I was looking into getting rims for my car and I have been at odds with my pops about the effect it will have on the car. One of his buddies who is a mechanic told me that if I put on 18's (switching from 16's) that it would change the alignment on the car which puts strain on the tires, engine, transmission and just is not good for the car in general. He said that BMW sets its alignment for the size of the factory size rim and changing that is not good and that garages dont know how to realign a car with new sizes....Is this true or not.....
Thanks guys....
Thanks guys....
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Dude, the folks whose council you're considering is a little left of center. First if you're going to change your wheel size you must keep the overall circumforance of your wheel plus tire the same. Look up a tire size calculator to get a good tire to wheel ratio. Example, if you go from 16" to 18" your tires will go from 225/50/16 to 225/40/18. You must reduce the size of your side-wall. 20" is dangerous because you litterally have no side-wall to absorb bumps and you risk tearing up your suspension. I changed my wheels from 16" to 18" and my tires to 225/40/18. I currently have 193,000+ miles with no suspension problems. I get my bimmer four wheel alignments at all independent bimmer service shops and tire shops all over Maryland, as a matter of fact I'm going to get one tomorrow because I just installed new front control arms, bushings and ball joints because the roads in The District of Columbia are hell on vehilces. Bottomline, changing your wheel size will not, repeat will not mess up anything on your vehilce as long as you keep the correct tire/wheel ratio. Just my two and a half cents worth. Happy Motoring...