New wheels (E46 M3 19 inch)

[andrewr]

Andrew
Just to clarify and my apology for the total lack of understanding on the subject.
You used 15mm front and 20mm rear spacers, yet the M3 front wheels have a 41mm offset compared to the Z4 47mm offset meaning the M3 wheels stick out by an extra 6mm, so why the need for spacers or are they only used to achieve a certain cosmetic look.
Is it safe to say as long as the M3 wheels I buy I have a 41mm offset then they must be fronts and i can then play with spacers to suit the look I want
Regards Stephen

Hi Stephen,

My spacers are purely for cosmetic reasons, they're not essential.

I based my offset calculations on the following information:

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12579

Andrew.

 

[MACK]

Andrew
Just to clarify and my apology for the total lack of understanding on the subject.
You used 15mm front and 20mm rear spacers, yet the M3 front wheels have a 41mm offset compared to the Z4 47mm offset meaning the M3 wheels stick out by an extra 6mm, so why the need for spacers or are they only used to achieve a certain cosmetic look.
Is it safe to say as long as the M3 wheels I buy I have a 41mm offset then they must be fronts and i can then play with spacers to suit the look I want
Regards Stephen

Hi Stephen,

My spacers are purely for cosmetic reasons, they're not essential.

I based my offset calculations on the following information:

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12579

Andrew.

Yes I think they have made a mistake there, here's what RealOEM lists the front wheel as

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part?id=BR92-EUR-10-2000-E46-BMW-M3&mg=36&sg=15&diagId=36_0426&q=36112229650

 

[streetcar]

Cheers Andrew that last link works for me.
Setting aside the offset issue the main reason I can see for not using the M3 rears is the fact they are a 9.5" width
which is what must cause the clearance issues as there's only a 1mm difference in the ET
Cheers everyone

 

[MACK]

Cheers Andrew that last link works for me.
Setting aside the offset issue the main reason I can see for not using the M3 rears is the fact they are a 9.5" width
which is what must cause the clearance issues as there's only a 1mm difference in the ET
Cheers everyone

Not quite, the rear wheels are indeed 9.5" but their offset is also ET27. meaning that they protrude another 35mm outward in total towards the arch than the standard Zed 8.5" ET50 wheel. It would only be about 13mm without the offset being different too.
Here is a great calculator for working these things out, its head scratching stuff doing it in your head!
http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=255&aspect=40&diameter=18&wheelwidth=8.5&offset=50&width2=255&aspect2=35&wheel_size=19&wheel_width=9-5&offset2=27#isPage=1

 

[Machine monkey]

The tears are very difficult to get to fit. I know because I have done it. They still rub very occasionally. But I have rolled my arches, added some camber and machined a few mm off the wheel mounting face. So not easy at all.

 

[enzed4]

To the OP - fantastic looking wheels on the Z - great choice . Shadow chrome would have also looked good IMHO.

 

[streetcar]

Andrew
Were you able to use the standard wheel studs with the 15mm and 20mm spacers.
Cheers

 

[synthedup]

Im running M3 sizes on my non M car, ET27 rears and with a 1.5 mil neg camber I dont get any rubbing

 

[Machine monkey]

Im running M3 sizes on my non M car, ET27 rears and with a 1.5 mil neg camber I dont get any rubbing

Never????? I am running similar camber rolled the arches machined the face!! I dont get much only normally at quite high speed and in a big dip. What tyres and sizes are you using??

 

[andrewr]

Andrew
Were you able to use the standard wheel studs with the 15mm and 20mm spacers.
Cheers

This will depend on which spacers you buy. My spacers require longer bolts.

Andrew.

 

[Machine monkey]

Andrew
Were you able to use the standard wheel studs with the 15mm and 20mm spacers.
Cheers

This will depend on which spacers you buy. My spacers require longer bolts.

Andrew.

If you buy bolt on spacers then yes you can but obviously make sure you buy them with the bolts.
And they need to be m12x1.5 bolts and threaded the same.

 

[MACK]

Andrew
Were you able to use the standard wheel studs with the 15mm and 20mm spacers.
Cheers

This will depend on which spacers you buy. My spacers require longer bolts.

Andrew.

A lot of the spacers come with bolts as part of the package. here is a link to some on ebay that Marlon is using on the advice of Mr Wilks the resident forum wheel/tyre guru.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361211444116?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=630567399198&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

On the subject of wheels/tyres, I'm certainly no expert never quite understood why BMW uses a 9.5" rim on the rear of the M3 with a 255 wide tyre. Why not use an 8.5" rim with a 255 tyre like on the Zed. Obviously there is some logic to it but it eludes me!

