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[Boomstick1491]

I am definitely not educated when it comes to tire/wheel fitment, so I am sorry for the idiotic question, but can you guys tell me if a 17 x 7.5 ASA wheel with +32mm offset and 225x45xR17 will fit my stock 135 without brake clearance or fender issues?

Please understand that I tried to search the official fitment thread and other places to find my answer before I posted this, but I came up dry . Thanks SO much for the help.

[tracer bullet]

Too lazy to do the work but you should be able to:

1) Calculate the overall outer diameter of the tire ((225 x .45) x2) for sidewalls +17" wheel (conversion mm to in reqd of course). Do the same for stock or other replacements and see how they compare.

2) Check offset vs. stock and what others are running successfully. Smaller # = sticks further out the sides.

As for brake clearance, offset plays a role, but so does spoke design. You can get a gut feel answer but won't know for sure unless you are comparing exactly like for like.

[fourtailpipes]

my edicated guess is that they will clear the brakes and will fit fine on the front, but will be very close to touching the rear fender. depending on how low your car is and whether you have your fenders rolled, it may rub the rear fender.

more importantly, even if it fits, it's a long departure from the oem offset, meaning you'll be significantly increasing the scrub and track. from a suspension standpoint this is really less than ideal. you'd be undoing a lot of the awesome engineering that went into this suspension.

[Boomstick1491]

Originally Posted by fourtailpipes

my edicated guess is that they will clear the brakes and will fit fine on the front, but will be very close to touching the rear fender. depending on how low your car is and whether you have your fenders rolled, it may rub the rear fender.

more importantly, even if it fits, it's a long departure from the oem offset, meaning you'll be significantly increasing the scrub and track. from a suspension standpoint this is really less than ideal. you'd be undoing a lot of the awesome engineering that went into this suspension.

I have spoken to two different guys at a reputable tire/wheel retailer and they both said the setup would fit, however they would not provide an iron clad guarantee since they were not selling the wheels/tires. I even asked if the dude was in my position if he would buy the setup and he said he would. Does that change your position?

[VMRWheels]

7.5 +32 will clear the outside fine with a 225 tire. This fitment is just as flush as our recommend 8.5 +45 we do for our customers.

-Charles@VMRWheels

[fourtailpipes]

Originally Posted by Boomstick1491

I have spoken to two different guys at a reputable tire/wheel retailer and they both said the setup would fit, however they would not provide an iron clad guarantee since they were not selling the wheels/tires. I even asked if the dude was in my position if he would buy the setup and he said he would. Does that change your position?

any professional would know better than to provide an "iron clad guarantee" that this particular setup will not rub, because there are entirely too many factors at play here, and it's gonna be close. my position is still against this setup. not because they may rub, but because of the drastic difference in offset. what is it about this particular set of wheels that you like? There are many 17" wheels on the market with better offsets, which would work much better with this car.

[Boomstick1491]

Originally Posted by fourtailpipes

any professional would know better than to provide an "iron clad guarantee" that this particular setup will not rub, because there are entirely too many factors at play here, and it's gonna be close. my position is still against this setup. not because they may rub, but because of the drastic difference in offset. what is it about this particular set of wheels that you like? There are many 17" wheels on the market with better offsets, which would work much better with this car.

What is scrub and track?

It would be very beneficial if I knew how to accurately assess whether a set of wheels/tires will create issues. Short of finding something with exactly the same specs as the stock setup, I do not know for what I should be looking. I kinda understand the concept of offset, but do not know the range I could run without affecting my suspension, etc. Is there something I could read to avoid annoying the SH*T out of everyone by asking such moronic questions?

The only thing I like about this set of wheels/tires is the price. I need to get a winter setup and these are in my area and not terribly pricey, which is... bueno!

[fourtailpipes]

it's ok... these aren't terribly basic questions...

track is the distance between the tires on the left and right side of your car. lower offsets increase track, which increases most people's perception of "stability", but dilutes a lot of suspension geometry to reduce actual performance in many cases.

scrub is essentially the same metric with different connotations. it's the distance between the centerline of your front wheels and the axis of steering. increasing this will have subtle but undesireable effects on steering.

both are metrics that don't cause any acute issues, meaning it's not like a part will fail or something will rub, but you're effectively undoing a lot of the nice work the engineers did in germany to make your beloved bimmer handle the way it does. if they're just for snow, i guess you're not looking for a lot of performance out of them anyway, but it would still annoy me.

if i were you, i'd hold out for some wheels with higher offsets. there's plenty of time before winter (assuming you're in the northern hemisphere?), and there's a lot on the market with offsets on the 40-45mm range, which would not only handle better, but fit better too.