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[ultmachine]

Does it get much better with 17" or 18", or does a car with 16" give what you would expect from a bmw in terms of handeling?

[voltron1011]

It all depends on what your expectations are. Personally, it irritates me that BMW still puts 16" rims on their cars. Infiniti, lexus, and the rest all have 17's as their base size. Even Mazda puts 17" on their Mazda3.

[MIKEYMIKE]

16 inch wheels are a joke, imo

[canucklion]

hey now, 16s are no laughing matter!

sure 16s are fine, it's personal preference, it's like you asking us "hey, is a size 32 pants okay for me?"

[DLJJ3399]

If you're looking for performance. It's not so much the size of the rim but the size of the tire on the rim. (Meaning lower profile tire)

Larger wheels allow you to put lower profile tires on the rim and fill the wheel well better.

Thus giving a nicer looking balance to the cars over all appearance.

Just my 3er cents.

[DLJJ3399]

Originally Posted by ultmachine

Does it get much better with 17" or 18", or does a car with 16" give what you would expect from a bmw in terms of handeling?

Take a look at some of the pics on this forum and then you decide what right for you. Hope this helps.

[- Paul -]

My 16's handle well - but then, according to some - I drive a tractor......

I do think that bigger wheels look better though.

[ska///235i]

LOL...even my last car's spare tire is 17"

[ALPINE6SPD]

the 16" is not as important as the tire. If you get a very agressive summer tire on a 16" it will outhandle a 17" with an all season tire.

[martyl]

Handling is about so much more than wheel size as some have already said. Go drive it and see what you think. A writer at Bimmer magazine recently told a subscriber that he thinks 17inch wheels are not suitable for daily drivers. Everyone has their own opinion. I have a Maxima with the sports suspension and 17inch wheels and 225/50 tires and it doesn't come close to handling like my 325i with 16in wheels. I live in an urban area in a state with some of the worst roads in the US so the 16 in are right for me. I just drove the car 2000miles in Germany. If I lived there I might choose differently. There is no right or wrong on this matter. It's personal preference.

[BeeEmDubU]

well the stock 16s are run flats, so i am assuming they have a stiffer sidewall -> better handling

[xcalibr]

16's are a ton lighter than 19's... as mentioned before, with stiff-ass sidewalls, despite a larger profile, you'll handle better with less weight at each corner... you'll also get a more comfortable ride with the 16's.

when you go from 16-17-18-19-20, there's a trade-off.. basically no matter what your wheel diameter is, the overall diameter with the tire on is the same (or close enough). when you go bigger, the rims weigh more, but the tire profile shrinks allowing you to get smaller and thus reinforced (read as "stiffer") sidewall. This is the only thing that would really affect driving dynamics. With a lower profile, you "feel" much more of the road, adding to response, but detracting from comfort --this is similar to getting a stiffer suspension setup.

There's one other factor that we haven't mentioned --and that's tire/wheel width. When you go from the stock 16's (205's i believe) up to 19's... you usually go from a 16x7.5? or 8? to a 19x9.5-10 in the rear --so you step up to much wider tires (anywhere in the 255-275 range, dunno what fits). The wider tires give you more rear wheel traction --once again changing driving/handling characteristics.

In the end, it's all up to you on personal preference... in my opinion, the big rims are just for show. Most of the ones people are getting weigh a ridiculous amount. Unless you're baller and willing to spring for volks or oz's or other super-lightweight rims, you're getting bigger rims purely for aesthetics.

I think a good setup in terms of rims our cars (for performance) is a nice lightweight 17x10/9.5 in the rear and 17x8/8.5 in the front. At 17 inches, you get a small enough profile for a stiff sidewall, but still get some mild comfort. You also get a much wider tire (more traction), yet still are lighter weight with the 17's. Now if you're running run-flats, it's not gonna matter too much anyway because run-flats tend to be heavier than normal tires (the stock bridgestone potenza re050 rft's aren't too bad though).

For your particular situation with the 325xi, there's a whole other set of things to worry about. Did you get teh xi for snow? If so, you might be best off running your stock wheels with some nice snow tires. For snow you want thinner wheels with more profile. The thinner wheels translate to more weight on less surface patch of the tire allowing your car to sink through the ice/snow and grip asphalt --it seems kind of counter-intuitive, but I guess it makes sense. In this case you also want more weight to each corner. 17x8's all around might be nice to help out on the weight. BUT, don't go too big for the snow becase the harsh conditions and harsh winter roads will destroy your rims if you're rolling on rubberbands.