Best E90 Wheels
Who doesn’t love a good E90? Expressly nowadays when you can pick one up for a tenth of what they forfeit ten years ago, they have wilt one of the go-to, budget-friendly 3-Series. Throughout the E9X model range, BMW introduced some of their most popular models of the 2000s and 2010s. The E9X 335i, E9X M3, and many of the lower tier E90/E92 models helped push the boundaries of the 3-Series formula to new heights.
While the E90, E91, E92, and E93 were all fantastic-looking cars as soon as they rolled off of the turnout line, they lack a bit of weft in the modern world. In most people’s eyes, the E90/E92 blends in with the surroundings in most cases, drawing no vision and grabbing no attention. With that stuff said, that problem is an easy one to fix with a few simple modifications. One of the most standout modifications is a set of new E90 wheels.
Due to the fact that the E9X chassis makes use of a 5x120 vendibles pattern, there are tons of wheel choices available. That stands for both OEM and aftermarket options. Additionally, the wheel arches of the E9X chassis can moreover unbend a decent range of wheel sizes, ranging from 16 - 20 inches in most cases. Obviously, a large part of wheel selection is moreover based on your E9X suspension setup as well.
In this guide, we’ll imbricate some of the most worldwide E90 and E92 wheel setups, including both square and staggered setups, and moreover provide some suggestions for our favorite wheel choices for the E9X chassis.
E90 Wheels - Considerations
Before pulling the trigger on the shiniest and best-looking wheels for your E90, you’ll need to think well-nigh a few things first. Outside of making sure that the wheels are the right diameter for your BMW E9X, you’ll moreover need to consider some other factors including offset, wheel weight, build quality, tire choice, and price. It is important to consider all of these factors earlier to prevent the dreaded situation where you have to return the wheels that you have been waiting on patiently for weeks.
In the next few sections, we’ll unravel lanugo some of those considerations in slightly increasingly detail.
E90 Wheels - Sizing
Unquestionably the most important part of purchasing new wheels for your E90 is ensuring that they’ll, you know, unquestionably fit. That sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, there’s unquestionably quite a bit to consider when looking for the right size wheels for your E90. Of course, wheel diameter is the first dimension that most BMW owners think of.
Typically, E90s, E92s, and E93s can fit wheels with diameters between 16” and 20” fairly comfortably. Of course, those numbers aren't set in stone, expressly if you are running an warlike suspension setup. Width is moreover a very important dimension to pay sustentation too as well, as wheels that are too wide can moreover rationalization your tires to rub on the inside of your fenders. 8.5"-10” wheels are the most worldwide sizes that are usually run on the E9X chassis. Additionally, offset is moreover vital to consider, as an E90 wheel nomination with an incorrect offset can rationalization issues with restriction clearance and suspension clearance.
When purchasing wheels for your E9X chassis, you’ll moreover have to alimony in mind that BMW reverted the track width between early model and LCI versions of the E90/E92 sedans and wagons. As a result, rear wheel clearance was decreased by 8mm between the generations, necessitating a smaller wheel size. The cut-off point between the generations was 08/2008. Any E9X chassis manufactured surpassing that point has slightly increasingly wheel clearance than those made without 09/2008.
E90 Wheels - Weight
Weight is moreover flipside important characteristic. Typically, this doesn’t matter so much if you don’t do any performance driving. With that stuff said, plane a unstudied suburbanite can recognize the performance enhancement from lighter wheels. Because wheels count as both rotational and unsprung weight, reducing their weight can have some of the most dramatic effects.
The benefits of lighter wheels come from improved handling characteristics, faster braking, and marginally largest gas mileage. The lighter the wheels the better. Once again, it might not be the reason that the majority of enthusiasts segregate to swap wheels, but it is flipside important reason.
E90 Staggered vs Square Setups
There are moreover a few options when it comes to what kind of wheel and tire setup you segregate to run. Breaking lanugo your two options, you can either run a “square” or “staggered” setup on your E90/E92. There are both performance and practical differences between the two options, with one stuff largest for warlike performance driving and the other stuff the superior option for practicality and daily driving.
Starting with E90 square setups, that is when the wheels are the same width and diameter on both the front and the rear of the car. The primary wholesomeness of a square E90 wheel setup is slower and increasingly plane tire wear. As all four corners of your E90 are making equal contact with the ground, they’ll wear evenly. Additionally, with a square setup, you’ll moreover be worldly-wise to rotate your tires from side to side, as well as front to rear; that’s something that you aren’t worldly-wise to do with a staggered setup. It is possible to run an warlike square setup to provide good on-track grip, but E90 staggered setups tend to perform largest on the track.
