Wheel spacers for a 330Ci ????

[Cabra]

I upgraded my wheels to 18", 255-40/18 in the rear

Id still like a wider & more aggressive look.

Can I use wheel spacers to achieve this wider look ?

If so, where can I buy them.

And do they effect the performance of the car ?

Thanks,

Terry
Chicago

 

[jes330]

I'm thinking of doing the same to mine...I'd be curious as to what width the rims are??Incidentally, what tyres did you use and how much are /18's in US?

 

[olcrazy1]

wheel spacers

Wheel spacers are not a good thing, if we are talking about the same thing.
See picture below, these are the type of spacer I'm talking about, where you bolt them to the hub, then mount the wheel to the spacer.

There is a good possibility of throwing off your rear allighnment with them, also being a rear wheel drive car, there will be excessive torque on the hub specially on quick starts. Depneding on the manufacturer and machining tolerances some are worse then others.

They may be OK on a 1967 Nova with low rider rims etc.. if you know what I mean, but on a highly engineered precision machine they will cause a proformace loss and extra wear & tear on bog dollar tires.

Best way to be sure proformance is increased insted of decreased is to invest in larger/wider rims. If your only concerned with looks and don;t care about the rest, then try it out and let us know how they work. At first when you put them on then agaon about 12k miles later, keep track of tire wear and let us know.

 

[olcrazy1]

sorry

forgot to attach pic of spacers.
Also, I miss read at first, I see you already have larger wheels.
If I where you I'd leave it be, with larger then factory wheels already it will cause even more stress on the hub thena factory size.

Just my input, take it for what it is worth.

 

[RuflessPhilly]

Re: wheel spacers

Wheel spacers are not a good thing, if we are talking about the same thing.
See picture below, these are the type of spacer I'm talking about, where you bolt them to the hub, then mount the wheel to the spacer.

There is a good possibility of throwing off your rear allighnment with them, also being a rear wheel drive car, there will be excessive torque on the hub specially on quick starts. Depneding on the manufacturer and machining tolerances some are worse then others.

They may be OK on a 1967 Nova with low rider rims etc.. if you know what I mean, but on a highly engineered precision machine they will cause a proformace loss and extra wear & tear on bog dollar tires.

Best way to be sure proformance is increased insted of decreased is to invest in larger/wider rims. If your only concerned with looks and don;t care about the rest, then try it out and let us know how they work. At first when you put them on then agaon about 12k miles later, keep track of tire wear and let us know.

I agree, I would get wider tires to achieve the look you want. Try 255's

 

[Cabra]

I currently have the style 71 wheels with 255 width tires

 

[William330]

Two potential issues:

1) Wider tires/wheels in contact with the road degrade handling (they 'steer' the car when you hit road imperfections such as truck ruts.

2) Wider tires/wheels hydroplane more easily in rain, and slide more easily in snow/ice.

3) Wider tires may hit the fender/quarter panel body panels should the wheel travel upwards a lot.


In addition, I suspect even on a on a flat, dry road, the wider tires may affect the car's handling in unforseeable ways than the BMW designers intended (may be better, amy be worse).