E46 wheels on an E36?

[kusee pee]

I've been led to believe by various previous threads that the 18" E46 M3 wheels won't fit on an E36 M3 Evo Saloon - but today I saw an E36 saloon with them fitted? They were definitely the correct wheels - staggered not 4 fronts as you sometimes see. My understanding was that the rears wouldn't fit an E36 M3. Can anyone shed any light as if they do fit I'd be keen to buy some.

TIA.

[sniff diesel]

I went to look at this M3 that had E46 18" rims:

[gizlaroc]

I can't see why they wouldn't fit.

The E36 M3 wheels are..

7.5 wide with an offset of 41
8.5 wide with and offset of 41 for the rears


The E46 M3 wheels are...
8 wide with and offset of 47
8.5 with an offset of 26 for the rears.

So the fronts will sit in exactly the same pace, however the rears will stick out 26mm more, this is where there may be a problem, with the oversized M tyres on the E46 you may find they rub.

[kusee pee]

gizlaroc said:

I can't see why they wouldn't fit.

The E36 M3 wheels are..

7.5 wide with an offset of 41
8.5 wide with and offset of 41 for the rears


The E46 M3 wheels are...
8 wide with and offset of 47
8.5 with an offset of 26 for the rears.

So the fronts will sit in exactly the same pace, however the rears will stick out 26mm more, this is where there may be a problem, with the oversized M tyres on the E46 you may find they rub.

Thanks for that info. I'm currently running some non-M 18" staggered wheels from an E46 coupe which fit fine. I've got 15mm spacers all round to push them out to the edge of the arches. If the E46 M3 ones fit I'd prefer them as I presume they are lighter and I also prefer 'real M3' wheels. Has anyone run them or have any pictures on an E36? Cheers.

[Uglybear]

I had 18" wheels from a 330 on my E36 the rears tyres were 18x35x255 no rubbing at all.

[8Tech]

You may well need some hubcentric rings too to sit the wheels properly on the hubs or you could get bad wheel wobble. See bottom of this page.

http://wuffer.net/_mgxroot/page_phoenix__motorspor...

[kusee pee]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

How much rolling are we talking? I can live with a bit of rubbing on fast corners or compressions as long as it's OK for daily driving.

I've got 18s on there at the moment with 17s reserved for slicks.