Firstfives.org

I’ve been offered a new set of nice tires for either my 911 or mt E12 as long as it comes on the rally I’m doing soon. E12 has been my plan A. The car is currently sitting on stock springs with 15” Alpina-style reps on 205/60 tires.

My tire size options are 204/55-16 square, 205/55-16 front and 225/50-16 rear, or 225/50-16 square. The tires come in 16” and up pnly so I’m looking for some reasonably priced wheels that look good on the car, probably some other BMW wheel (if you have something, I’m open to hearing about it). The staggered sizing is what my 911 uses, so getting that gives me the option of putting them on that car if I don’t solve my brake problems in time to take the BMW. But I like the idea of fat 225s in front.

I understand that stock wheel figment has an ET of 20 and aftermarket offset should be the same or similar. What ET do I need to have a 225 tire fit on the front without rubbing on the strut housing? I’d like to know how limited I might be, if at all, if I put that in front.

It really comes down to do you want that badass look with +2 staggered wheel set up or do you want the ride and handling from how the car was engineered? I used the CoupeKing staggered set up with the sizes you describe for a few years and the found it was harsh, noisy and the front tires rubbed the inner fender well in hard turns. You’re adding about 10 lbs of unsprung weight per wheel so acceleration is noticeably slower with less responsive steering. Oversized wheels can cause premature wheel bearing failure, especially with aggressive driving. I switched to early e24 style 5’s with 195/70 14 Pirelli CN36’s and will never go back. It’s the way to go if your ego can handle it, no pun intended.

I’m actually quite happy with the 15s on the car. They look great, the tires are good enough, and there is still enough sidewall (plus the tires are not UHP) for compliance. It’s sort of an all-around sweet spot. It’s why I’m happy to keep the stock spring rates, even though I like the look of lowering it an inch or so - I can bomb down dirt roads without a thought. But if I can pick up some Style 2s or 5s or whatever in 16 for a few hundred, it’s hard to pass up nice tires for free. I do like the look of 16s, ideally 225 square. I am attentive to unspring weight, but care about it more on my 911 than on my E12.

Also, did you have the other (beige) E12 that was at the PVGP in 2024?

Yes, that was my car.

Oh wait, that's The Vintage. I did have my car at the PVGP in 2024 but was invited to the BringaTrailer display so was not in the BMWCCA car corral.

Yes, that's what I was thinking of. I had mine there also.

Tires. I ran 225-50-16s, square, on 16X7 and 16X8 staggered wheels on my last E12. Aftermarket wheels I pulled off a junkyard E28, probably around 20 offset. No rubbing. Ever. E12s actually have slightly more room for tires, especially in back. Might be the way things pivot with the E28 dogbones, I dunno.

Thanks. I know the front suspension is different between the two cars but I didn’t know what it means for clearance for the strut tower.

There are a set of 16x7 Mille Miglia MM11 wheels in my neighborhood that look good and are 16x7, but I do lean towards OEM wheels. I really like the E38 750iL turbine wheels (Style 4?) , and the cross-spoke wheels that also came on E38s. However, these are all ET23 and 8” wide. Everything I’ve found suggests clearance is really tight in front. I also have not yet found whether the center bor diameter on the E38 wheels suits the E12 hubs, or requires a centering ring. Also not certain whether I’d need longer studs or not. I need something that bolts on and is ready to go, as I don’t have time to do things like put new studs in.

I had MM11's on my E28 for the longest time, a decade or more. I liked them visually, but wasn't wow'd. But I got a ton of complements about them. IIRC they were 16x7.5, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Hub size. I've lost track as they've gone from E chassis to F, to G, I dunno, all the way to XYZ by now? But thru E39s, they were all the same except E39's. E39s are different. I had them on my E28, the MM11's again, and I had better luck either wrapping aluminum tape around the hub or ever, ever so slowly gradually tightening the lug bolts one at a time, just a little bit at a time, while rotating it. Sounds slow, but it's only a minute or two per wheel. It's just patience. Now E28s will shimmy if you look at them cross eyed, but that doesn't mean anything besides it's an E28. Things don't have to be in spec on them, they have to be damn near perfect, better than spec.

Lug bolts. I don't know. 6 to 6.5 turns is what it should be. If it's only 3 turns, I've seen that, don't drive it that way. Test, move it around, but it's not OK. I had some BBS wheels that needed something like half an inch longer, maybe 3/4". Stock bolts wouldn't even come close. Ebay for cheap, BMW parts houses for more expensive. I've never had one fail...

E12s have studs and nuts, vs the bolts that E28s have. So if a stud isn’t long enough, it’s a lot more of a pain that just buying new bolts. I think E12s have ca. 57mm hub bores, and E38 wheels are something like 75. If I could find the right centering ring locally or Amazon-able in a day that would be fine, but I’d also be OK with just tightening carefully. I’ve done it before.

Theotherotter wrote: ↑Sat Oct 04, 2025 11:58 am E12s have studs and nuts, vs the bolts that E28s have. So if a stud isn’t long enough, it’s a lot more of a pain that just buying new bolts. I think E12s have ca. 57mm hub bores, and E38 wheels are something like 75. If I could find the right centering ring locally or Amazon-able in a day that would be fine, but I’d also be OK with just tightening carefully. I’ve done it before.

No, that's not correct. E12s, US spec, used studs thru mid 76 model year. After that they went to bolts. Hub size was standard until E39s, then after E39s went back to the standard size. That may have changed, but for a long time E39s were the only outliers.

Of course you’re right, and I have no idea how I convinced myself that the car that I’ve spent the past month working on and lookong at had studs . I’m out of town now but I pulled up a photo on my phone and of course no studs. That does make things a little easier for me

I run Conti DWS06 225/50/16 square on E38 Style 61 wheels which are 16 x 7.5 ET20 with 15mm spacers up front (hat tip patinabeforepolish). At steering lock I get a very little bit of rubbing. Extended lug bolts were needed for the front with the spacers. New stock springs.

The handling is to my liking, tight and sticky without being too harsh or noisy. Jon's probably right about the added weight and the drag, though.

The tires were shipped to me while i was on vacation this past week - 205/55 front and 225/50 rear. Someone local to me may have a set of wheels that will fit that are free, which is good enough that I’m a lot less picky on period-correct looks. Otherwise I found a set of Mille Miglia wheels that look good on the car, aren’t a lot, and at 7” wide will fit either tire well. In the long run I am likely to put them on my 911.