1er owners vs. 3er owners

[pj.rodriguez]

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a general trend (and I mean general, so don't apply it to everyone) that the 1er owners are more about performance and the 3er owners are more about the aesthetics and external mods? I swear I read on the e90post a lot about air bag suspension, slamming the car straight to the ground, "how low can you go" threads, fat rims, tall rims, chrome rims, deep dish rims, etc.

Then you come here to the 1er forum, and sure there are some who like doing those kinds of things, but for the most part, everyone here likes to acknowledge the engineering that went into the 1 series and just makes performance upgrades without the need to slam to the ground (considering the ride height is almost ideal from the factory). No one here tries to go 20" rims with fender flaring.

Everyone here seems to be more concerned about performance, which I think is a really cool observation. Upgrading to get the most out of our 1-series and not to trash it early.. ehem.

Anyway, I just thought I would let that off of my mind to see what the fellow 1-series owners and some 3-series owners that come here, have to say about this.

Thanks!

[Kgolf31]

N54 owners are the same across the board, they want power. You see other things with 3 series because they are easier and cheaper to acquire.

[631twentyeighteye]

most of the tristate area is concerned with msport/m3 front LCI bumpers and hoods in their 335xi's. The 3 series aftermarket is cheap compared to 1 series aftermarket and is way more plentiful. especially used things.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by pj.rodriguez

1er owners are more about performance and the 3er owners are more about the aesthetics and external mods?

I guess you haven't seen any of the Plasti-Dip, front splitter, or wheels threads here....

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Originally Posted by pj.rodriguez

Is it just me

Yes its just you.

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by pj.rodriguez

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a general trend (and I mean general, so don't apply it to everyone) that the 1er owners are more about performance and the 3er owners are more about the aesthetics and external mods? I swear I read on the e90post a lot about air bag suspension, slamming the car straight to the ground, "how low can you go" threads, fat rims, tall rims, chrome rims, deep dish rims, etc.

Then you come here to the 1er forum, and sure there are some who like doing those kinds of things, but for the most part, everyone here likes to acknowledge the engineering that went into the 1 series and just makes performance upgrades without the need to slam to the ground (considering the ride height is almost ideal from the factory). No one here tries to go 20" rims with fender flaring.

Everyone here seems to be more concerned about performance, which I think is a really cool observation. Upgrading to get the most out of our 1-series and not to trash it early.. ehem.

Anyway, I just thought I would let that off of my mind to see what the fellow 1-series owners and some 3-series owners that come here, have to say about this.

Thanks!

This is somewhat true, but not necessarily a good thing. A lot of people here are very close-minded about aesthetics here.

Stretched tires and air bags are a definite no-no and will result in the owner getting flamed for not having wider tires. I find it funny that the performance-focused people get almost visibly angered when they see stretched tires.

[mike@x-ph.com]

there are a lot more 3 series than 1 that is why you get all kind of 3 series owners.
You guys have a more exclusive club haha

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Tiny Chainsaw

This is somewhat true, but not necessarily a good thing. A lot of people here are very close-minded about aesthetics here.

Stretched tires and air bags are a definite no-no and will result in the owner getting flamed for not having wider tires. I find it funny that the performance-focused people get almost visibly angered when they see stretched tires.

Probably because it endangers others.

[HondaGoneRogue]

^^Wonder which camp he's in.

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Probably because it endangers others.

You're actually one of the few 1er owners to actually say this.. others usually go with

"eww so ugly "

"Why don't you just put wider tires on that thing for extra traction?!"

"Go buy INSERT JDM CAR instead! You make us enthusiasts look bad"
etc etc

And in the defense of stretched tires, tires are RUBBER and have an insane amount of flex. If you are stretching the tire to the point where you are endangering others, you will know as the tire will simply not hold air and you won't even be able to install the tire without a bunch of extra work.

I'm just talking about a LITTLE stretching, not even the extremes of stretching which you see on stanceworks and other sites like that. There's proof on this forum everywhere that a little stretch will stir quite a bit of controversy, this is best seen on jzhang's post about his 8.5 on 215 and 10 on 245.

But the thing is, a typical 1er owner will look at a 245 tire on a 9.5 inch rim and act like they just saw the crown of a baby's head popping out of a woman's birth canal LOL. Hellaflushed cars is probably a 1er owners nightmare, baby's heads popping out everywhere with too much camber OH GOD hahahah.

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by HondaGoneRogue

^^Wonder which camp he's in.

I like a little stretch, but I'd never track my car with stretched tires because that's just dumb. I'd have two sets of tires if funds would allow for that! I don't race on the streets so I'd see no benefit of running super wide tires there so I'd opt for a little stretch.

Basically I'm in between. I understand where both types of people are coming from, but it's kind of ridiculous of how 1er owners react to a little tire stretch sometimes. I dislike that because they are overreacting way too much. A common example would be, OP stretched his tires by a LITTLE bit and yet people are flaming OP like he just painted the car pink and put 20 inch spinners on the car..

If it's not your thing then cool, but no need to flame OP. It's funny how almost all 1er owners have pretty much the same mentality, but not surprising since everyone here reached upon the decision of buying this car for mostly its performance aspects and not aesthetics.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by Tiny Chainsaw

I like a little stretch, but I'd never track my car with stretched tires because that's just dumb. I'd have two sets of tires if funds would allow for that! I don't race on the streets so I'd see no benefit of running super wide tires there so I'd opt for a little stretch.

Basically I'm in between. I understand where both types of people are coming from, but it's kind of ridiculous of how 1er owners react to a little tire stretch sometimes. I dislike that because they are overreacting way too much. A common example would be, OP stretched his tires by a LITTLE bit and yet people are flaming OP like he just painted the car pink and put 20 inch spinners on the car..

