Grassroots Motorsports

Subscribe get a full year for only $19.95 Sample get a free issue—no strings attached

BMW 325is: New Shoes Jul 2, 2009

• 
• 
• 

Now that the car was reliable again, it was time to start autocrossing. Because the car was a beater before it came to us, the previous owner had installed Baldini racing slicks. These can be purchased at any Pep Boys, but are only true slicks after about 40,000 miles. Since the tires were both rock hard and a safety hazard, we knew a change was in order.

We replaced the stock wheels and tires with new units from The Tire Rack, specifically TR Motorsports C1s and Kumho Ecsta XSs. These performed beautifully on the track, and they knocked a few seconds off of our times. They look better, too. The old wheels are on Per’s VW for now, as the two cars share a common bolt pattern.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

---

Comments

nderwater:

The car looks great with the lift kit you guys installed for the last photo!
Jul 9, 2009 8:54 a.m.

tzbfwt:

Hey! What's with the Apple Fanboy logo on the decklid??? Windows 7,Baby!
Jul 9, 2009 10:32 p.m.

Tommy Suddard:

Pssssh, Windows 7? Actually, I have some retro rainbow apple stickers on it now. And that is with the stock suspension. I just finished installing a new suspension kit, and it looks good now.
Jul 10, 2009 1:04 a.m.

TJ:

Every car is better with a rainbow sticker.
Jul 10, 2009 12:08 p.m.

tzbfwt:

Uh… Tommy, I'm building a Spec E30 now so I'm really glad to see E30 projects in the mag… but a “Rainbow” sticker on your car means something a bit different over here in Texas… Send me an FTP address and I'll upload the latest Win 7 build for you, so you can see how the other 93% of the computer world lives… :)
Jul 11, 2009 7:52 a.m.

DustoffDave:

Car looks great! What wheel/tire sizes are you running? I like that look of the combo you've got and I'm about ready to put some new shoes on my E30 (if you don't mind me copying you…)
Jul 11, 2009 7:30 p.m.

Tommy Suddard:

They are 15x7, 205/50x15. [I]Uh… Tommy, I’m building a Spec E30 now so I’m really glad to see E30 projects in the mag… but a “Rainbow” sticker on your car means something a bit different over here in Texas… [/I] Yeah, but that logo screams 1980's, so you have to put one on a 20 year old BMW. Even the kids at my highschool know what it is, and asked where they could get the old logo.
Jul 14, 2009 8:02 p.m.

You'll need to log in or register to comment.

Because the car was a beater before it came to us, the previous owner had installed Baldini racing slicks.