BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size

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Tue 9 Apr 2013 16:44
BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size - Ed V

Saw an E reg BMW 325i in a car park recently, in good nick. I think the 325i was a the top end of the 3-series performance-wise. Its tyres were R14, and 60 profile. Forgot to check the width, but looked like today's London cabs, I'd guess about 195.

How times change! The equivalent model today has 255/35 R19!!

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Tue 9 Apr 2013 18:06
BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size - BenG

The trend for fitting ridiculous, cotton-reel wheels and rubber band tyres is great for the tyre manufacturers as they sell more expensive tyres and for the rim manufacturers as more rims are damaged by kerbing and potholes.

Fashion victims have been persuaded they need these absurd wheels on shopping cars.

It's ridiculous and also noticeable that the rest of Europe does not seem to have fallen victim to this nonsense to the same degree as the UK.

It would help though if current cars weren't so grossly oversized and overweight.

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Wed 10 Apr 2013 00:56
BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size - Avant

And tyres like that are also useless in the snow. The Octavia vRS is the first FWD car I've had (in 40 years of driving FWD cars) which couldn't cope with snow, entirely because of the so-called sporty 225/40/18 Continental tyres.

I have had Kleber Quadraxer all-season tyres (205/55/16) with steel wheels for the last two winters, and having kept them on till now because of the cold weather, I'm seriously thinking of keeping them on all summer. The ride is better and there's negligible difference in the handling: the tyres cost £80 each and the wheels £60, compared with the 18" tyres (£180) and alloy wheels (I hate to think). And they show signs of lasting longer too.

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Wed 10 Apr 2013 15:32
BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size - BenG

Given that state of UK roads, I think decent ride quality is probably more useful than ultimate handling response and grip maybe 95% of the time driving in the UK, so the fitting of oversized wheels and tyres can only be a scam to sell more tyres and rims...

I'm currently looking at Merc W124s from the '80s-'90s. They run 15" wheels with 195/65 tyres, similar to a Vauxhall Corsa or Ford Fiest these days, on a car weighing around 1500kg with 220hp!

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Wed 10 Apr 2013 15:50
BMW 3 Series - 1987 BMW 325i tyre size - jc2

The fashion started in Europe-Germany actually but then they've got suitable road surfaces;the Granada/Scorpio of the 90's was available with 24" rims as a production option but only for the German market.

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