Wheel Spacers

[daz4m]

What's the general consensus on putting wheel spacers on a Z4m coupe with CSLs. A friend suggested it would make it look more aggressive but it's never been something I have thought about.

Good or bad idea and what are the assosiated drawbacks?

Any advice appreciated.

[mat205125]

How wild are you planning to go?

Are you planning to do it for brake clearance, or asthetics?

[M3]

What about on E46 M3 I have normal ride height with CSLs, what spacers can be added with out tyres rubbing.

[E30M3SE]

So long as the spacers are hubcentric or you still have sufficient hub for the wheel to sit on and you get longer wheel bolts will should not cause any adverse issues.

Edited by E30M3SE on Tuesday 2nd March 18:13

[roofer]

Just turn the handling to st.

[daz4m]

mat205125 said:

How wild are you planning to go?

Are you planning to do it for brake clearance, or asthetics?

For asthetics.

[milu]

I had some hubcentric ones on my m3 a couple of years back.
No problems at all and really made the car look more aggresive, filling out the wheel arches.
About £100 Inc longer bolts I think for 10 mm ones.

[TheEnd]

you'll have that centre spigot lip that is about 8mm wide, so up to about 7mm spacers still leave a bit for the wheel to sit on. above about 8mm (going by memory here) that lip will be hidden away, so all the weight and shocks are put through the wheel bolts sideways which isn't great.

once it starts getting higher, there will be enough space to have a new spigot on the spacer for the wheel to sit on.

in short, if the spacer is flush with the spigot lip, the car is resting on shaft of the wheel bolts!

[E36GUY]

TheEnd said:

you'll have that centre spigot lip that is about 8mm wide, so up to about 7mm spacers still leave a bit for the wheel to sit on. above about 8mm (going by memory here) that lip will be hidden away, so all the weight and shocks are put through the wheel bolts sideways which isn't great.

once it starts getting higher, there will be enough space to have a new spigot on the spacer for the wheel to sit on.

in short, if the spacer is flush with the spigot lip, the car is resting on shaft of the wheel bolts!

A good point. I have eibach spacers and they are shaped so that the wheel sits on a new spigot just as it would if they were not there. Mine are 12mm IIRC

[balls-out]

All that effort from BMW in the design suspension angles for decent handling out the window.
You may not notice at the back, butI'd expect that you will spoil the steering feel if you do the front.

[daz4m]

Thanks for the replies guys, perhaps I'm being picky it looks great with the CSLs anyway. Maybe I should put the effort into thinking about KW coilovers.

[mat205125]

M3 said:

What about on E46 M3 I have normal ride height with CSLs, what spacers can be added with out tyres rubbing.

Have a read in the CSl section. Many owners have fitted spacers to their car in an effort to improve the handling.

I've included 12mm spacers on the front of my car to allow the wheels to clear the brakes. I've noticed a minor detrimental effect on the car's desire to tramline a little, however the car feels much more positive on the plus side. Maybe a bit of a placebo effect (like how your car always runs and drives better after its been polished), but I'm happy that there has been a positive improvement.

[mat205125]

E36GUY said:

TheEnd said:

you'll have that centre spigot lip that is about 8mm wide, so up to about 7mm spacers still leave a bit for the wheel to sit on. above about 8mm (going by memory here) that lip will be hidden away, so all the weight and shocks are put through the wheel bolts sideways which isn't great.

once it starts getting higher, there will be enough space to have a new spigot on the spacer for the wheel to sit on.

in short, if the spacer is flush with the spigot lip, the car is resting on shaft of the wheel bolts!

A good point. I have eibach spacers and they are shaped so that the wheel sits on a new spigot just as it would if they were not there. Mine are 12mm IIRC

Expensive, but a brilliantly engineered component.

[daz4m]

mat205125 said:

M3 said:

What about on E46 M3 I have normal ride height with CSLs, what spacers can be added with out tyres rubbing.

Have a read in the CSl section. Many owners have fitted spacers to their car in an effort to improve the handling.

I've included 12mm spacers on the front of my car to allow the wheels to clear the brakes. I've noticed a minor detrimental effect on the car's desire to tramline a little, however the car feels much more positive on the plus side. Maybe a bit of a placebo effect (like how your car always runs and drives better after its been polished), but I'm happy that there has been a positive improvement.

In what way to the CSL boys think that it improves handling?

[mat205125]

daz4m said:

mat205125 said:

M3 said:

What about on E46 M3 I have normal ride height with CSLs, what spacers can be added with out tyres rubbing.

Have a read in the CSl section. Many owners have fitted spacers to their car in an effort to improve the handling.

I've included 12mm spacers on the front of my car to allow the wheels to clear the brakes. I've noticed a minor detrimental effect on the car's desire to tramline a little, however the car feels much more positive on the plus side. Maybe a bit of a placebo effect (like how your car always runs and drives better after its been polished), but I'm happy that there has been a positive improvement.

In what way to the CSL boys think that it improves handling?

Only what I've read over there on posts .... I can only speak from my personal experiences above.

[shim]

there is a tendancy to add 12 mm spacers to the front to try to improve front end grip on cornering (widen stance to avoid understeer)

i am one of them but tbh cant say any massive improvement noted


looks better though!

[mat205125]

Here's one of the threads discussing it from ouir CSL neighbours.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[daz4m]

Thanks Mat, interesting thought nonetheless. Will try and hunt down some pics.