Question- maybe wrong size of rims

Hey guys!

after having my 156 Gta now for 2months ive done a few changes and the soundsystem was the first and now i have bought rims and tyres.

The rims are a Set of custom black painted BBS Challenge CH002 = 8.5"X18" ET30.

According to one reliable rim/tyre shop in stockholm they told me after ofcourse checking up with alfa romeo and with bbs thoose rims should fit, even if i have a set of 330mm breaks.

i went and bought a set of tyres in the sizes of 225/40 18" and i also order a set of bolts/"center rings" since the rims are 5/100. So now on wednesday the rims are supposed to get mounted on the car BUT! after calling the same store that told me that thoose rims should work on the car they instead do a turn and tell me that thoose rims are to big/width.
Meaning that they will be hitting the inside plastic cover, BUT its no problem, we can fix that for you by heating the plastic up and modify it meaning another extra to pay

so my question is now, does anyone have a set of 8,5x18" "et30" on a 156 GTA with 330mm breaks, if so did you have to modify, if not what did you do?

a friend of mine asked me if a set of 215/35 18" could work so the tyres get stretched.... any thoughts regarding that? since its still a few mm that dif bettwen 8,5" / 8"

and also last but not least a set of coilovers would it really help one from not having to modify the cover around the wheels? cause if im right, putting a set of coilovers would just mean adjustable height... and since its 8,5 and not 8" its a matter of width?

please any pointers or comments are helpfull

thanks again for a amazing site/forum

8.5 is a little too wide.... the standard alfa 18" rims are 8" wide. So I guess youll need to use a 5mm spacer to get the clearance correct.
The tyre sizee (225/40/18) is fine.

Personally I wouldnt touch 5x100 PCD whels as ive seen 'wobble bolts' break before, but I know plenty of peopel use them and are happy.

Firstly, we need pictures. BBS CH are gorgeous wheels, I don't think I'd ever change them but I was sneaking a peak at the BBS site the other week to see what they could offer

And an extra 0.5inch shouldn't really make much difference (so the ex told me ) as with the same offset, it'll push the wheel OUT.

The problem is the offset of the wheel, as its bringing the wheel further into the arch and catching on the plastic. I don't know what the offset of a standard 156 is, but I'm guessing its different on a GTA due to the wider track...

You have two options, firstly to fit spacers. I wouldn't be happy with 5x100's on wobble bolts and spacers....so I wouldn't recommend this.

Secondly, as you say, you can fit narrower tyres. This will give you exposed rims, so you need to be careful on curbs! Curbing BBS rims is sacrilidge

*Personally* I'd be asking the garage to sort it out - they've recommended you some wheels which aren't fit for purpose, I'd ask for some in the correct size/offset.

But again - pictures!!

pics what you want and pics is what you get not much to see but still its custom :P


what i dont get is how come 8,5"x19" ET30 works and not 8,5"x18" ET30

GTA has a offset of um ET40 standard and its 17". dunno about width of the rim... but still...

Spacers will not be a option since i will be having to mount them off once per year, which is when the car has to be approved for swedish roads, meaning no no for spacers:/


ive already gone and bought tyres so im not sure what to do.... il check everything on wednesday hopefully the **** will work... im going for Red bolts and maybe, just maybe a red stripe around the complete wheel the outer part that is.... im thinking of going RED/BLACK all over the car since its Red

so windows tinted to either 20% or 40% not sure and thats allaround the car except for the front "big" window. and black sidelamps or blank. cause yellow will just mess it up....

any thoughts except for the red bolts :P i might go black... u know what they say, once you go black you never go back??? ummm yeah im a bit retarded...

Originally Posted by Zeggi

GTA has a offset of um ET40 standard and its 17". dunno about width of the rim... but still...

Nope, GTA are ET35 7.5"x17"
Std (non-GTA) 156/147 rims are ET40

ok i was by the shop and well they seem to fit prefect... but just to be sure they will mod the back inside cover around the wheel... the front was perfect so im all good to go...

BUT im really annoyed by the looks of the tyres :S really really big, its 225/40 but looks like 50 atleast... more pics:P

should i go lower??? what do you guys think? 225/35?? or wider/lower

They look OK, but you have to post a pic when a car is standing (off the jacks) to be able to tell if you should go lower.

well if im right the pic in the middle is when its standing....

I was going back and forward all the time over there cause of all phonecalls coming in..

now when i think about it i should have gone for 8x19" :P

Good to hear they fit ok And 19's are too big!

Remeber that the the "40" is a percentage of the width, so 40% of 225. A 35 profile wouldn't look that much different, and IMO it looks fine anyway

In picture 2 it looks like it had only just been dropped off the jack? In which case it'll probably settle a few more millimeters once you've driven it a bit.

Looks good though!

Talking about rims...
Does anyone know the rim size of the 205/55 16 tyre of the GT 2.0,
or whether I can fit 215/55 16 tyres on the same rims ?

By the way, does anyone have a chart of rim - tyre sizes? Mine is really outdated.

Ok after some research and photoshoping im thinkin of going with this style... but im not sure what red to go for. if i should go with the red code as the whole car or as the breaks... any thoughts?
red outerline with red bolts or should i go with silver + silver bolts...

im also looking in the cadamurodesign lips around the complete car in silver or black... but that will take a while to fix since i got other plans, new breaks/coilovers and a 4pipe exhaust system...

Originally Posted by Zeggi

Ok after some research and photoshoping im thinkin of going with this style... but im not sure what red to go for. if i should go with the red code as the whole car or as the breaks... any thoughts?
red outerline with red bolts or should i go with silver + silver bolts...

im also looking in the cadamurodesign lips around the complete car in silver or black... but that will take a while to fix since i got other plans, new breaks/coilovers and a 4pipe exhaust system...

If it was my car I would just got for the anthracite/Black BBS's with no coloured line, a nice four pipe exhaust ( similar in style to the standard one though...no dustbins sticking out the back ) and a good coilover kit. A red GTA with those mods would lok, in my opinion, very subtle but also very mean and purposfull without going overboard