15" BBS RS

[Cale 36]

TM Auction

ET35 sits too far inside the gaurds and looks silly on an E30 right?

[e30plz 1]

Drool, Spacers ?

[Guest SamSpargo]

Kodiak racing have got just what you need. 15x9 oh yes

[Tomo 0]

doesnt seem to be enough bolt holes on that kodiakracingwheels lip, but theres ones on ebay even... someone should do it, preferably before i blow my money on them...

[Mike 1]

Drool, Spacers ?

depends on the width, if they are 6.5" they'll fit, while 7" will be very close, and may need spacers (5mm tops). Having got that sorted they will sit too far in, so do what sam said and get some wide outers for them, perfect e30 wheels

Edited September 17, 2008 by Mike

[Guest SamSpargo]

www.turnershop.de has them too.

Kodiak racing do custom lips, so just ask them how many holes you want!

[Tomo 0]

what is stock e30 width & offset? you could calculate the change in clearance here and then measure...

Edited September 17, 2008 by Tomo

[Eagle 1662]

Mine are ET34 15x6.5. Need a 3mm spacer on the front to clear calipers unless you brake pads are worn down a bit, but looks wrong. Ive got 15mm spacers all round on mine,looks perfect

[Tomo 0]

answered my own question with realoem, seems clearance would be 13mm less on inside of wheel to strut at worst?

Edited September 17, 2008 by Tomo

[Mike 1]

what is stock e30 width & offset? you could calculate the change in clearance here and then measure...

can't work on stock widths and offsets because the stock wheels are so narrow. Also, the range of offsets you can use changes depending on the rim diameter. those calculators are handy if you know of similar wheels that work.

Mine are ET34 15x6.5. Need a 3mm spacer on the front to clear calipers unless you brake pads are worn down a bit, but looks wrong. Ive got 15mm spacers all round on mine,looks perfect

thanks for that, I forgot about the calipers, too easy just to go off the strut distance.

Edited September 17, 2008 by Mike

[greenday-rulz21 6]

what is stock e30 width & offset? you could calculate the change in clearance here and then measure...

Stock is about 25p.

Here are the general offsets for standard E30's.

- 6" rim = 35-ish

- 6.5" rim = 30-ish

- 7" rim = 25-ish

- 7.5" rim = 20-ish

Edited September 17, 2008 by Nick021

[Tomo 0]

ah. and also not taking into account caliper clearance.

[zenetti 0]

TM Auction

ET35 sits too far inside the gaurds and looks silly on an E30 right?

Unfortunately Nicks post about offsets while partially correct, is actually quite vague. We really need some more information about the wheels before we can give you some clear and accurate advice.

Depending on what year and model your E30 is the factory offset could be anywhere between 27 and 35.

The best thing to do is ask the seller what width the wheels are as this is very important in determining whether or not the wheels will fit. Also take into account what others have said about X-Factor (brake clearance)

EDIT: Upon looking at the wheels further it sems they are 3 piece so it is possible to change the offsets on them by changing the lip etc. Seems like they will fit although it may take some extra "work".

Edited September 18, 2008 by zenetti

[CamB 48]

Yeah, offset tells you where the centre of the tyre sits in relation to the hub. It only one part of the equation.

Nicks list of offsets is approximately correct for wider wheels where all the extra width is "outwards" (ie the wheel/strut distance remains the same). For each inch of extra wheel width:

- if the offset stays the same, the width is evenly either side of the hub (ie close to both strut and arch). There is obviously a limit to how far this can go... but - see below

- if the offset decreases by 12ish mm, the width is all "dish".

That's all easy - where it gets trickier is once you start considering where the tyre sits. When the offset stays the same, even on a wider rim, the same size tyre stays in the same position. If the tyre gets wider with the rim, chances are it will hit the strut if you stick with the 6" offset of 33p (possibly before the rim does).

So if you want a wider tyre to go with your wider wheels, you probably need a lower offset, giving wider track.

Geez, I'm not sure that makes sense unless you already know what I'm on about, in which case you don't need me to tell you...

(edit) and, like the man says, caliper clearance is your next problem ----> not all wheels have a suitable amount of x-factor for an E30.

Edited September 18, 2008 by CamB

[Cale 36]

I had to read those posts a few times.

Thanks for the info.

CamB and Johno, you guys should do a sticky thread about the aspects of tyre fitment, rim fitment etc...

[Mike 1]

CamB and Johno, you guys should do a sticky thread about the aspects of tyre fitment, rim fitment etc...

This has been talked about before but the problem is there are far too many variations, eg camber, ride height, preFL or FL, strut size, rim diameter, etc. even tyres with the same nominal size can have different tread widths. A guide could be done explaining the effect of each of these but for what will and wont work its a bit tricky.

A general list could be done of common fitments for a few of the chassis without too much trouble I guess. I could do e30's without too much trouble but would need help with e36/e46 and some of the 5 and 7 series

Edited September 18, 2008 by Mike

[CamB 48]

I agree with Mike - it also doesn't help that 7" (for instance) is not a particularly consistent measurement on a car wheel (ie some are wider than others).

It would be more helpful to try and build up a database of what works on what car.