New BMW Owner - Alpine White 96 318Ti
 

Hi All,

This is my first BMW ever. It's a wedding gift from my bro. From what I gather it's in great shape for a 96 318Ti, with 93K. It's a stock car, with stock wheels, brakes, everything. I'm thinking of changing the rims and tires to 16inch rims with Bridgestone Pontenza G009 225-50-16tires from Lakeshore Wheel and Tire. So, besides the wheels, what else should I invest in for this car? Also just moved to Silicon Valley near Mountain View, California..any mechanics with good rates to recommend in the area?

Welcome! Keep your old wheels. Keep all your old parts.I'm the wrong dude to ask about mod's 'cuz I like BMW's taste and engineering, but this is the place to find out what works and what doesn't. I'm not changing anything 'til I can afford to drop it off at Dinan and pick it up with a badge on it's ass!

i had potenza G009's on my last E30, excellent tires IMHO.

welcome to ub.c and the world of bimmers!

i would go with a stiffer suspension first ;) springs maybe, but definatly some bilstien shocks.

Welcome to UB.C :wave

As far as to what you can do to your car, just browse our "rate my car" and see what you like ;)

Bimmers are awesome as they come right out of the box :nod Welcome to UB.C :)

I live in Mountain View. :)

There's a decent shop I go to called European Autoworks for the big stuff I can't do/figure out myself (engine problems, stupid locks, dang window not working); it's off of Evelyn Ave in Mountain View.

For routine maintenance, I take my car to Quality Tune-Up in Milpitas (right off of 237) because 1) the owner is my neighbor and everything is the right price (aka free) and 2) they actually do a really good job.

If you go down Evelyn Ave. around European Autoworks, there's a bunch of automotive shops up and down the street and then you can pick one. :)

Thanks for the replies. Generally, I like to keep my cars looking close to stock, no major mods; but I'm open to ideas :-) Regarding wheels, what is offset? I'm looking at these 2 rims and the 5 spoke comes with a +47mm offset, no idea about the other one. Will a +47mm offset work on my 96 318Ti?? What do u guys think?

For offset, I would like to steal from Dudesky (as I had the same question a month or two back)

Also, the 318 generally has an offset of 47mm.


As for worthwhile mods, imho, Bilstein Sports are a great investmest. I also own a 318is, and as our cars are not very fast, a little help in the corners goes a long way.

I actually got the biggest compilment on my car a few weeks ago when I was on a BMW drive being followed by a 1998 328is.
"What did you do to your car??? I could barely keep up with it!"
"Bilstein Sports"

Send a PM to HABBIE
He sells some CSL wheels, they would look good on your car.