Wheel spacers freak out

[h4pry]

As some of you know I got my ride dropped last weekend. So am having a four wheel laser alignment this weekend and before I did I though I may as well get some spacers to fill the arches a bit more....

So I ordered 10mm eibach spacers from roy (ca-automotive) but he did not have enough long wheel bolts to supply me with, so he said I could probably get some quite easily more local to me.

So I have phoned round a load of so called wheel specialists and they have all freaked out when I told them I want to buy so long wheel bolts to accomodate my new spacers. One garage said they had them but wouldn't sell them to me. The next garage said the bolts have a habit of shearing off with spacers on and the another garage said why on earth would I take the risk fitting them to my car.

Give me some advice guys, should I persue this... [hmm

[444bhp Ray]

Why not just go 5mm instead?

[h4pry]

I went 10mm because I asked Roy's advice and thats what he recommended.

Will I have to change my bolts if I go 5 mm?

[InvIs Inc]

yeah 10 sounds a bit much dude.

[Afif]

i heard 7mm is the way to go [hmm. Also yea any spacer will mean a longer bolt.

[Doc Matt]

try wheelmania on the coventry road, sheldon brum, they did my magnums with 5mm spacers, they should be able to advise you. cant remember their number 118888 is the cheapest dir enq btw not 118118 lol

:)

[peppernick]

10mm should still be fine. It will bring the offset of your MVs out to approx ET33-35. You may need to roll the rear arches on your vert. 7mm is safe. Fronts can accomodate up to 12mm (for BBK fitment on stock rims). You will need longer bolts, even if it's a 5mm spacer.

FK Automotive sells longer wheel bolts, Roy is UK's FK agent :cool:

http://www.fk-automotive.de/images/produkte/FK121.jpg



So I have phoned round a load of so called wheel specialists and they have all freaked out when I told them I want to buy so long wheel bolts to accomodate my new spacers. One garage said they had them but wouldn't sell them to me. The next garage said the bolts have a habit of shearing off with spacers on and the another garage said why on earth would I take the risk fitting them to my car.
You need to go to a modder's garage dude [hiya

[CA Automotive UK]

hi all

sorry for any confusion here ...the standard bolts have a 25 mm thread ; you must get bolts with a 35 mm thread ( just the thread ) or there will not be enough bite length . I cant think what the other companies were on about .

Call demon tweeks , they have all the range , let me know if any problems and I will sort it out

good luck

r

[CA Automotive UK]

also , let me know if you want 7 mm spacers ; we dont normally get rubbing problems , but Nick may have a point on some models , we just have not experienced it .

Also guys , we gave up FK products a long time ago , we had nothing but problems , poor service , many warantee issues and poor or non existent products ...they still owe us some 1000 euros and refuse to comply . my advice is steer clear ......

[alpina527]

What is the biggest spacer that can be used without arch rolling on an E46M3 with stock 19's and 225/255 tyres?

[peppernick]

What is the biggest spacer that can be used without arch rolling on an E46M3 with stock 19's and 225/255 tyres?

Probably 7mm rear and up to 14mm front on stock springs.

[westside]

i had to fit 4mm spacers to my old e46 when i fitted my BBK my local tyre shot had longer bolts i just cut them down to size

[scorcher]

I'm selling a set of E39 H&R Trax hubecentric spacers on eBay - I know they won't for your car, but they came with bolts to attach them to your hub, then the wheels bolt to the spacer with your standard bolts - see pic...

http://www.evilbeemer.com/ebay/hrspacers.jpg

[h4pry]

Roy has kindly offered to send me a selection of spacers to try on the car for best best fit / clearance. Will try 5mm, 8mm, and 10mm.

After this he is then going to supply me with the excact bolt size i need [cool

[lee330sport]

Roy has kindly offered to send me a selection of spacers to try on the car for best best fit / clearance. Will try 5mm, 8mm, and 10mm.

After this he is then going to supply me with the excact bolt size i need [cool

Cool, just remember to post some before and after pics ;)

[CA Automotive UK]

..at your service as always guys ..... :D

[CA Automotive UK]

What is the biggest spacer that can be used without arch rolling on an E46M3 with stock 19's and 225/255 tyres?

