Wheel Upgrade.

[G-P]

My brother has a E46 316TI ES and wants to upgrade the wheels with some genuine BMW wheels. I mentioned this to a mate who happened to have a set of MV1 sitting around. However when we went to fit them the rears would not fit due to them being wider and hitting the inner arch's. Is there a spacers or something that we can do to get the to fit as I have seen them on compacts before.

[j44esd]

They might well have been replicas you have seen before - without the staggered fitment? Not sure if spacers would help, but i'm sure someone more knowledgable will be able to comment in a mo!

[soda]

What offset are the wheels you were trying to fit?

Should be anything between 35-50, something around 40mm would fill the arches out nicely. Genuine MV1 should fit fine though

I think those wheels are around 47mm offset, you could try a 10mm spacer but you will need longer wheel bolts as well.

[G-P]

They are 100% genuine wheels but not sure of the offset. According to my local BMW parts department the wheels are supposed to fit, I am a little confused!

[soda]

To echo the parts dept, they should indeed fit straight on

Has the suspension been modified at all? Or can you tell exactly what it's hitting when you try and fit the wheel. Double check the tyre size too, should read 18 255/35.

[G-P]

The suspension is completely standard ES and the tyres are the correct size.

[soda]

Try and dummy up a 10mm spacer and see if it catches. With it not fitting so far I wouldn't splash the cash on proper spacers till I was certain it worked.

I presume the front wheels went on ok, could be worth checking they have room to go to full lock. If not the plan could be out the window.

[G-P]

Thanks, I think that I will have a play at the weekend.