Wheel Spacers Clarification

[EmDeeAr]

PLEASE NOTE: I'm running stock suspension. Fenders are not rolled.

See link: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/BMW-E46/c-141-bmw-wheel-spacers-turner-motorsport.aspx

I want to get spacers to widen the stance of my ZHP (sedan, if that matters). However, I'm confused about spacer sizes, the difference between front and rear spacers, and hub extenders.

Based on a lot of thread combing I've done over the past few days, I've found that going with either 10mm, 12.5mm, or 15mm spacers is the norm for the E46 (Some people report using 20mm and 25mm spacers, though.).

However, Turner Motorsport claims that 10mm spacers will cause issues if not used with hub extenders. Supposedly, there won't be enough room for the wheel to rest on the hub, and so too much force will be applied to the wheel lug bolts.

Is this true at all?? And if so, do both the front and rear need hub extenders?? Someone on E46 Fanatics mentioned spindle extenders to...

I'll probably start out with just one set of spacers to see how I like it. Will it look awkward to run moderate spacers at the rear, but keep it stock at the front?

Lastly, if you have any spacer width recommendations, post them up!!

[sillieidiot]

what kind of wheels are you running now? offset?

[Pip]

If you're running ZHP wheels you just need hubcentric spacers - they have the little lip and pretty much anything 10mm or bigger will have them.

Most common setup is 10mm front and 12.5mm in rear. I'm currently running 12.5 in front and 15mm rear. I cannot comment on stock suspension and I have 235 tires so that won't help either. 12.5 in rear should not be an issue at all on stock suspension. In front you could do 20mm on stock. Just depends what you're looking for and how aggressive you want to get. I can try and post some photos later of how to measure but you pretty much just take a plumb bob from the inner portion of the fender and measure how far the tire/wheel could push out. That will tell you how big of spacers to get.

Rear (you'll notice the "stretch" of the 235):
9928

9929

Front:
9930

9931

[Pip]

Stock suspension 12mm front 15mm rear. Rear fenders rolled and 235/40/18 tires so the sidewall is slightly rounded.

Hopefully this helps you out.

9932

9933

9934

9935

The lip on the photo below is what a hub centric spacer will look like. Others will be flat and like I said earlier it is usually non hub centric under 10mm.

9936

[danewilson77]

Right.

Under 10. And if you go less than 10 there really isn't any reason to get them, unless you're trying to just clear coilovers.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

[johnrando]

Nice detail Sean. Yup, you're fine with 10mm or over with the hubcentric kind. Many people run that setup. It might look a little weird to have the rear done and not the front, but it wouldn't kill you to try it and see what you think. I actually had 10 front, 12 rear, but with my Vert and an H&R Cup Kit, I had to reverse that and I still scrape on the rear. (It's a vert thing). :) Hopefully will be fixing that this weekend.

[derbo]

Sean's 12.5 and 15mm looks good. I might have to think about that.

[EmDeeAr]

Perfect - thanks amigos.


By default (stock), are the rear wheels pushed out more than the front wheels?

[cakM3]

I initially ran 10mm front/12.5mm rear and found myself rubbing slightly in the rear so I ended up going 10mm front/10mm rear and have no rubbing. I am on BC Racing coilovers and lowered. Also have my rear fenders rolled now. In my current setup I have no rubbing whatsoever and really love the ride height. I didn't need the Turner hub extenders and have not had any issues running in my current setup. :thumbsup

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/ZHP/DSC_0013_zps66deb0f2.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/ZHP/DSC_0091_zps66ea0de8.jpg

[Crickett]

By default (stock), are the rear wheels pushed out more than the front wheels?

Only by ~3.4 mm (assuming the front & rear track is the same):

http://www.willtheyfit.com/wheelimage.php?tyrediameter=637.2&tyrewidth=225&tyrecirc=2001.82283658&wheelwidth=203.2&wheeldia=457.2&offset=47&poke=54.6&inset=148.6&aspect=40&tyrediameter2=635.7&tyrewidth2=255&tyrecirc2=1997.110447605&wheelwidth2=215.9&wheeldia2=457.2&offset2=50&poke2=57.95&inset2=157.95&aspect2=35
Front "poke": 54.6 mm
Rear "poke": 58 mm

(Data from WillTheyFit.com (http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=225&aspect=40&diameter=18&wheelwidth=8&offset=47&width2=255&aspect2=35&diameter2=18&wheelwidth2=8.5&offset2=50&Submit=Submit))