15 inch rims and tyre options

[yatisr]

Hi everyone,

As 185/70/R13 tyres are getting increasingly hard to find in Malaysia, I will probably have to upgrade to 15 inch rims sooner rather than later. I have three questions that I hope the Forum can help me answer:

(a) Firstly, what is a reasonable price for a refurbished set of original Alpina 15 inch rims?;
(b) Secondly, will Oz Racing Alpina style 15 inch rims with an offset of ET12 fit the E21?;
(c) Are there any other 15 inch rim options for the E21 that can be installed without spacers?

Thanks in advance.

Yatis

[Jeroen]

Hi Yatis,

13" is becoming rare, but 15" is on the same path. Good rubber is also getting rare in the recommended 15" E21 sizes.

a. Over here in Europe used sets of 15" Alpina's easily fetch 1200+ Euros and a refurb set therefore is 2k plus these days
b. 7J ET 12 does fit indeed
c. yes, there are more low offset wheel sets like from BBS, Mahle, MIM, King that fit straight away. Most E30 wheels don't fit though, offset is too high
For more details see the FAQ section http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18256

[yatisr]

Thanks Jeroen for your comprehensive and very useful reply.
Yatis

[Jeroen]

[petroscf]

This really is a problem, and I also was thinking of opening a thread on that, but focusing on rubber, so here I may appear a bit out of subject, but I guess I am pointing on the same matter: One of the reasons I also switched to 15" (from factory 13" and later 14"x6") was, apart from the cooler (to my eyes) looks, the wrong belief that it would be easier to find variety of tires.
So what people with 15" wheels do now, I would be curious to know, do all of you go for Toyo Proxes ? Ok, It seems that Toyo is our friend here, but I really would love to have some options to choose from)

[Jeroen]

Personally I am no fan of the regular Toyo stuff like T1-R and T1-S, even though I truly love the R1-R but that's not your average everyday road tire haha. As this has been causing issues for some time already, especially if you want to get the same model both in 195 fronts and 205 rears. I recently fitted the Hankook Ventus Prime3 K125 on the E21 and coming back from the annual Eifel trip we had a true flood on the roads and it still kept wel, absolutely one of the favorites and well above average at the least.

Alternatives are Uniroyal Rainsport and Vredestein Sportrac but to my experience these perform slightly worse in the wet and the Vredestein is comfortable but (therefore) not communicative enough, at least to my liking. Conti only has the older PremiumContact2 available in the right sizes which really is aging.

There may be some others from Federal, Kumho and Fulda but usually I rate these lower than the models mentioned above.

It is getting more difficult and the real sporty performers aren't there anymore but at least we have some options left and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the relatively cheap Hankooks.

BTW modified topic title slightly as this starts to become a useful thread for others with wheel and tyre challenges as well haha!

[petroscf]

Conti only has the older PremiumContact2 available in the right sizes which really is aging.

Jeroen, by "aging" I suppose you mean that Continental still produces a tyre of a bit past technology, yes? Not that one who orders a set of Conti Premium Contact 2, won't be getting fresh tyres, I hope...!!
Then, I wonder: what is so wrong with "aging" ? After all, it is a tyre with a technology at least 30 years newer than the tyres available when E21s were under production, am I not right?

[Jeroen]

THese tyres were designed some 10 years ago and this model is known for handling deteriorating rapidly when about halfway worn due to a different rubber compound, I have experienced this myself as well. So I cannot think of a reason why you should buy this model unless it is way cheaper than everything else. And even then I'd not choose price over quality.

[petroscf]

ok I wasn't aware of this, anyway I am quite happy with proxes, they do have a tendancy to play a bit, but haven't so far any other serious issues

[petroscf]

Are these tyres (Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE002: front 195/50/R15, back 205/50/R15 ) and in these dimensions combination still available from the manufacturer? Sorry to intrude post without intention to buy, but I am very curious, I couldn't find any seller selling them in these dimensions

[Jeroen]

Moved Petros' post to a more appropriate topic.

I had those RE002's under my daily driver and I didn't like them too much, they are suffering a bit from the ecoblaster effect we see on most tyres these days. Going for eco aspects like durability and noise production rather than roadholding and or communication. I am a fan of most Bridgestone tyres but I really found these no more than average, especially on roadholding, and then they are too pricey in my opinion and I wouldn't buy them again. So I stick to my advice of Jan 29, but the choice is yours of course!

[petroscf]

Ok thanks Jeroen!
Hahaha I won't be replacing tyres before 1 year and half-2 years from now, however, if, by then, there is nothing exceptional in the air, I guess that although I am quite happy with Proxes, I will try the Hankooks!

[yatisr]

I have a further question on this topic that I hope the forum can answer:

Is it practical to fit 15 inch rims with 195 tyres (as opposed to 185 tyres on 13 inch rims) on an E21 that is not fitted with power assisted steering without the steering becoming even heavier than it already is?

Yatis

[petroscf]

If you find the non power assisted steering of your E21 heavy, then my opinion is that yes it is going to become just a tiny bit heavier, but only a little, and only during parking (at very low speeds)
The above is referred to the factory ratio (and non power assisted) steering rack.
During the years I had this factory rack I have gone through the following changes: from 185/70/13 tyres (on factory steel 13"x5.5" wheels) to 195/55/15 tyres (on 15"x7" alloys) and then to 195/60/14 tyres (on 14"x6" alloys) so I guess I can tell the difference, no1 towards heavier (but not much) and no2 towards lighter again.
However, when I first tried the car with the sports steering rack (again not power assisted) and the already existing 195/60/14 tyres on the 14"x6" alloys, (and later with my current front set up which is 15"x6" alloys and 195/50/15 tyres), I understood that finally this factory rack was very light in comparison to what I experience now at parking speeds. I can ensure you about this as, sometime after I was already used to my current 200% heavier steering, I drove a 315 on 185/70/13 (on alloys) and factory rack, and I thought it had power steering!

Oh, my advice is to wear leather driving gloves, try them, I find them very helpful, especially at parking, and especially if you have the old factory plastic steering wheel, which is like polished from age, having lost all its grip.

On my car hopefully this is about to change in the next days (fitting electric steering column)

[yatisr]

Thank you for this useful information. I think that I can live with a little more heaviness in the steering if I can get some improvement in handling by upgrading to better tyres and 15 inch rims.
Yatis