Tire Fitment Help

Hi All,

I've read through pages and pages of tire fitments, but couldn't find a good solution. I am about to purchase some VMR VB3s in 18" staggered:

18x8.5 ET35-40
18x9.5 ET45

Couple of questions:
1 - Upfront, ET35-40, what's the major difference between 35 and 40, and what's recommended?
2 - What's the best tire sizes for them, I've found (225-235)/40/18 for front (255-265)/35/18 for rears. What's recommended? I obviously want to run wider tires... 235 and 265s since the rims are wider than stock staggered 18s. Again, what's recommended and what's the difference?

FYI, my car is dropped on Eibach Pro + Koni FSDs, so the front is pretty low. I want to avoid rubbing.

Let me know guys, thanks.

The offset determines how far in or out the wheel will sit on your car, with respect to the width. So for your car, the acceptable front offsets range from ET35 to ET40 with no rubbing issues on an 8.5" wide wheel. The only difference is that the ET35 will stick out 5mm further in comparison to the ET40. A 235/40/18 will work perfectly fine on our VB3s up front, and a 265/35/18 on the rear of your coupe. The difference between a 225 and 235, or a 255 and 265 is the tread width and the height of the tire. Again, both 225/235 and 255/265 widths are acceptable on your car. We recommend wheel and tire fitments based on your car at stock height, and we try and go as aggressive as possible without causing any rubbing issues. If you've lowered the car we can't guarantee a rub free fit, so if you're worried about that you could always go to a 225/255 combo instead, which will give you a bit more clearance than a 235/265 will.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

awesome! thanks VMRwheels for the detailed reply!

You're welcome.

another question, if i go smaller with the 225/255, are the tires considered stretched? because that's what I run now on a 8" + 8.5" OEM wheels, so I was wondering if that'll affect my performance/tire life, etc. since it's a bigger rim (8.5" + 9.5") with the same width tires. let me know, thanks!

Those sizes are within manufacturer specs. Whether they look stretched is a matter of opinion at that point as a 235 and 265 will look more squared off.

thanks again, VMR.

anyone with a 235/265 combo dropped on Eibach Pro/Koni FSD? I want to run this setup more than 225/255, but don't want to do any fender work. let me know, thanks!

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

The offset determines how far in or out the wheel will sit on your car, with respect to the width. So for your car, the acceptable front offsets range from ET35 to ET40 with no rubbing issues on an 8.5" wide wheel. The only difference is that the ET35 will stick out 5mm further in comparison to the ET40. A 235/40/18 will work perfectly fine on our VB3s up front, and a 265/35/18 on the rear of your coupe. The difference between a 225 and 235, or a 255 and 265 is the tread width and the height of the tire. Again, both 225/235 and 255/265 widths are acceptable on your car. We recommend wheel and tire fitments based on your car at stock height, and we try and go as aggressive as possible without causing any rubbing issues. If you've lowered the car we can't guarantee a rub free fit, so if you're worried about that you could always go to a 225/255 combo instead, which will give you a bit more clearance than a 235/265 will.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

VMR guys or any other expert,

I've got a 2002 330Ci coupe with the sport package and optional 18" style 72s, and factory-sized 225/40R18 (8" rim width) on the front and 255/35R18 (8.5" rim width). No suspension mods. I'm looking at a set of replacement tires (Michelin Primacy MXM4) that don't come in 225/40R18 (other than run-flat), so I want to mount 235/40R18s up front. Will I have any rubbing problems? Also, will the 10mm extra tire width make the tire look "mushroomed" between the bottom of the wheel and the pavement? The old 225s are flush with the face of the wheel now. The 235s will be 25.4" in diameter, whereas the 225s are 25.1". Will this tiny difference be noticeable when looking at the car from the side? Also, does changing the diameter of the front tires affect the speedometer reading, or is that only affected by rear tire diameter? Lots of questions, I know, but I appreciate any informed answers you can give.

Thanks!

They won't rub. Fronts have no bearing on the speedo. They will actually look better and be more of a match with the rears as far a width to rim goes. Only question I'd have is will the increased diameter be a problem with the DSC? I would search to see if anybody else is running those. I've been looking at getting a set of those same Michelins for my ZHP.