[E30toF30]

Hey all,

I've been dabbling in a couple different threads in search of some answers to my questions and as more and more questions are coming up, I thought it might be best I put them all in one place and maybe it could also help anyone else that may be in the same situation.


Details of my current setup:
335i M Performance Edition - X-Drive
Lowered on H&R Sport springs
Spacers - 10mm front, 15mm rear

Stock 624M wheels with stock RFT's
F: 20"x8" - 225/35/20
R: 20"x8.5" - 255/30/20

My driving habits:
Mainly city/highway driving. Probably considered spirited driving 50% of the time. I will also be doing about 4-6 track days over the spring/summer (i've owned the car for 6 months and was able to make it out to two events this past summer). I live in Vancouver, BC so our winters are typically fairly mild.

Goal for new tires or wheel/tire setup:
My car is a lease. Since I will have to return the car with RFT's that have sufficient tread, I could change out the RFT's now, and then throw them back on and I won't need to pay for replacement RFT's.

Would be so pointless to pay for new tires for someone else to use at lease end so I might as well pay for the tires now, and enjoy the car even more for myself! Better performance, better ride, better everything.

PLAN A

When I first started doing some research a few weeks back, my plan was to purchase a set of 18" winter wheels and tires for the winter season, and then buying some summer performance tires for the stock 20's. For the summer tires, I was having some difficulty figuring out what type of tire setup to go with.

Option 1: Square setup - 225/35/20
Option 2: Square setup - 245/35/20 (would 245 tires be too chunky and fat looking on an 8" front wheel? This was a concern)
Option 3: Staggered - 225/35/20 and 255/30/20 (stock settings).

I was also looking at a few different tire options, MPSS being at the top, but also considering some other options like the S-04 Pole Positions and Hankook Ventus V12's. At the end of the day I think MPSS was going to be the tires for this plan (partly due to not being able to find the S-04's in the sizes I was needing - was not on Tirerack or discount tire. Not sure if it is because they are sold out, or if they just dont come in those sizes).


And then after thinking about it some more, I thought of Plan B.

PLAN B

- Purchase some very good "high performance" all season tires for the stock 20's.
- Purchase some track dedicated 18" wheels and tires.

Something else that seems to make Plan B sound like an even better plan is that some very good all seasons are probably going to be a significant improvement on the RFT's for the city driving, but now I can have some dedicated track wheels/tires that will provide an extra level of performance on the track beyond what MPSS on 20" wheels would provide me.

- Smaller and lighter wheels and tires
- Dedicated tires would likely be better than MPSS on the track

Now the new questions would be:
- Which "high performance" all season would be a great one to go with? and What size?
- What kind of wheels should I be looking at and in what dimensions? I'm thinking 18 wheels but what width would be best?
- I'm assuming I should stick with a square setup for the track as opposed to staggered?
- What kind of tires should I be getting and what would be the proper sizes for the right fitment?

Lastly, I'm also just looking for some input from others to see what their thoughts are on Plan A and Plan B.

Thanks for taking the time to read and I look forward to hearing what some of you guys may have to say.

Oh and a shameless plug of my car

[.BMW.]

Plan A:
Square 245/35-20 (or 245/30-20) MPSS on OEM staggered wheels. Reason for a square setup is that your only other option would be OEM 225/255 tires and the front 225/35 just looks too skinny on the large 20" wheel!

You can reuse your rear spacers with 245 on the 8.5" wide ET47 wheels, but maybe ignore the front spacers since the new tires are 20mm wider.

Plan B:
Square 245/35-20 (or 245/30-20) high-performance all-season tires for your OEM wheels.

Square track setup with dedicated tires and lightweight 18" wheels. Either 245/40-18 on 8x18" wheels or 255/40-18 8.5x18". It's really important with correct offset with the later setup because 255 might rub the suspension with too high offset or the fender if the offset is too low.

Remember this is only my personal opinion!

[DG335]

Use as much of the RFT's as possible! Leave about 2mm above wear bar they should still accept it - if you're giving it back everything should be as used up as possible!
Gorgeous car btw