big wheels

I have 17" factory chrome wheels with 235/40-ZR17 Eagle F1's on my 95 BMW M-3 - they ride and corner like a dream - but avoiding potholes in PA is IMPOSSIBLE - so you get your teeth jarred quite often. This car was engineered for this tire/rim combo and you will not get anything bigger under it without a lift kit and that would defeat the purpose of it sitting only 4" off the ground - CORNERING. The wheel/tire size was also considered in the styling of the car and fills the wheel wells perfectly and looks great. Since this is a classic and has reached collector car statis, I will never change from the factory specs. I also have 20" Pirelli Scorpions on my 2010 F-150 King Ranch. I also had them on a 2006 King Ranch. They handle great and give reasonable mileage for a performance tire on a big truck. Price wise - I paid $119.00 each mounted, balanced and installed at a local tire shop. That was the price Tire Rack wanted per tire w/o shipping. There are good deals out there if you do your homework. It goes back to what the engineers and designers spec for a vehicle to perform and look good. Low profile skins on big wheels have their place - I agree that if you are conservative and choose a well styled wheel, slightly larger upgrades can look OK. Nostalgia wheel is producing some of the old school wheels in the larger sizes and Diamond Back and Coker are producing redlines and wide whites to fit em!!!!