Nick is right , but as you have ( or should I say will eventually have ..) pro kit springs on I would say 5 - 7 mm all round spacing B4 arch fouls .


may I say you do seem to get around dont you Ian ? ;) I spoke to some bloke in RUSSIA who says he got a bbtb from you ! well done mate

[alpina527]

The world is my oyster Roy!!

I have some 16mm spacers that I will try when I (finally) get my Eibachs on. If they foul, I will try progressively smaller ones in 4mm steps.

[Afif]

lol he recomends 7mm and you go straight to the 16!! Good luck with that :p

[CA Automotive UK]

just to update you , Paul decided on 5 mm spacers in the end , and we have supplied him the extended bolts .

Paul said the 8mm ones also fitted well but would rub somewhat with 3 people in car if driven fast over speedhumps

we can now offer the wheel bolts direct if any one needs them

[Mits]

Roy I got 7mm and 3mm spacers when I bought my 19in ACS wheels for an E46 M3.

I want to put the spacers on but what size bolts would I need and how much for 16 bolts??
The ones on the car at the moment have 25mm of thread. I've also got Mcguard Ultra, would it still be ok to use them?

[Afif]

also could you pm me how much these 5mm spacers are because i just realised if im going to get new locking nuts i shud make sure they are 5mm longer right?

[h4pry]

Thanks for the excellent service Roy.

As my my eibach springs on the front are still in settle mode I have put back the 4 wheel laser alignment until next week, so that will tie in nicely with the arrival of the longer bolts and permanent fitting of the spacers ( I have taken them back off the car until the long bolts arrive).

Anyone who is interested in doing this have a look on the fanatics forum and search under spacers. There are peeps there putting 20mm spacers on their rides [jam

[CA Automotive UK]

hi guys

most , if not all all BMW models have a thread length of 25mm , so whatever the increase in track per wheel you should get bolts longer by the same abount , so a 5 mm spacer means getting a bolt with 30 , not 25 mm thread length.

locking wheel nuts should be extended by same amount .

Eibach 5mm spacers are £26 per pair , inc vat , plus postage .

Mcguards are fine for use on BMW wheels .

regards

[Mits]

Roy can you quote me a price for new bolts if I put the 7mm spacer at the front and 3mm at the rear, thx.

I'd need 4 bolts per wheel as one would stay the locking wheel bolt.

[alpina527]

As a general rule of thumb. You should always have a thread engagement length of 1 x dia. That means, for a 12mm bolt diameter, you should be screwing the bolt in 12mm in length. You must also check that the bolts aren't too long either, as they will go right through the hub, and may foul on other parts behind the disk or drum.

[CA Automotive UK]

good advice Ian .

If I remember my engineering , is it not also true that most if not all of a pressure / strain on a bolt occurs in the first two thirds of its thread length , as a rough rule of thumb ?

mits you will need front 32mm thread length and rear 28 - 30 , this will be a total cost of £36 .80 delivered , inc vat .

regards

[h4pry]

OK guys, spacers are now going on but I have one more dumb question. :D

Should the spacer go this way round?:

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/H4PRY/spacer-3.jpg

Or should it go this way round?:

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/H4PRY/spacer-4.jpg

Pics up soon of the results....

[CA Automotive UK]

chamfered side facing outwards as in second pic .

Also ,

-clean off hub faces first with solvent and wire brush to give an even , flat surface

- use some coppaslip or similar grease between back of spacer and face of hub to prevent them corroding together .

- retorque wheel bolts after about 50 miles .

best of luck and see you next saturday for the install

regards

roy

[h4pry]

thanks Roy.

Don't you ever sleep? :D

[peppernick]

see you next saturday for the install
Install???....what install :confused: :confused: ..... :mad: :mad:

WE WANT TO KNOW!!! ;) ;)

[Afif]

How about we try to suss it out. Hes already lowered it right so cant be that. Looks like hes putting spacers in himself. I put my money on an exhuast [ok.

[Big Performance]

Try STS in Slough.
Always been helpful to me in the past.
Ian@Big

[westside]

i tend to use Feltham tyres for alignment they also load up th ecar as necessary with weight :-)