Collection: BMW I3 Factory Wheels

The wheels are as distinctive as the body. Instead of the wide, low-profile sizes BMW fits to its sporting cars, the i3 rides on large-diameter wheels that are only 5 or 5.5 inches wide, wrapped in tall, narrow tires. This guide covers the single I01 generation sold in North America, and it separates the base, range extender, Sport and i3s packages, because the width, offset and tire size change from one to the next. The figures come from BMW U.S. and Canadian product and pricing guides, OEM wheel listings and tire databases. BMW's own wheel technical documentation could not be accessed, so a few items rest on parts listings and are flagged where they appear.

BMW i3 Quick Specs at a Glance

The BMW i3 Through Its U.S. Production Run

The i3 was a clean-sheet design, and its wheels followed from that. BMW developed the car as a city-oriented electric hatchback, and the carbon-fibre passenger cell kept weight down so the small battery could move a four-seat body. The 2014 and 2015 cars used a 60 Ah, 22.6 kWh battery and were rated at under 100 miles of range by the EPA. The optional range extender, a 647 cc two-cylinder gasoline engine, ran a generator rather than driving the wheels, and it is the reason some i3s carry a wider rear wheel than others. The car won the 2014 World Car Design of the Year.

For 2017 BMW moved to a 94 Ah, 33 kWh battery, which raised the rated range to 115 miles. The wheel choices did not change, but the market around them did. The i3s arrived for the 2018 model year with 181 horsepower against 170 for the standard car, a wider front track, and its own 20-inch wheels. Its front track measures 62.7 inches against 61.9 for the i3, and that difference shows up directly in the wheel specifications.

The cars were sold in equipment levels that BMW called Mega, Giga and Tera World, and the names matter here because the wheel travelled with the package. Mega was the base level and carried the Style 427 wheel, while Giga and Tera added their own turbine wheel designs along with different interiors. The 20-inch Sport wheel was offered on top of Giga or Tera in the 2016 U.S. guide, which is why the same body can appear on three or four different wheel designs in the same model year.

The final update came for 2019, with a 120 Ah, 42.2 kWh battery rated at up to 153 miles on both the i3 and the i3s, full LED headlights and a new Jucaro Beige Metallic paint. Europe dropped the range extender that year, but the U.S. kept it. None of the sources reviewed shows a change in the factory wheel dimensions between 2014 and 2021, so a 2014 car and a 2021 car of the same package share their wheel specifications. Sales in the United States ended in 2021.

Factory Wheel Styling: Star Spoke, Turbine and Double Spoke

Four designs cover the standard i3, and a fifth belongs to the i3s. The standard 19-inch wheel is Style 427, which BMW calls the i Star Spoke, a five-spoke design that was fitted to the base i3 and the range extender car. It is the plainest of the set, and on a narrow wheel the thin spokes keep the tall tire from looking heavy.

The Giga and Tera World packages replaced it with turbine designs, Style 429 on Giga and Style 428 on Tera, both 19 inches and both bundled into the World packages, which cost $1,500 for Giga and $2,500 for Tera in the 2016 U.S. price guide. Turbine spokes sweep around the wheel instead of radiating from the hub, which suits a car whose body is built around smooth, tall surfaces. At the top of the range sit two 20-inch double-spoke designs. Style 430 was the Sport wheel for the standard i3, and Style 431 was the i3s wheel. They look alike in photographs, but they are different sizes, with the i3s version wider at both axles.

BMW offered no cross-spoke, Y-spoke or star-spoke design on the i3, and no aerodynamic cover is documented as factory equipment in the sources reviewed, so the styling story is a progression from a simple five-spoke wheel to turbine and double-spoke shapes rather than a change across generations.

Factory Wheel Colors and Finishes

Finish documentation is thinner than size documentation, and where a finish could not be tied to a style it is marked as such. Style 427 is listed in silver by two parts sellers. For the turbine wheels, a parts retailer lists Style 428 as a bicolor in jet black with a bright polished face, while Style 429 has no finish documented. The 20-inch Style 430 appears at one retailer as black with a bright turned face, but that listing does not confirm i3 fitment, so it is not treated as verified.

The i3s wheel is the best documented. BMW's 2019 Canadian product guide lists Style 431 in a bicolour finish as standard on the i3s, with a Jet Black version available for an extra charge under option code 26K. That guide is a Canadian document, so the U.S. option code was not confirmed. Taken together, the finishes move from silver on the standard wheel to darker bicolor treatments on the 20-inch wheels, which fits a car that BMW positioned as increasingly sporting with the i3s.

