Need help with steering wheel diameter decision

[boy412]

My wife has always wanted a Nardi steering wheel for her ‘88 vert, and she is finishing her doctorate degree next month. So…I want to surprise her with a new Nardi wheel! Her car has an e46 ZHP steering rack, so it’s “faster” than stock…and I think a smaller diameter wheel would be appropriate.

Right now the car has an M-tech 1 wheel, which is 285mm. It has always felt “big” so I am considering a 360mm wheel. Given the steering rack upgrade, perhaps something even a bit smaller would be more appropriate? I’m even considering something as small as 330mm, but I don’t want it to look out of place.

360mm seems like a good sweet spot to me but I’d certainly welcome input on this. I want to maintain a classic look but also give a nod to the fact that the closer ratio steering would benefit from a smaller wheel.

😎

[reelizmpro]

Don't go any smaller than 360mm. The smaller factory wheels are 370mm which are a good compromise. I have a 360mm AC Schnitzer wheel that I feel is the perfect size without blocking the cluster.

[e30davie]

For what its worth i recently bought a Momo Montecarlo - 350mm. The size is good as i am quite tall so my legs now fit under it, but yep its a bit small, cant see the top of the gauges. should have gone a 360mm. Its perfectly fine for driving around and actually really enjoyable for enthusiastic driving. but as soon as you need to do a u-turn or manoeuvre around a car park and do a 3pt turn, the small size is quite noticeable. Also noticeably more effort on the steering even with power steering. I'm not too worried as a rarely drive the car anyway, but if it was a daily driver i would very much consider buying something slightly bigger. The momo does look cool as though:D

I am going to recover my 3 spoke oem sports wheel and possibly put that back on as i really only got the momo for track days where the oem one was definitely too big as my knees hit the underside.