BMW E36 Blog

Hello,

I published the 18 Inch Wheels On BMW E36 which talks about the 18 inch wheels and shows some photos of how they’re supposed to look on the BMW E36 cars. Today, I’m doing the same but this time, I gathered photos for BMW E36 cars with 17 Inch wheels and without any drops. One of the things that I feel I need to tell you is that you should be prepared to pay for extra 1 to 4 miles per gallon if you decided to upgrade your car wheels from 15" to 17". Yes, the 17" wheels will make your mileage per gallon worse by 1 to 4 miles (at least on BMW 318is). In my opinion, the look upgrade deserves the sacrifice, but that’s just me 😈 I don’t know about you!

Take a look:

Hi Guys,

I’ve seen many BMW E36 cars with 16", 17" and 18" wheel setups. I personally like the 17" wheels on BMW E36 cars most. The 16" wheels are too small and they don’t give the BMW E36 car the look it deserves, which leaves your car unappreciated. So, If I were to change my wheels, I would either go with the 17" or 18" setups. Now, if you want to go with either of these, you will have to take into account 2 factors that will help you decide:

1. Car’s engine:- If you’re riding a 318is like I do, then go with the 17". You can’t go wrong because, believe it or not, the 18" setup will put a heavy load on your engine and worsen your car’s performance.

2. Car’s suspension:- If you have a little low ride, like me (I have a stock sport suspension), then you can go with either 17" or 18". The trick is just to make sure you will not have any tire rubbing. For me, I have the 17" and they look fantastic on my car. If you have stock suspension, you can go either with 17" or 18". 18" is preferable unless you’re going to give your car a drop soon.

If you decided to go with the 18" and looking to give your car a little drop, you may either go with the 60mm drop or 40mm drop. The 60mm drop will make the car look cool, but it’s going to have tire rubbing (most likely) and it will definitely be a hard ride.

I’ve prepared some E36 pics with 18" wheel setup for you to check them out. Take a look:

I know that it’s usually hard to choose a specific wheel/rim style for your car. You usually start looking at other cars like yours and try to find the best wheel style that fits this car and feel like it’s going to make the car look hot. Unfortunately, many times you end up buying wheels that don’t really look good on your car and since these are usually expensive ones, you will not try to change them unless you get a very good deal to exchange them with another set and pay a little bit more.

This happened to me many times but if I had a list of some possible choices for my car, I would have avoided such mistakes too many times. Today, I gathered 15 different rims that look really nice (well, not all of them) and they are supposed to help you make a choice.

I added a ranking under everyone of these styles, but please don’t feel disappointed if I gave a low rank for a wheel that you really like. This is just my opinion and what I like best may not be the rule for everyone else. I hope you find this list useful for you in case you’re unhappy about your car wheels and you’re considering a change real soon.

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