Front arch liner modification - how difficult?

[True-Blue]

Evening all,

Considering 8.5J ET35 fronts with 225/40/18 tires… or 8J ET29 with same tires, which have exactly the same amount of Poke.

I’ve just refreshed the suspension, but I’m on Eibach springs, so I know it’s likely either of these options will cause rubbing during compression on the arch liner near the wheel arch/bumper.

Has anyone managed to run this combo by using a heat gun to reshape the arch liner and, if so how difficult or easy was this?

Many thanks

 

[Mr Tidy]

I put a set of E89 wheels on my previous E86 so fronts were 8Jx18 ET29 with 225/40 tyres and I didn't have any rubbing issues. But it was on standard M-Sport suspension.

I hope you can find something that works as they sat so much better in the wheelarches!

 

[patriot66]

This is the usual spot for rubbing on compression bumps. It's so close to the edge of the arch, one of the mounting screws and the headlight access panel that I doubt there is much scope for heating up the plastic and trying to reshape it, if at all

 

[True-Blue]

This is the usual spot for rubbing on compression bumps. It's so close to the edge of the arch, one of the mounting screws and the headlight access panel that I doubt there is much scope for heating up the plastic and trying to reshape it, if at all 20211221_231257.jpg

Many thanks,

Okey-dokey, that’s a problem then… I’m not fancying 215 width fronts on 8.5J either

I don’t think what I was considering is going to work as I don’t want to go to Suplex springs and re-do everything :?

 

[True-Blue]

I put a set of E89 wheels on my previous E86 so fronts were 8Jx18 ET29 with 225/40 tyres and I didn't have any rubbing issues. But it was on standard M-Sport suspension.

I hope you can find something that works as they sat so much better in the wheelarches!

Hi Iain, thanks, yes I’m looking at a few different options, mainly of the light weight variety

 

[True-Blue]

Looking at this again, is it possible to mount the arch liner the other side of the arch? And, if so, does this do anything to increase clearance sufficiently to remove rub?

 

[patriot66]

Looking at this again, is it possible to mount the arch liner the other side of the arch? And, if so, does this do anything to increase clearance sufficiently to remove rub?

Probably, with a bit of jiggery-pokery and it may gain you 5 or 6mm which may make just enough difference at that particular point

 

[Ed Doe]

I ran 224M alloys on my old 3.0si, with spacers at the front and lowered on a bilstein b12 kit. Rubbing was minimal.

224m fronts are 8J et 42, I was running a 10mm spacer making the effective offset et32.

Below is a snapshot from willtheyfit.com - the orange is the 224m setup I ran, and the green is your proposed setup of 9j et 32 running same tyre profile.



I'd suggest you'll be fine - top outer edge of the tyre will be pretty much in the same place as was on my setup.

I did get some very minor rubbing but it was mostly on track rather than anything on the road...

 

[True-Blue]

I ran 224M alloys on my old 3.0si, with spacers at the front and lowered on a bilstein b12 kit. Rubbing was minimal.

224m fronts are 8J et 42, I was running a 10mm spacer making the effective offset et32.

Below is a snapshot from willtheyfit.com - the orange is the 224m setup I ran, and the green is your proposed setup of 9j et 32 running same tyre profile.

Screenshot_20211222_100639_com.android.chrome.jpg

I'd suggest you'll be fine - top outer edge of the tyre will be pretty much in the same place as was on my setup.

I did get some very minor rubbing but it was mostly on track rather than anything on the road...

Hi, yes I’ve been throwing all sorts of combinations into that website.

I’ve had an E85 with the B12 kit and it’s a lot firmer than Sachs with Eibach’s, I’m not 100% convinced that I might get rubbing where you don’t because of this :?

 

[True-Blue]

Looking at this again, is it possible to mount the arch liner the other side of the arch? And, if so, does this do anything to increase clearance sufficiently to remove rub?

Probably, with a bit of jiggery-pokery and it may gain you 5 or 6mm which may make just enough difference at that particular point

From what I can gather that may well be enough to cure/prevent the problem… I’ll have a look at the fixings