tires and wheels Here are my early factory alloys on "Malaga"

[02fanatic]

After alot of sanding, painting & polishing I finally found time to have the 205/60/13 Sumitomo's mounted on my early factory alloys today. I decided to run them on my '76 daily driver (and park the E30 BS's for awhile)....well, it's not so daily anymore, but it's the one I drive the most..rock solid standard '02...I love it!

I only have this to say about those who think 205's are too wide for these wheels. Try it, you'll be fine! I love the look and the ride quality is excellent.

I'm pretty impressed with these tires so far. too - Sumitomo HTR 200's

I still have a new set of 205/60/13 Yokohama AVS's in my garage if I ever need them...too bad they quit making them.

But, I have them on my vintage 13" x 6" BWA's and the offset was too far out for Hugo - I nailed the nose at full lock, so that's one reason I went with the Superlites on Hugo. If I had these wheels & tires earlier, I'd have used them on Hugo.

The early factory alloys have the "perfect" offset too...no chance of rubbing even with the 205's.

Have a good weekend everyone!

John

[jgmgti]

John,

Looks great!! So tell me,which of your 02's will make the trip next week for the Vintage gathering in Herndon Va.??

Jonathan

[Jack]

(nt)

[Mike Self]

have a set on my 73 and when I replace the curent 185s, I may well go to 205s since you've confimed they don't rub. Have you lowered your car at all with shorter springs?

mike

[Victor_PR]

(nt)

[02fanatic]

Hi Mike:

No, the car has stock '76 springs, but I do have Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks...I like the way it sits...no need to lower any more in my opinion. I did have the fender lips rolled however in '99 when I had it repainted, so it looks like the 205's would clear easily if lowered...actually, I think there would be clearance even without the fender lips rolled. I left the 5mm spacers on the hubs, and I have tons of clearance inside and outside with this setup...no rubbing whatsoever.

One thing I like about the 205's is they "protect" the alloys the way they fit around the rims....one thing I like about 13" tires...lots of rubber! :-)

[Gordon]

John,

Your early alloys look good on malaga. Early alloys are rarely seen on a squarie. If I had to run 13" wheels on my 02, I'd look for the late model (early bottleap) alloys that came on 74-76 02's as an option. They are very rare and I'd probably have sticker shock if I priced them. Their was a set of four on the Portland CL for $1K recently, thanks but no thank you.

G-Man

Who got tired of E30 bottlecaps and went with E30 basketweaves on my tii

91 318i

91 318i parts car

74 2002tii

73 Bavaria

70 2800

96 4 Runner (parts hauler)

[02fanatic]

Yeah, I know (re: early alloys on a late model '02)..it's not vintage correct, but most after market wheels aren't "correct" either. I prefer the look of the early factory alloys over the late factory alloys anyway....so easy to clean...I just got tired of the E30 BBS's (hardest wheels to keep clean on the planet!), wanted to try something new! :-)

Only other option was to buy another '02!...and Judy wouldn't stand for that move!!!