How do you justify 19inch Rims over 18s on your 1M?

[Pete_vB]

The newest generation of 19s are likely quicker than 18s.

It certainly used to be the case that 18s were better in almost every way vs 19s, but tire technology is moving very fast. Car manufactures are going to larger wheel sizes, and hence tire manufactures are focusing their efforts there. The next generation of max performance street tires (Bridgestone S001, Continental CSC 5P, Goodyear F1 Supercar G2, Michelin Pilot SuperSport, etc) are all designed with 19 or 20 wheel diameters in mind first. These tires work best in the larger sizes, and this trend will likely continue.

I know someone at an OEM who tests and specs wheels and tires for sports cars. He's told me that in his testing even the current generation of 19s out-grip 18s in similar sizes. I also run 17s, 18s and 19s on my car and with my (limited) testing I believe he's right.

As I said a few years ago 18s were the way to go, and I'm loath to spec 19s because of the extra weight (located at the edge of the rim- exactly the wrong place). Purely from a handling point of view, however, today I would pick 19s over 18s on even a medium weight street car, and a few years from now I expect the 19" tire options to be that much better.

Of course for R compounds the 18s would still certainly be the way to go.

[amdmaxx]

Agreed, why the extra weight and inertia? Only slows the car down, roughens the ride and more chances of bent rims.

Originally Posted by Atropos

Getting 19s instead of 18s = doing it wrong.

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by ///M1

Actually not true, BMW puts RFTs on ///M cars - look no further than the X5 ///M and X6 ///M. Maybe to many of us they are not 'real' ///M cars, but in actuality they are. BMW broke many ///M 'traditions' with those pigs, just to name a few:

1. ///M offering with RFTs
2. ///M offering with auto tranny (SMG is technically not, so this is a first)
3. ///M offering with no perforated brake rotors
4. ///M offering with weight exceeding 4100lbs
5. ///M offering with AWD

I can prolly add more things here, but it only will sadden me further...

E36 M3 could be specd with a slush box.

E93 M3 weighs 4200 lbs

E86 Z4M could be specd with rfts if I remember right.

[///M1]

Originally Posted by formula M

Technically, those are not cars^, they are SUV's.. //M cars are altogether something different.

Well, if we are talking "technically", then they are not SUVs, they are SAVs, whatever that means in BMW MBA school. But to me they are an ///M offering, and hence why they were included in the comparo.

And I have heard BMW circles call the SMG a manual, so yeah, we can all be technically right or wrong...

[///M1]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

E36 M3 could be specd with a slush box.

E93 M3 weighs 4200 lbs

E86 Z4M could be specd with rfts if I remember right.

The key word is "could be spec'ed". I was referring to what the base/main offering was, not what a customer may wish to do.

OK, so I will revise my statement to say that instead of 4100lbs it is 4145lbs

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2010/bmw/...059/specs.html