[LokiM5]

Hello all,

This is my first post to the main board, so I suppose it's a bit of an introduction, too. I recently purchased from my father a 2002 Chiaretto Red M5 (he replaced it with a new E46 M3 with plans to upgrade to an E60 M5 in a couple of years). The car is in very good condition, but I fear that like many people my age (21), I'm always afflicted with the upgrade bug. Computers, home theater, my previous vehicle (2003 Supercrew F150), and now my Beast. Thus, the odyssey begins...

So, after exhaustive analysis, I've decided that I like the look of the stock E39 M5 wheels in terms of design. In fact, the only thing I've considered doing is getting the 5mm spacers from TireRack.com and getting some OEM rears to put on the front to reduce understeer.

However, since I've come home for the summer from school, my Beast has been sitting next to my father's new M3 (with the competition package), which has the very nice 19" alloys. Now, I don't normally have a keeping up with the Joneses mentality, but with those big 19" wheels sitting next to my Beast... well, it just made me feel inadequate!

So, I've been rummaging around the board's old posts, and came across this link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...&category=43959 and I e-mailed the seller. He said that he can get me the replicas in any width (either 8 or 9.5) all the way around for $1276 shipped.

I have three questions:

First, will replica wheels be inherently inferior to other aftermarket wheels (or the OEMs) in terms of strength and reliability?

Second, will 19" wheels that are 9.5" wide fit on the front end without chassis modification and/or rubbing, even with the 5mm spacers? Or if I'm going 19", should I just get 9" or 8" wheels on the front?

Finally, will 19" wheels make the speedometer and odometer inaccurate? Since they're 1/18th bigger, then I could imagine how a reading of 90mph with 19" wheels would be 95mph in reality (ignoring the fact that the speedometer reads slow). Or would one just get thinner tires to account for the difference?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

New and happy beast owner,
Lyn :M5launch:.

 

[ard]

Welcome!

Congrats on the purchase- I'll bet your dad made a killing on the deal..

Here is my 2 cents on the aftermarket wheels: there is no way to know if they are inferior or not. They might be the same, better or worse. They might be made by the same mfg BMW used and still be worse. It is an unknown. Do not believe a dam thing any of these guys tell you about oem... most jsut think that means 'not bmw'.

Personally, having just bent a front rim on a pot hole, and hearing multiple bent rim complaints, I cannot see less sidewall in my future.

Regarding the speedo- as long as the tire diameter is unchanged then the wheel size is irrelevant. Tire diamter is found on tire rack under specs... the 285/30-19 will have a listing for overall 'rolling diamter'... yopu need to match that number to the number found for the stock rubber. Alternatively, you cna just mathc the 'revolutions per mile' numbers.

Regarding rubbing/fit- it isn't the rim dimension that creates the problem, it is the tire diamter and profile as well as the rim offset. When making changes from stock, you need to very carefully determine the new wheel dmensions and see that it fits into the same general dimensions as the stock. In this case, we know an 18x9.5 stock wheel with rear stock rubber will work- a new 19" wheel needs to have the same offset, sidewall profile, tread width and diamter to work.

If you only drive on a track, or live in a state without potholes, the 19 is fine...

Otherwise resist the tempttion to toss function out the window in prefernce for form. I'm planning on putting 18x9.5 on the fronts for performance.

I'm reminded of those lowered rice rockets with the wheels splayed out and the springs cut down to get that low rider look- and guys driving around getting the crap beat out of themselves on every bone-jarring bump.... but they look cool, huh?

 

[bmwusa]

congrats on your new beast, I am not sure about the wheels, but I feel Ard is probably right, the wheels could be better or the same or even possibly worse then OEM, I think its hard to tell without examining the wheel, if you wanted to spend more I bet the OZ superlaggas, not sure about the spelling, would look nice on a red car, Josh