By contrast, staggered E90 wheel setups tend to maximize both front and rear tire grip at the sacrifice of tire life. Since the front and rear tires are making unequal contact with the pavement with a staggered E90 setup, the front and rear tires tend to wear unevenly. As a result, you’ll have to replace tires increasingly commonly than you would with a square setup. You moreover won’t have the goody of stuff worldly-wise to rotate your tires from front to rear due to the difference in wheel and tire size.
E90 Wheel Build Quality
Just like anything else that you’d purchase, you should make sure that the E90 wheels that you are interested in are upper quality and built by a reputable manufacturer. When you opt for the unseemly E90 wheel route, you unshut yourself up to all kinds of potential problems.
Most significantly, if the wheels that you purchase turn out to be made of junior materials or with an unfavorable production method, they have a much larger endangerment of limp or cracking. If one of your wheels does end up cracking, you’ll not only be looking at a new wheel but potentially new suspension components as well. It’s largest to skip that headache entirely and just get a quality product to uncork with.
Obviously, you can’t go wrong with an OEM BMW wheel option that is guaranteed to be quality. Other reputable BMW wheel manufacturers include BBS, Apex, Advan, and Work wheels. We’ll go over some of the reputable brands and their most popular E90 wheel options in a later section.
Common E9X Wheel and Tire Setups
Now that we’ve covered the nuts of what you should squint for in a quality set of wheels, we’ll move on to some of the most popular wheel and tire setups for an E90 /E92. While this list is a good starting point as a reference point, the right setup for you is entirely dependent on your build. That is expressly true if you have E9X coilovers or lowering springs.
The pursuit setups are based on an E90 with stock suspension. Some of the pursuit setups will moreover require spare modifications to your E9X chassis in order for the wheels to fit properly.
Direct Fit E90 Square Wheel Setups
- Front & Rear: 18x8.5" ET35 or ET38 with 235/40-18 tires
- Front & Rear: 19x8.5" ET35 with 235/35-19 tires
- Front & Rear: 19x9" ET28 or ET30 with 245/35-19 tires
Aggressive E90 Square Setups
- Front & Rear: 17x9" ET30 with 245/40-17 tires
- Front & Rear: 18x9" ET30 or ET31 with 255/35-18 tires
Popular E90 Staggered Wheel Setups
- Front: 18x9" ET30 or ET31 with 235/40-18 tires
Rear: 18x9.5" ET22 with 255/35-18 tires
- Front: 18x9" ET30 or ET31 (EC-7) with 245/40-18 tires
Rear: 18x10" ET33 with 275/35-18 tires
Our Suggestions For The Weightier E90 Wheels
E90 wheels come in a variety of styles from a vast number of manufacturers. At the end of the day, choosing the right E90 wheels for you truly does swash lanugo to a combination of personal taste and desired function. If you are looking for E90 wheels that will modernize the handling and performance of your BMW, lighter wheels are often the way to go. If philosophy are your main concern, build quality and overall diamond might siphon a bit increasingly weight.
Either way, in the list unelevated we imbricate a bit of everything. Some wheels like the Apex ARC-8 and BBS CH are performance-focused wheels, while the OEM wheels listed unelevated lean increasingly towards philosophy and visual appeal.
1) Apex ARC-8 E90 Wheels
Price: $412.00 - $665.00 per wheel
Purchase Here: apexraceparts.com
Apex is a wheel manufacturer that has firmly established their place in the BMW aftermarket wheel market. While they manufacture wheels for increasingly than just BMWs, they have a very good reputation in the BMW polity on chassis ranging from the E30 to the G80. Apex offers both flow-formed and forged wheels for the E90 and E92 with the forged options stuff slightly increasingly expensive.
The Apex ARC-8 is one of Apex’s best-selling wheel styles and it isn’t nonflexible to see why. The diamond in truly archetype and works well on practically any BMW chassis. The split-spoke diamond compliments the E9X chassis very well, subtracting some visual intrigue to the lower part of your 3-Series.
For uncontrived fitment on the E90/E92, Apex offers the ARC-8 in both 17” and 18” diameters and in widths ranging from 9.0” to 10.5” on Pre-LCI models. Options are slightly stripped when for LCI E9X models, retaining both 17” and 18” diameters but only 9” and 9.5” width options. While Apex does offer some flow-formed E90/E92 wheels, the ARC-8 is only misogynist in forged form.
2) BBS CH / BBS CH-R E90 Wheels
Price: $3,060.00 - set of four
Purchase Here: turnermotorsport.com
BBS needs no introduction as one of the most premium wheel manufacturers in the world. BBS has been a part of BMW history, as well as racing history as a whole, for nearly a half-century. They have been responsible for some of BMW’s most famous wheel designs and wheel production. As a result, they truly know what they are doing. Nearly every BBS model looks fantastic on nearly every BMW chassis, so you truly can’t go wrong.
