today i had a chance encounter that caused me to walk away with a Free bmw M3 rim from a '89-91 M3 with NO use. original tire and rim (spare). anyways, I think i'm going to go find 3 more of them and throw some snow tires on them.

 

Interesting find

What's the offset though? E30 M3's usually ran pretty low offsets compared to the MINI offsets.

 

Don't think you can run 14' rim on a mini....might need huge spacers to clear the brakes...15's are VERY close...

 

off set is 45mm according to what i found online (although i think the offset is actually 30mm)
I will be test fitting tomorrow morning hopefully, I'll probably be running spacers regardless.

They're 15" rims, probably won't have to run HUGE spacers but we'll see.

 

The picture shows a 196/65 vr 14 tire....that fits on a 14 inch rim...wrong pic posted?

 

i see what you mean, i measured it with a ruler and the rim is 15 inches. idk what the hell the 14 stands for. i stood it up against my stock r81 15" mini wheels and it's the same rim diameter and tire height (approx.)



near as i can tell vr 14 is the weight restriction class (according to google search) strange

 

That IS A 14 rim.
The bead of the tire sits inside the metal part....the TIRE measures 14.
Your oem 195/55r16 is a 16...(unless you have the 15's, then they would be xxx/xx r15)

 

i'm still not completely convinced, but i'm finding contradicting information all over the place about these. idk, i'll either make them work with spacers or make a coffee table lol

 

alright, what i found is they did make 15x7 "basket weaves" for a few US market bmw's but the majority of them are 14x6.5 (mine are stamped 6-1/2Jx14H2)
you can buy OEM new (probably reproductions) through bavauto.com in 15x7 but they're almost 400 bucks a piece

 

They're definitely 14's

You don't measure wheel diameter from edge to edge. You do it from bead to bead. You're getting 15 because you're measuring the edges.

 

i didn't know that, thanks.
I guess i'll figure out what size spacers i need tomorrow.

 

The E30 M3 was not made in 1985.

 

that was what the guy who gave it to me said, the only 4 lugged m series were from 89-91.

 

M series were never 4 lug... lol.

E30 M3s are 5 lug.

 

DREAM CRUSHERS lol!

 

I feel bad.. he was clearly given a basket weave from an E30 non-M series that is 4x100 and most likely a 14.. I dont know why you would ever put anything smaller than a 16 on a MINI. It just looks wrong..

 

14s will not clear the brake calibers. 15s won't clear a R56 or JCW R53.

Still nice wheels though for something.

 

Lol chance encounter meaning it was "found" lol... "I struck GOL....... wait a minute this is a 325 wheel!"

 

That wheel came on an non-M e30 with the M-tech package.

 

just tested them today with a 22mm spacer (.866") and they still rub the caliper. so i'm scraping that idea unless i can find some of the 15x7 bbs's

 

god i miss my e30s..

 

You should be able to find a reproduction set like these, at a reasonable cost. I cannot find the web site now but will send you a link the next time I am on my other computer which has the link.

 

14s don't fit mini coopers
i know there's 15 bmw basketweaves and i know theres reproduction rims. i was just trying them out because they were abundant and cheap. i still plan to use my 7 hole for my summer tires and my motegi ricer rims for my winter tires

 

I am on the same project than rustyeuro but I found the wheels some months ago.

4x 15x6.5 BBS RM 0012 (0.5x15lips). I got brand new BBS RM centercaps within that deal but the wheels need to be repaint.

Few weeks ago, I got 6x 1x15lips from BBS RS 0001 on vwvortex.com. 4 are clean and 2 not so clean but not bended for backup.



rustyeuro, if you are interessed to get my BBS wheels I am planing to rebuild, send me a private message.

 

nope, please read the post above. I am NOT looking for rims anymore, i have several sets.