bigger wheels

[tarheelcurt]

I have a 2006 m35x that came with 18 inch wheels, and I want to upgrade to 19's. If I upgrade to 19's, will I have to lower the the suspension, to prevent having that gap between the wheel well and the tire. I don't want it to look like it has been jacked up, any suggestions?

[Ilya]

You might, depending on the look of the wheel and how it deceives the eye.

As for lowering, it has been discussed ad nauseum. Please search.

[EdBwoy]

You technically don't need to lower it if you maintain the OEM tire diameter. I transferred the OEM sport 19" wheels & tires to a base M45 that had 18"s originally with no optical illusions of a raised suspension. If anything, the metal seems to fill the wheel well better.

[tarheelcurt]

thanx for the info, I am relieved because I don't want to get into lowering it, it can be quite costly.

[Larz]

I went from the stock 18" wheels to 19". At the time, I also needed tires. I went to Tire Rack online. I chose the 19" wheels I wanted, then chose the tires I wanted BUT instead oif using the 255/45/18, I chose 255/40/19. The car remains the same height, same wheel well fill, etc. Going from 45 down to 40 negates the increase in the wheels and makes no difference to suspension, brakes, etc. The difference in appearance and side wall is near nothing. Still plenty of side wall so it doesn't look like I placed bicycle tires on my car.
I don't want to lower my car or change from OEM suspension so that was the best option.
FYI, when you buy tires AND wheels from Tire Rack at the same time, they mount them, do a free high speed balance, and they even installed new OEM compatible TPS on each wheel (for extra charge). Then they shipped them to my local tire store in about 3 days and I only had to pay for installation and an alignment.

[szh]

thanx for the info, I am relieved because I don't want to get into lowering it, it can be quite costly.

You have the X model ... just remember to make sure that all four wheels and tires are identical. Whatever you do decide to get in a 19" size!

Also, given our M cars, the quality of the wheels you choose is important - the car is too heavy to have wheels fail. Many 19" wheels are light for the folks choosing to put them on small cars, and they would be bad for our use!

Z