While BBS is famous for their multi-piece, basketweave design, they moreover produce some very lulu and lightweight single-piece wheels as well. The BBS CH and CH-R are perfect examples of that. The BBS CH and CH-R are designed to emulate some of BBS’s most popular performance motorsport wheels yet at a lower price point.
A big reason for their lower forfeit is their tint construction as opposed to a forged construction. With that stuff said, they are still exceedingly strong and quality wheels. The BBS CH features a slightly less concave design, while the CH-R is slightly increasingly aggressive.
Both the BBS CH and BBS CH-R are misogynist in either 18” through 20” diameters with the 19” option stuff the most popular nomination for E90 and E92 applications. They are misogynist in widths ranging from 8” to 12.” Both wheels are misogynist in silver, black, and gunmetal finishes permitting for some spare individualization.
3) BMW Style 219 E90 Wheels
Price: $1,500 - $2,000
Purchase Here: N/A
In my unobtrusive opinion, the OEM BMW Style 219 wheels are some of the best-looking wheels that BMW has overly put out. Style 219s originally came on the E90 M3 as the standard wheel option. The split 10-spoke diamond is a archetype look, tailor-made to unbend the soul lines and overall icon of the E9X chassis.
Style 219s came in a single verisimilitude from the factory, gunmetal gray. They moreover came in a single size as an 18”x18.5” and 18”x9.5” staggered set. That can make them a bit tricky to fit on LCI E90 and E92s. They will work on pre-LCI E90s with light rubbing in the rear and LCI E90s with a rear fender roll. They’ll moreover fit E92 models with a rear fender roll as well.
You’ll moreover have to pick your tires thoughtfully with a smaller sidewall stuff preferable to well-spoken up a little increasingly space. For a factory product, Style 219 wheels are somewhat light at 27 lbs. That is due to the fact that the wheels are made entirely from aluminum alloy, providing both unconfined strength and a light overall weight.
Due to the fact that the Style 219 is no longer misogynist for purchase by BMW directly, it can be a difficult set to get your hands on. While there isn’t a resulting supplier of the wheel online, there are often sets floating virtually popular BMW forums. They moreover spring up from time to time on craigslist and eBay, so if you are looking for a set, those sites are likely your weightier bet.
4) BMW Style 95 E90 Wheels
Price: $2,496.86
Purchase Here: ecstuning.com
Sticking with flipside BMW OEM option, the Style 95 is one of the most popular wheel shapes overly released by BMW. As increasingly of a sophisticated and luxury-focused design, the Style 95 is a throw-away from most of the other performance-aiming designs on this list. Due to the fact that sportiness wasn’t upper on BMW’s priority list with the Style 95 wheel design, they are heavy, weighing in at 32 lbs in the front and 36 lbs in the rear. While they might not be the squint for everyone, those who love Style 95 wheels love them passionately.
While Style 95 wheels are very popular, they were surprisingly only misogynist on a single BMW model, the E65 7-Series. Like the Style 219s, Style 95s only came in a single-size set. Style 95s were only misogynist in 19”x9” front and 19” x 10” rear sizes, limiting fitment somewhat.
With that stuff said, Style 95s do fit on both LCI and pre-LCI E90s and E92s. Like the Style 219s, you’ll need to roll your rear fenders to unbend the large wheels. Tire selection is important, yet again, as a large sidewall will rationalization Style 95s to rub on the inside of your wheel wells and potentially versus suspension components as well.
As with many other older OEM BMW wheels, Style 95s offered by a BMW parts supplier are astronomically expensive. Genuine new 19” Style 95s can fetch $650 per wheel from some suppliers. For that reason, it makes much increasingly financial sense to source them from a second-hand supplier. While there isn’t a reliable and resulting source, BMW forums and second-hand sites like Craigslist and eBay often have sets for sale.
Best BMW E9X Wheels Summary
Choosing new wheels for your BMW E9X can be one of the most reading modifications that you can do, both from a performance and stimulating standpoint. While it might be tempting to roll with the best-looking wheels that you can find, it is important to consider build quality, weight, and sizing. Sizing is obviously the most essential part of the equation, as having wheels that rub is not only extremely worrying but can moreover do forfeiture to your suspension components and fenders.
There are plenty of options misogynist if you are looking for performance-oriented E90 wheels or wheels that will simply make your E9X stand out in the crowd.
If you enjoyed this post and are looking for increasingly E90 content, trammels out our E90 E92 Suspension Upgrade Guide which goes hand in hand with this one. As always, unscratched driving!
