# ? for those who have had both 18's and 19's.



## samps (May 17, 2004)

Ok, after much reading through all the threads pertaining to this particular topic, I wanted real first-hand experience with this. I take from what I have read that 18's are the way to go because 19's don't provide as much tire wear, and being that the tires are lower profile and offer a thinner sidewall, aren't as safe as 18's in terms of rim protection (more prone to bending).

So, that being said, I would prefer a 19, because I like the large wheel look, however, if ride quality is greatly suffered from an 18, I have no problem sticking with 18's. I believe Humanoid wrote in a thread that the 19 inch tires didn't seem to last as long? Any others experience this problem?

I have a 2001 540iA with the M-Tech stuff, bumpers, suspension, etc. Stock style 66 wheels which I intend on using as winter wheels. The stock suspension is already pretty stiff as it is from my point of view.

I guess what I'm looking more for is experience in ride quality. 19's are that much more obvious in terms of feeling bumps in the road?

Thanks for any input you can give me.

Simpson


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## purplehead (Dec 21, 2003)

I'll throw in my 2 cents. My 528 is running 18s with H&R sport spring, Bilstein Sport shocks, and my friend's 330ci is running 19s with sport suspension. My ride is noticeably harsher than the 330ci even though I'm running 18s. So I would think that 18s and 19s don't differ too much in terms of ride quality. But, my friend told me he feels the car being much slower with 19s, I agree. With his 17s the car pulls a lot harder. 

Since you have factory sport suspension, ride quality shouldn't be too bad with 19s, and 19s look much better than 18s on 5 series


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## Highend (Feb 28, 2004)

there is a visable diference from 18"s to 19"s. All car guys will know this, but if you arnt into looks then i guess 18"s are the way to go......


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## PropellerHead (Jan 3, 2002)

samps said:


> I guess what I'm looking more for is experience in ride quality. 19's are that much more obvious in terms of feeling bumps in the road?
> 
> Thanks for any input you can give me.
> 
> Simpson


My car came with 17" Style 32's (I think) and then I put 19" Hartge's on it. I went BACK to the OE's for about 6 months after I bent a 19 on the interstate. I am NOW using 18" BBS RKII's. The 18" are the best wheels I have ever had. They are a little lighter than my 17" OE wheels and a LOT lighter than the 19's. They provide plenty of room for the StopTechs and they're strong. No bends in over a year and one 5,500 mile road trip.


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## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

Tire choice also plays an important role in ride quality. Low profile tires have stiffer side-walls, but different brands and models within brands can differ also. Obviously a 19" setup will have a shorter sidewall and be stiffer.

When I ran 17" Bridgestone S-02's on my former 528i, I was checking pressure one morning while on a road trip and discovered a rear tire had lost 20# of air over night. Looking at the tire you usually can not tell, but driving it I can usually tell if one is a couple pounds low. 

Incidentally, the stock Continentals in the same size had quite the soft sidewall. There was no comparison in ride quality between those and the S-02's, but handling was much improved with the S-02's.


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## samps (May 17, 2004)

Thanks for the inputs guys. Yeah, I'm really torn between getting 18's or 19's. Not only that, but I'm still not sure on which rims I want. I was originally going to go for mesh wheels, but I can pick up some used 19" Breyton Visions for super super cheap (~$300 CDN / wheel).

I love chrome, but now I'm thinking it may look funny on ti silver. But then again, silver paint wheels may look funny on ti silver because the color is so close.

 

I hate having to choose. If money weren't a problem, I already would have chosen. There are some brands I can't even consider cause of the $$$ (Maya, Maido, Lowenhart, etc.)


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## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

samps said:


> Thanks for the inputs guys. Yeah, I'm really torn between getting 18's or 19's. Not only that, but I'm still not sure on which rims I want. I was originally going to go for mesh wheels, but I can pick up some used 19" Breyton Visions for super super cheap (~$300 CDN / wheel).
> 
> I love chrome, but now I'm thinking it may look funny on ti silver. But then again, silver paint wheels may look funny on ti silver because the color is so close.
> 
> ...


Mesh = Cleaning Nightmare.

I went with 5 big spokes, cleaning takes me minutes per wheel. I can even reach in and clean the back side and rim. I love the basketweave pattern on the stock sport pkg wheels, but life is too short to spend 25% of it cleaning your wheels every 2-3 days.


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## ELOVE525 (Jun 18, 2003)

If you like the Breyton Visions, you should take a look at the Breyton Magic Racing. Those offer you both silver with a chrome like. It would look great in 19.


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