Big wheels and big tyres

As the years go by the wheel sizes have steadily increased with each new car model released. One of the main proponents for using big wheel is BMW. The wheels on their cars have grown significantly since the 1990s. The BMW 3 series in the 1990s were using 15" wheels and the current model F30 3 series is using 18" and 19" wheels.

The big wheels craze we driven by the after market sector where tuners started using large wheels to accentuate the looks of the car and also to improve traction after modifying the engine for more power. The real large wheels craze started to take off in early 2002 where 22" wheels were seen fitted on tuned cars. This lead to further large wheels craze and the size increased to 24"!!

In the US, big SUVs were fitted with massive wheels to fill up the big wheel arches. The sizes of the large wheels were approaching the point where it became ridiculous as tyre manufacturers were struggling to keep up. Wheel manufacturers were able to make big wheels but tyre manufacturers didn't have the tyre sizes to fit these large wheels. The tyre manufacturers needed to justify their investment in making large tyres and with low demand the tyre cost will be extremely high.

In the picture above the SUV is fitted with 32" wheels and the wheels manufacturer had to make their own tyres to suit this massive 32" wheel as other tyre manufacturers either didn't make them this big or there were very limited selection.

In terms of practicality the massive 32" wheels were down right useless as they were susceptible to damage from potholes. The massive wheels were purely for cosmetic appeal. It would not serve any purpose for traction.
With the super low tyre profile the tyres would also wear out much faster than normal tyres. In comparison a typical low profile tyres of 40 series profile would last about 1 year (20,000 to 25,000km) when used normally on a car but on a large 32" wheel with ultra low profile tyres the tyres itself would last no more than 6 months (10,000km).