 

[synthedup]

Im running M3 sizes on my non M car, ET27 rears and with a 1.5 mil neg camber I dont get any rubbing

Never????? I am running similar camber rolled the arches machined the face!! I dont get much only normally at quite high speed and in a big dip. What tyres and sizes are you using??

Nope never, im running 255/35/19 rear and 225/40/19 fronts.

 

[Machine monkey]

Im running M3 sizes on my non M car, ET27 rears and with a 1.5 mil neg camber I dont get any rubbing

Never????? I am running similar camber rolled the arches machined the face!! I dont get much only normally at quite high speed and in a big dip. What tyres and sizes are you using??

Nope never, im running 255/35/19 rear and 225/40/19 fronts.

Same as me weird is your lowered at all? Mine is a bit low and set up nice and soft for the local roads. I guess its that.

 

[wspohn]

Forgive me, but I have to ask.
Fitting larger diameter rims and tires is an obvious negative step in terms of unsprung weight, and will have a negative effect on ride and handling.

Do people make a judgement that they are after a certain aesthetic result and don't care about the other factors, or.....

As far as looks go, your rims look nice - but it is not something I would ever do to one of my cars, just honestly wondering why people do this.

 

[enzed4]

Forgive me, but I have to ask.
Fitting larger diameter rims and tires is an obvious negative step in terms of unsprung weight, and will have a negative effect on ride and handling.

Unless you're tracking the car, I seriously doubt the weight difference would be noticeable. One passenger would be more difference to the weight than a set of 19" I would think. Ride and handling can be somewhat mitigated by selecting a good tyre/wheel combination, but yes, a larger diameter wheel with lower profile tyre will often have a more 'harsh' ride. However, if you read the many, many comments of members who have gone to 19" wheels, a lot are complimentary and don't find the ride and handling compromised significantly.

Do people make a judgement that they are after a certain aesthetic result and don't care about the other factors, or.....

I'm not sure 'don't care' is exactly the right term, but perhaps 'don't care about shaving 0.1 sec off the time it takes to get to 100km/h' is closer to the truth.

As far as looks go, your rims look nice - but it is not something I would ever do to one of my cars, just honestly wondering why people do this.

People do this because itt looks good, adds a touch of 'difference' compared to what everyone else is doing, and doesn't affect ride and handling so much that the experience is not worthwhile. To some, aesthetics are just as important as the pursuit of performance perfection...

 

[Machine monkey]

Forgive me, but I have to ask.
Fitting larger diameter rims and tires is an obvious negative step in terms of unsprung weight, and will have a negative effect on ride and handling.

Do people make a judgement that they are after a certain aesthetic result and don't care about the other factors, or.....

As far as looks go, your rims look nice - but it is not something I would ever do to one of my cars, just honestly wondering why people do this.

I agree with you.
And I did it for cosmetic reasons. But with a bit of research to. These wheels (I have them on my car to) are lighter than the 108s I swapped them with. They are also a forged wheel making them stronger. And having suffered cracked buckled and warped alloys due to the state of the roads where I live this was a big plus for me.

 

[MartinP]

Im running M3 sizes on my non M car, ET27 rears and with a 1.5 mil neg camber I dont get any rubbing

Never????? I am running similar camber rolled the arches machined the face!! I dont get much only normally at quite high speed and in a big dip. What tyres and sizes are you using??

I've just used that website www.willtheyfit.com and that has calculated that the poke is 35.7mm. I'm running 20mm spacers with MV2s and that is just about flush with the arch. I really want the e46 M3 rears to fit as they are gorgeous, but I'm hesitating... Any words of confidence/encouragement from those who have fitted the M3 rears to a standard z4 e85 (facelift) will help me get over my worries and buy a set Cheers, Martin

 

[Machine monkey]

Do it the do look cool as f**k you will need to roll the arch and a bit of extra camber nothing silly. And if you send them to me (rears) I can machine the back by 3 mm to help too. But my services are not free obviously

 

[Snoop D]

A few more to add to the post....







Andrew.

Do it the do look cool as f**k you will need to roll the arch and a bit of extra camber nothing silly. And if you send them to me (rears) I can machine the back by 3 mm to help too. But my services are not free obviously

What suspension setup and tyres are you guys running? (Dampers, springs and tyre sizes?)