Hello,
First post and before I start I'd like to thank everyone in this community for all the great info I've gathered while lurking.
I recently pulled the trigger on a 2010 M5 Sport auto. Love it.
The one thing I don't love is the wheel and tire setup. My wife's family has a big farm out in the boondocks of Kansas and driving out there occasionally on rock and dirt roads is not the greatest environment for 17" wheels and 205/50 rubber. So, I just picked up a set of Mazda3 16x6/5 stock wheels in the split spoke style. I'm now going to order some tires from tirerack. I think the little extra sidewall on the 16's will gain me a little more compliance running out to the farm versus the stuff that came stock on the van considering the somewhat rough road surface. Here in the city, there are plenty of potholes, metal plates, etc that make me nervous running stock as well.
Here is my dilemma. I got on the miata tire size calculator and it looks like you could run the conventional wisdom 205/55/16 tire on this wheel, or you could also possibly run a 215/55/16, which also puts you real close to the stock overall diameter. Seeing a lot of you run 215 rubber on your 17" wheels, I'm wondering if it's possible to run the 215 tires on the 16" wheels as well, maybe gaining a little rim edge protection and still keeping the overall diameter close to stock. Seems to me that the 215/55/16 setup is actually as close or closer to stock than 205/15/16 is.
If anyone has any experience or insight, much appreciated.
Thanks
Matt in Kansas City
First post and before I start I'd like to thank everyone in this community for all the great info I've gathered while lurking.
I recently pulled the trigger on a 2010 M5 Sport auto. Love it.
The one thing I don't love is the wheel and tire setup. My wife's family has a big farm out in the boondocks of Kansas and driving out there occasionally on rock and dirt roads is not the greatest environment for 17" wheels and 205/50 rubber. So, I just picked up a set of Mazda3 16x6/5 stock wheels in the split spoke style. I'm now going to order some tires from tirerack. I think the little extra sidewall on the 16's will gain me a little more compliance running out to the farm versus the stuff that came stock on the van considering the somewhat rough road surface. Here in the city, there are plenty of potholes, metal plates, etc that make me nervous running stock as well.
Here is my dilemma. I got on the miata tire size calculator and it looks like you could run the conventional wisdom 205/55/16 tire on this wheel, or you could also possibly run a 215/55/16, which also puts you real close to the stock overall diameter. Seeing a lot of you run 215 rubber on your 17" wheels, I'm wondering if it's possible to run the 215 tires on the 16" wheels as well, maybe gaining a little rim edge protection and still keeping the overall diameter close to stock. Seems to me that the 215/55/16 setup is actually as close or closer to stock than 205/15/16 is.
If anyone has any experience or insight, much appreciated.
Thanks
Matt in Kansas City