Style 32 wheels - 17 or 18 inch?
Discussion
I'm looking to get a set of Style 32 wheels for my E39, however I've noticed online there are some which are 17's, and some which are 18's. Also some are staggered. So a few queries:
1. Were both 17 and 18 inch style 32 wheels available as genuine BMW wheels or possibly one of those sizes are most likely to be replicas? Or which size would suit a standard E39 SE better?
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way).
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
1. Were both 17 and 18 inch style 32 wheels available as genuine BMW wheels or possibly one of those sizes are most likely to be replicas? Or which size would suit a standard E39 SE better?
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way).
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
ads_4116 said:
I'm looking to get a set of Style 32 wheels for my E39, however I've noticed online there are some which are 17's, and some which are 18's. Also some are staggered. So a few queries:
1. Were both 17 and 18 inch style 32 wheels available as genuine BMW wheels or possibly one of those sizes are most likely to be replicas? Or which size would suit a standard E39 SE better?
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way).
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
Style 32 wheels were offered in various sizes for various BMW models but as far as I can tell the E39 version were 7Jx16 front and rear. 1. Were both 17 and 18 inch style 32 wheels available as genuine BMW wheels or possibly one of those sizes are most likely to be replicas? Or which size would suit a standard E39 SE better?
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way).
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
https://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/bmw_alloy_wheels...
Whereas they were offered for the E46 3 Series as staggered 18s, 8J front and 8.5J rear and quite possibly as 17s for some other model of that era.
But you really need to find an E39 set because I think the hub centre on E39s is larger than E46s so E46 ones wouldn't fit. And in any case the offsets are totally different too so even if they did fit E46 ones would sit 27-30mm further into the wheelarches and may foul on the suspension.
Before you buy any it's worht looking here to see how they might work:- https://www.willtheyfit.com/
Yup ^^^
E39s came with 17" Style 32s and 18" Style 32s (which are rare as hens teeth)
Some folk have fitted Style 32s off an E38 and had the centres bored out; but the rest (E46s etc) are the wrong offset and wrong centre bore
For me this is the best website for BMW alloys: https://www.auto-treff.com/wcf/index.php?article/4...
It's in German but it's easy to navigate and if you use Chrome, it'll auto-translate the page anyways
That link shows you all the Style 32s fitted across the BMW ranges; gives you their offsets too
E39s, as said above, are the odd ones out with a 74.1 centre bore; so if you do buy alloys for your E39, ensure that they have this centre bore (but you can use 74.1 to 72.6 hubcentric spacers to fit other BMW alloys; just as long as the final offset is somewhere c20 on the rear and anywhere from 5-20 on the front (much deeper wheel arches than the rear); otherwise you'll get rubbing issues etc
E39s came with 17" Style 32s and 18" Style 32s (which are rare as hens teeth)
Some folk have fitted Style 32s off an E38 and had the centres bored out; but the rest (E46s etc) are the wrong offset and wrong centre bore
For me this is the best website for BMW alloys: https://www.auto-treff.com/wcf/index.php?article/4...
It's in German but it's easy to navigate and if you use Chrome, it'll auto-translate the page anyways
That link shows you all the Style 32s fitted across the BMW ranges; gives you their offsets too
E39s, as said above, are the odd ones out with a 74.1 centre bore; so if you do buy alloys for your E39, ensure that they have this centre bore (but you can use 74.1 to 72.6 hubcentric spacers to fit other BMW alloys; just as long as the final offset is somewhere c20 on the rear and anywhere from 5-20 on the front (much deeper wheel arches than the rear); otherwise you'll get rubbing issues etc
1. Were both 17 and 18 inch style 32 wheels available as genuine BMW wheels or possibly one of those sizes are most likely to be replicas? Or which size would suit a standard E39 SE better?
Don’t know.
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way
No.
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
No, as long as use tyre sizes as suggested by BMW for your car (probably on the b-pillar sticker)
Don’t know.
2. If I get staggered wheels, do I need to change anything on the car (i.e . Spacers etc- it's a 2002 525i SE by the way
No.
3. Current wheels are bog standard 16's. If upgrading to 17 or 18, I presume this will cause the speedo to be slightly false? Is this the case?
No, as long as use tyre sizes as suggested by BMW for your car (probably on the b-pillar sticker)
OE style 32 wheel for a non-M E39 came with 15, 16, 17 or 18 inch diameter.
http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E39-Sedan/Europe...
http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E39-Sedan/Europe...
This is another good site for finding out what wheels will fit:
http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/bmw/32
http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/bmw/32
Edited by Olivergt on Tuesday 19th March 12:28
I've run staggered 17' 32s on my 525iSE for the last 12 years and I'm very happy with them.
Join the BMW E39 Club UK on FB - there are a couple of wheel specialists on there and you'll soon find what you want.
I can see the 18' wheels look better but I prefer the comfort of a higher profile tyre...
Join the BMW E39 Club UK on FB - there are a couple of wheel specialists on there and you'll soon find what you want.
I can see the 18' wheels look better but I prefer the comfort of a higher profile tyre...
tonyinbrighton said:
I've run staggered 17' 32s on my 525iSE for the last 12 years and I'm very happy with them.
Join the BMW E39 Club UK on FB - there are a couple of wheel specialists on there and you'll soon find what you want.
I can see the 18' wheels look better but I prefer the comfort of a higher profile tyre...
Agree; had a number of sets of 18s on my E39s but they always drove better, handled better and were comfier on the 17" Style 66s and that's why I stuck with them on my touring!Join the BMW E39 Club UK on FB - there are a couple of wheel specialists on there and you'll soon find what you want.
I can see the 18' wheels look better but I prefer the comfort of a higher profile tyre...
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