Spare wheel supplied as OE on an '88 Highline - 415mm or 395mm?

Post in this forum for topics relating to tires and wheels

Moderators: GRNSHRK, ron, bfons

Post Reply
plip1953
Posts: 400
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:15 pm
Location: Leeds

Spare wheel supplied as OE on an '88 Highline - 415mm or 395mm?

Post by plip1953 »

I'd be pretty sure this question has come before, but I couldn't find anything when I searched.

When I bought my '88 635 CSiA (Dec '87 build date) in 1992 I was surprised to find that the spare wheel and tyre (still brand new and unused) was of the 395mm variety, whereas the four mounted wheels were of the completely different style 415 variety.

I seem to remember reading somewhere (not on this Forum) that this was because the spare wheel well was insufficiently deep to accommodate the wider tyre of the 415 wheel. Does that make any sense to anyone? And, if true for my particular build month/year, was it also true for the very last of the Highlines, or maybe their wheel well was made a bit deeper? And what about on the M635s that always had the 415 wheels as standard?

Also, my car came with metal wheel centres (on the 415s). Can anyone tell me definitively when they switched over to being plastic?
Phil
__________________________

1988 Highline 635 CSi
plip1953
Posts: 400
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:15 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: Spare wheel supplied as OE on an '88 Highline - 415mm or 395mm?

Post by plip1953 »

I found this thread which at least partially deals with the plastic versus metal 415mm wheel centre caps, but speculates that the difference was down to "dual sourcing" rather than one being superseded by the other. I'd assumed the plastic caps came with wheels produced either for just very late E24s or maybe officially switched only from the days of the E34s?

http://bigcoupe.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15089
Phil
__________________________

1988 Highline 635 CSi
User avatar
nick88highline
Posts: 348
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:31 am
Location: Suffolk, UK

Re: Spare wheel supplied as OE on an '88 Highline - 415mm or 395mm?

Post by nick88highline »

Yes, I think this has come up before. I have a 635 CSiA (with Week 5 Dec 87 build date) which I bought in 1999 and that came with the smaller TRX wheel as yours did. The wheel and tyre were unblemished and I've no reason to think it wasn't originally supplied with the car when new.
I've been through a few different wheel sets over the years, but have settled on some AZEV Type A which are 16x7.5 and I put a spare one of those in the boot. It protrudes somewhat (has 235 section TOYO tyres), but not intrusively, and is just as wide as the larger TRX wheel.
Interesting to hear about the wheel centre caps; mine are plastic.
Nick

PS I wonder if your car and mine came down the production line at the same time? :lol:
BMW 635CSiA (1988)
BMW i3 (2016)
Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 (2000)
Morris Minor 1000 (1968)
plip1953
Posts: 400
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:15 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: Spare wheel supplied as OE on an '88 Highline - 415mm or 395mm?

Post by plip1953 »

nick88highline wrote: Wed May 06, 2020 8:34 am Yes, I think this has come up before. I have a 635 CSiA (with Week 5 Dec 87 build date) which I bought in 1999 and that came with the smaller TRX wheel as yours did. The wheel and tyre were unblemished and I've no reason to think it wasn't originally supplied with the car when new.
I've been through a few different wheel sets over the years, but have settled on some AZEV Type A which are 16x7.5 and I put a spare one of those in the boot. It protrudes somewhat (has 235 section TOYO tyres), but not intrusively, and is just as wide as the larger TRX wheel.
Interesting to hear about the wheel centre caps; mine are plastic.
Nick

PS I wonder if your car and mine came down the production line at the same time? :lol:
The chassis number of mine is 8187902. I guess they may very well have come down the production line at about the same time.

I only found out about the metal/plastic wheel centres thing when I bought a brand new rim and then found that none of my existing centres would fit!

I've resisted the urge to go down the non-TRX route unless I can get hold of some Alpina wheels, but no luck so far.
Phil
__________________________

1988 Highline 635 CSi
Post Reply