If it's not your thing then cool, but no need to flame OP. It's funny how almost all 1er owners have pretty much the same mentality, but not surprising since everyone here reached upon the decision of buying this car for mostly its performance aspects and not aesthetics.

For one thing, if people post their pictures on the internet, then don't like the public feedback, tough shit. If they can't take it, then they should keep their pictures to themselves.

Secondly, people putting extremely narrow tires on their car, such that the rim hangs out pass the tire wall is got to be one of the dumbest mods to do. On the other hand, I have no problems with someone putting a narrow tire on a wide rim, as long as it is within wheel/tire specs, so they have a bit of a stretched look.

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

For one thing, if people post their pictures on the internet, then don't like the public feedback, tough shit. If they can't take it, then they should keep their pictures to themselves.

Secondly, people putting extremely narrow tires on their car, such that the rim hangs out pass the tire wall is got to be one of the dumbest mods to do. On the other hand, I have no problems with someone putting a narrow tire on a wide rim, as long as it is within wheel/tire specs, so they have a bit of a stretched look.

I definitely agree with all your statements! But what I'm saying is I don't like the general reaction of this forum to stretched tires, I always felt that this forum was very open minded to mods, but once I saw the reaction on stretched tires I felt like people were flaming OP(Person who posted stretched tire pics) very unreasonably. OP's feelings are irrelevant and I can care less if OP deleted his account and never returned to this forum lol.

[dcho]

over time the demographics shouldnt be too different. as was mentioned earlier in the post, the aftermarket community was pretty limited for the e82 which has a big influence on modding trends.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Tiny Chainsaw

You're actually one of the few 1er owners to actually say this.. others usually go with

"eww so ugly "

"Why don't you just put wider tires on that thing for extra traction?!"

"Go buy INSERT JDM CAR instead! You make us enthusiasts look bad"
etc etc

And in the defense of stretched tires, tires are RUBBER and have an insane amount of flex. If you are stretching the tire to the point where you are endangering others, you will know as the tire will simply not hold air and you won't even be able to install the tire without a bunch of extra work.

I'm just talking about a LITTLE stretching, not even the extremes of stretching which you see on stanceworks and other sites like that. There's proof on this forum everywhere that a little stretch will stir quite a bit of controversy, this is best seen on jzhang's post about his 8.5 on 215 and 10 on 245.

But the thing is, a typical 1er owner will look at a 245 tire on a 9.5 inch rim and act like they just saw the crown of a baby's head popping out of a woman's birth canal LOL. Hellaflushed cars is probably a 1er owners nightmare, baby's heads popping out everywhere with too much camber OH GOD hahahah.

It does look stupid as well.

Stretching the tires is making them operate outside of their design parameters, so yes, you do lose functionality.

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

It does look stupid as well.

Stretching the tires is making them operate outside of their design parameters, so yes, you do lose functionality.

Looking stupid or not is definitely subjective lol, there is a huge crowd of people that find it appealing, but I do agree that it definitely loses function.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Tiny Chainsaw

Looking stupid or not is definitely subjective lol, there is a huge crowd of people that find it appealing, but I do agree that it definitely loses function.

Let me highlight the problem area:

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Let me highlight the problem area:

This type of behavior in a typical 1er owner is what I'm talking about though, definitely not very accepting :shrug:. But it's okay you're entitled to your opinion and so am I

[Goombeh]

Someone once saw my stock 1M setup and said, why did you go for the stretch look? I said BMW thought it looked cool so they went with it on all these cars

So it really is a matter of subjectivity in many cases, you would think a company who has been producing world class performance cars would know a thing or two about wheel and tyre setup.

We used to run a stretched tyre on all of the race cars we prepped as this is what all the drivers wanted as it gave better feel and improved lap times. Reduced side wall flex makes sense if you give it some thought.

So I feel many of the negative opinions on slightly stretched tyres come from those who are either simply being very subjective, and/or are uninformed.

Unless you're running proper race tyres with very rigid sidewalls which specifically resist sidewall flex under lateral loads, the best way to get this effect on a street tyre is to run a slightly stretched tyre. The reduction in 'set' time is considerable and the radial 'give' is unaltered.

[sid21177]

own 1 of both now, does that make me a 2er owner on average ??

[Tiny Chainsaw]

Originally Posted by Goombeh

Someone once saw my stock 1M setup and said, why did you go for the stretch look? I said BMW thought it looked cool so they went with it on all these cars

So it really is a matter of subjectivity in many cases, you would think a company who has been producing world class performance cars would know a thing or two about wheel and tyre setup.

We used to run a stretched tyre on all of the race cars we prepped as this is what all the drivers wanted as it gave better feel and improved lap times. Reduced side wall flex makes sense if you give it some thought.

So I feel many of the negative opinions on slightly stretched tyres come from those who are either simply being very subjective, and/or are uninformed.

Unless you're running proper race tyres with very rigid sidewalls which specifically resist sidewall flex under lateral loads, the best way to get this effect on a street tyre is to run a slightly stretched tyre. The reduction in 'set' time is considerable and the radial 'give' is unaltered.

Glad to see someone else chime in rather then the typical 1er owner lol!

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Own both & exceeding what a wheel will carry, too wide or too narrow, regardless of car is dumb.

It does seem be so much of a search for open minded people but rather a search for someone who will agree with you.

EDIT: BTW nothing against working with tires. Have 245X35X19 - 275X30X19 on the 335is. They fit the rim spec & the car without any rolling etc. 135is is still stock.