Wheels with Really Low Offsets; Risk of Rubbing?
 

Hi,

I drive a '97 BMW 328ic. I made the mistake of buying some 17x8 BBS rims off of a guy assuming that all 4 tires had an offset of 38mm. I looked at the one rim he showed me, saw the ET38 marking, and assumed that the other 3 were the same. Well, they weren't! Two of them are ET10 (BBS RX 203) which are meant for the 5-series bimmers. I'm hating myself for not checking all of them.

I'm planning on throwing some winter tires on it, so I want to keep the tire width as narrow as possible. I plan to go with 215/45/17s.

In terms of suspension, the rear springs and shocks are stock, the front springs are stock and the front shocks are Bilstein Sports.

I have several questions:

Will a 205/50/17 tire be stretched too much on the 17x8 wheels?

What are the chances of a 215/45/17 tire on the 17x8 ET10 wheels rubbing? Like 100%? So pretty much, I'll be needing my rear fenders rolled? What's the best shop to get the fenders rolled? And how much should I expect to pay?

Is there a better chance of avoiding rubbing by going with a 205/50/17 tire? What has the bigger effect on rubbing? Tire Width or Sidewall height?

Thanks in advance!

fo 8" rims the best tire to use is 225 w/ 40 would be the best it's straight, 205 50 has a big sidewall..... so it should stretch easily over 8"

If a 205/50 can be stretched onto a 10 inch rim, then it can be stretched onto an 8 inch rim.

But can you return the wheels to get your money back? Or sell the rims.

In the long run, this might be a better option than rolling your fenders or putting on the wrong sized tires to make the rims work.

juts get 225/40/

or 215/40

roll ur fenders should be fine

according to the 1010tires tire size calculator, running with 225/40 or 215/40 tires and the speedometer will run faster than the 3% recommended range. Is that okay?

^ that question should be asked to you.

Do you look at your speedo? Or do you just keep up with traffic?

err...the speedometer isn't a big deal, but the risk of brake failure is. a message pops up on 1010tires when the tires are out of spec, warning the user about brake failure outside of the 3% range.

As long as the front and rear tires are the same, then it is fine. It's when the front and rear tires differ by too much, then it will trick the computer into thinking there is soemthing wrong and will deactivate the ABS.

I think one of the RS sponsors have a professional fender roller

I think 225/45/17 is a more common size though so might be even cheaper than 215's, not sure mine were cheaper

EDIT: DHP has a fender rolling machine

What is the stock tire size and stock wheel size and offset?

Based off of offset only, to go from a 38mm offset to a 10mm offset, there is a difference in rim offset of 2.8 cm's. Say you go from a 245 tire to a 205 tire, that is a 2 cm difference or 1 cm on each side of the rim. So those wheels would have a wider track of 1.8cm on each side. You might was to roll the fenders and get them pulled. There is a chance that there might be some paint damage from the rolling or pulling.

Why not save yourself the trouble and get a set of wheels that will fit the car properly?

well, as I explained in the original post, I thought I had bought tires that had an offset of 38mm. The one tire I looked at was the right spec, but I didn't look at all 4 tires because he made no mention of having staggered offset wheels before he left. I had just assumed they were all the same. I only noticed it once he had left as I was putting them in storage. By then, he had apparently used that money for his rent.

Obviously, I'd prefer wheels that fit properly. Would have saved me the headache of having to get my fenders rolled and praying that they fit alright

If I can fit them without having to roll the fenders that would be great, otherwise, I'd rather sell them than risk paint damage, etc. Do you know of anyone wanting staggered offset OEM BBS RX 203 ET10/204 ET38 rims?

What shops would you recommend for doing rolled fenders besides DHP, so I can see what the average asking price is? Anyone have any work done by DHP?

Right now, my car isn't running stock sizes. They are staggered M3 17s. Tires are 225/45/17s in the front and 245/40/17s in the back

Stock tire size is 225/50/16 on rims with offsets of 38 or 40.

my 225/40's aren't at ALL straight on my 8" wheels.

245 sounds more like it.

that being said. a 215 should stretch. the lowest i'd go is 225 though personally.

It doesn't matter who is doing the roller job, there is always a chance the paint will crack when you roll/pull your fenders. Just that an experienced person may lessen the risk. I know Brown Hypa had done a few cars, maybe PM him. Don't look at the cost of the job, but a matter how good of a job they do.

Say the stock wheels are 16x7 and a 40 mm offset.
So the new wheels are 8 inch wide and a 10 mm offset.

That means the rims are now 30 mm more towards the outside, and add in the extra width of the rim so it is slightly more than 3 cm's.

The stock tires are 225/50/16 which is a 24.9 inch tire. A 205/50/17 is a 25.1 inch tire so it is slightly taller but narrower. Depending on how much room the stock wheel/tire combo leaves you with, the new tires are approx. 1 cm narrower on each side but the wheels are further out by 3 cm's so in total the new wheel/tire combo have increased your track by over 2 cm on each side.

Say the stock wheels gave you 1 cm of clearence, and rolling the fenders give you 1 cm more room, then it will be fine. If you have anything less than that, then you need to start pulling on the fenders.

How much did you pay for hte wheels and how much would you lose if you have to sell the wheels below cost to sell them. Then look at how much it might cost to roll/pull and in case you need paint.

Hope all this helps.

225's fit straight on my 7.5 fronts.
255's fit straight on my 8.5 rears.

On an 8, I would say 235/245 would be pretty close.

205's on an 8 is not stretching them too much. Just ask the VW guys who squeeze 195's on 8 inch rims or a 205 on 10 inch rims. :eek:

there is a reason why some cars, though they CAN fit 20in rooms, decide to stay 19 or even 18in range. this gives you more side wall to stretch on the rim. so its not weather the width of the rim is stretchable, but if there is enough sidewall to stretch.

my suggestion is to put on the 17x8 +10's on the rears, and see how much they "poke" out, if even.

i"m running 225 on my 8" wide wheels and the sidewall is stright

Well, I'm definitely putting the +10s on the rears. It would look kind of weird having the wider stance wheels in the front, not too mention that those are the wheels that do the turning, so they likely need more wiggle room.

It's definitely a close call though. Chris at CG Motorsports said he would try and help me find a 215/45/17 tire just to test it out. If any of you guys have spares that I could just have the guys/girls at CG Motorsports check out, that would be greatly appreciated. I'd of course, return the tire, with a pack of beer.

I'd rather go with the in-between choice for tire widths and go with a 215/45/17, and stretch that a little bit.

Right now I'm running 17x8.5 with 245/40/17s in the rear. There is wiggle room when no one is in the car. With 4 people, it would be pretty tight. But since I have the windscreen in there 80% of the time, I usually only have 1 other passenger.

I know it's not about the price, but if two shops are comparable and one's cheaper, I'd rather go for the cheaper one. I'm more looking for some testimonials from people who have had their fenders rolled, for who to go to.

cut shave roll and pull, the stretch and kick out the camber...

welcome to what some of us rwd japanese cars go thru. we make the car fit the wheels.