gadedyta.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/13/esavazyq.jpg

[Lanister]

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=565730

This says tranny...and apparently all bmw speedos are off just a little bit (so messing with it a little bit more isn't a big deal).

My 1997 ford ranger is off about 7mph at 60 and closer to 10 mph around 65-70...i made a pretty big tire change there.

Torque App has this readout where it compares the ECU speed vs GPS speed and, around town, the GPS (actual) speed is about 2mph less.

[johnrando]

Hey John too bad you didn't take a look at my car when you were over at the house. I'm running squared 18x8.5's with 235's up front and 245's on the rear with the 5mm spacers you gave me. Looks good.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/13/gadedyta.jpg



http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/13/esavazyq.jpg

Definitely wanted to check out the latest. Next time. BTW, those were 10mm.

[WOLFN8TR]

Definitely wanted to check out the latest. Next time. BTW, those were 10mm.

For Sure! Those were 10's? oops...