15, 16 or 17in rims for e36 track days?

[Kit352]

I have 15in stock rims on my car now that will need new tires before my next trackday. I may as well use the opportunity to upgrade the rims if it make sense to. What is the best rim size to have that strikes a good balance between tire cost, performance and choices? My gut says move up to a 16in and be happy but my cheap side says stay with the 15in ones. 17's just scream expensive tires to me.

[E-bmw]

16s & 17s are pretty much the same price as 16 is less common.

15s if you are after cheap & use the opportunity to gear the car down by staying as low-profile as is practicable.

All of the above is assuming you are going with new tyres.

Camskill has 195/50/15 NS2Rs for £65, they are excellent tyres.

Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 10th June 15:28

[brillomaster]

i'd go up to 17s, better brake cooling, opportunity for wider tyres and sharper handling on lower sidewalls.

pick up a cheap set of 17s on ebay, then go for 235/45/17 federal 595 RSRs.

[Kit352]

E-bmw said:

16s & 17s are pretty much the same price as 16 is less common.

15s if you are after cheap & use the opportunity to gear the car down by staying as low-profile as is practicable.

All of the above is assuming you are going with new tyres.

Camskill has 195/50/15 NS2Rs for £65, they are excellent tyres.

Edited by E-bmw on Sunday 10th June 15:28

Im certainly after cheap. Ive been looking into some 205/50/15 tires to throw on now until i decide if i should upgrade to bigger rims. I have 205/60 on it now and they are so tall Im murdering the sides of them. I feel like they roll too much.

[iguana]

Ok biased bit first, head over to the classifieds Motorsport parts & I've some Yokohama A048 2O5/6O/15 for peanuts I've run these on an e36 for years.

Ok un biased bit, if you want cheap yip stay 15s, 17s will be far quicker, considerably heavier tho, ignore 16s completely, however cheap used slicks if you want to go that route are now not easy to find in 17 like they used to be, so 18s are the route to run em, current btcc 18s will need big arches on a 36 tho they are huge, but are lots of others about.

[HustleRussell]

Rule out 16s.

Personally for track use I’d fit 17s. Unless you’re doing major weight reduction and suspension work you’re going to find the higher profile 15” tyres roll over too much. The 17s will feel sharper and be faster.

[mattnoss]

In the dry we run 17’s with 225/45 Dunlop Direzza’s on our 328 race car if it helps.

[Matthead]

18x10 on my e36. I use btcc slicks.

[Kit352]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think I'm going to stick with the 15's for another set of tires then see if making the switch to bigger is worth the added costs.