How the i3 and Its Wheels Developed Together

The i3's wheel sizes were set by its tires. Every factory combination is built around a tall, narrow tire on a wheel of 19 or 20 inches, and by calculation the overall diameters are close together: roughly 700mm for a 155/70R19, 693mm for a 175/60R19, 694mm for a 155/60R20, 701mm for a 175/55R20 and 703mm for the i3s 195/50R20. The 19-inch and 20-inch packages are therefore near equivalents in rolling diameter, and the larger wheels trade sidewall for appearance rather than for a different tire height.

The widths follow the drivetrain. The i3 drives its rear wheels, and every staggered package puts the wider wheel and tire at the rear: 5.5 inches against 5 on the standard car, and 6 against 5.5 on the i3s. The standard base car is the exception, since its 19x5 wheels are used at all four corners. The i3s widened both axles by half an inch, in step with the wider front track, and moved the offsets to ET33 and ET39. The 10mm drop in front offset, from ET43 to ET33, pushes each front wheel 10mm outward, and by calculation that adds about 20mm, or 0.8 inch, of front track. BMW's published front track figures differ by exactly that amount. The rear figures do not line up as neatly, so no similar claim is made for the rear axle.

The tires differ by package in more than size. A 2014 BMWBLOG wheel and tire guide lists the 19-inch cars on Bridgestone Ecopia EP600 all-season tires and the 20-inch cars on Ecopia EP500 summer tires, and it notes that the winter tires offered at launch came only in 155/70R19. That is why owners of 20-inch cars in cold climates would need a separate set of 19-inch wheels for winter, a point that makes the 19-inch fitment the practical one in much of the country.

No brake clearance requirement is documented for any i3 wheel in the sources reviewed, so none is assumed here.

BMW i3 OEM Wheel Fitment by Package

BMW i3 Factory Wheel Styles, Colors and Finishes

Wheel Widths, Offsets and Fitment

Every i3 factory wheel is 6 inches wide or narrower, and fitment depends on three things at once: width, offset and the square or staggered layout. A base electric i3 runs 19x5 wheels at all four corners. The range extender, the Giga and Tera packages and the 20-inch Sport package run a 5-inch front and a 5.5-inch rear, with ET43 in front and ET53 behind. The i3s uses a different pair, 20x5.5 at ET33 and 20x6 at ET39, so the i3 Sport wheel and the i3s wheel are not the same part even though both are 20-inch double-spokes.

Offsets are positive on every package, and they change by axle for a reason that is visible in the numbers. The rear ET53 on the i3 sits 10mm further in than the front ET43, while the i3s fronts and rears are 6mm apart. Because the front and rear wheels also differ in width, they cannot be swapped on any staggered package.

Every i3 wheel uses a 5x112 bolt pattern and a 66.6mm center bore, with M14x1.25 lug bolts reported by two retailers. One source lists the bore as 66.7mm, which is a rounding difference of 0.1mm and was not treated as a different hub. Matching the bolt pattern alone does not establish a correct fit, because width, offset, tire size and the original package still have to match. Tire size also should not be used to infer width. The i3's 155 and 175 sections would suggest narrower wheels than the i3s 195 section does, and the documented wheel widths are what decide it.

BMW i3 OEM vs. Replica Wheels

Some drivers choose replica wheels for their similar appearance or price. If your goal is to replace a damaged factory wheel, a genuine OEM wheel offers the best path to the correct fit, finish, and overall appearance, without the extra research replica shopping usually requires. We offer genuine OEM at replica price levels, often less. Here's how the two options typically compare:

Frequently Asked Questions

What Size Wheels Does the BMW i3 Have?

The standard i3 uses 19x5 wheels, with a 19x5.5 rear on range extender and Giga or Tera cars. The 20-inch Sport package is 20x5 and 20x5.5, and the i3s uses 20x5.5 and 20x6.

What Is the Bolt Pattern on the BMW i3?

5x112 with a 66.6mm center bore on every i3 and i3s sold in the U.S.

Are i3 and i3s Wheels the Same?

No. The i3s 20-inch wheels are wider, at 20x5.5 ET33 in front and 20x6 ET39 at the rear, while the i3 Sport wheels are 20x5 ET43 and 20x5.5 ET53.

Is the BMW i3 Staggered?

Mostly. The base electric i3 is square on 19x5 wheels, while the range extender, Giga, Tera, Sport and i3s packages put a wider wheel at the rear.

How Did i3 Wheel Designs Change?

The standard wheel was the Style 427 i Star Spoke, the Giga and Tera packages added turbine designs, and 20-inch double-spokes covered the Sport package and the i3s.

Final Thoughts

The i3 changed less than most cars in its price class over eight model years, but its wheels still show how BMW positioned it: a plain silver five-spoke for the base car, turbine designs for the World packages, and darker double-spokes for the sporting i3s. Matching package, axle, diameter, width, offset and bolt pattern keeps a replacement factory-correct, and it is the approach Finish Line Wheels takes with an i3 order.