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[Hambone]

I've scoured the forums for weeks in preparation for buying some new wheels. Unfortunately, what I don't see much of are threads or pictures of 18" VMR wheels on cars with coilovers running negative camber and lowered. I have AST 5100's with the following settings currently:

Camber: -3˚ Front, -2.5˚ Rear
Toe: Front 1/4" Out, Rear 3/16" in

The stock 264 wheels were sunk in pretty good after I made these adjustments:




I added an 18mm spacer up front and a 12mm spacer to the rear as I'm planning on using these for my winter wheels which yielded the following result:




As I'll be doing a lot of road traveling here soon and not so much track, I plan on reducing the camber by ~1˚ front and rear which should give an arc length, or shift in position of the top of the wheel, of ~5mm.

Currently, with the spacers, the offsets of my wheels should be 31 up front and 40 in the rear. I get a slight bit of rubbing in the rear on high speed dips in the road. I was considering getting a daily driving front wheel with an offset of 35 and a rear wheel with an offset of 45. Specifically, either the VMR VB3 or v718. With those offsets and reducing the camber by ~1˚, it should place the position of the top of the wheel about right back where they currently are with the spacers. I was planning on running 225/40 tires up front and 255/35 tires in the rear on 18" wheels.

I was wondering what offsets most people go with that run with a lot of negative camber, and what the opinions would be of the offsets and tire sizes I'm considering with -2˚ camber up front, and -1.5˚ camber in the rear for VMR wheels. I don't want any rubbing and rarely have more than one passenger in the car with me. I figure I'll have to adjust the camber +/- with those offsets to get it just right with no rubbing, hence the approximation in a one degree reduction. Thanks.

[Hambone]

I went ahead and bought the wheels in those offsets. I posted up the results in the Wheel/Tire Fitment Thread, so I'm just copying it into here to answer my own question should anyone come across this later on and be curious.

Wheels - VMR v718 Gunmetal

Front: 18x8.5 +35
Spacer: None

Rear: 18x9.5 +45
Spacer: None

Tires - Hankook Ventus V12
Front: 225/40
Rear: 255/35

Suspension/Fender Mods/Camber:
AST 5100 Coilovers, 400lb springs front, 800lb rear, lowered ~1 inch
~2.5˚ Negative Camber up front with 1/4" Toe-Out
~2˚ Negative Camber in the Rear with 3/16" Toe-In

Notes:
With someone else in the car I get a slight rub in the rear on big dips. The front wheels only just barely clear the struts by a few millimeters, but the tires have at least a quarter-inch of clearance from the spring height adjuster, so no rubbing. I believe with 245's in the rear there would be no rub, but you're losing performance and also have a a stretched looking tire which I'm not a fan of. The same rear wheels with an offset of 50 would have been a better choice. The vehicle is sitting on an incline in the photo which is why the rear appears lower than the front. I chose these offsets with my suspension modifications and camber settings in mind, with this wheel/tire choice being for daily driving, not the track.

[EuroTunerz5]

Aren't you worried about premature tire wear? I know it's not a ton of camber but still...

[Eyeman]

If you are rubbing a little in the rear then I'd add some more rear camber. Most lowered Ones with aggressive wheels that I've noticed are running at least -2.5 front and rear camber. According to my stats, I'm running -3.6deg total rear camber and my rear tires are still somehow wearing completely even. I have over 20k miles on my current rear Toyos. I've switched to Nitto 225's up front and that got rid of most of my front rubs although I may raise my front suspension a tad and go back to 235s. I think I may try Nitto 265/30/19 for my next rears.

Also, while you are rubbing, I'd do a little fender work in the rubbing areas. It's easier to figure out where you are rubbing the more you are rubbing.

[Hambone]

I'm not too concerned with wearing out my tires faster since I only put about 5,000 miles per year on them anyways. But I've heard a lot of similar stories to Eyeman's about the increased camber on a 1-series not wearing out their tires much faster. I'm not sure why that is. I plan on measuring the tread depth and wear every thousand miles to keep a track of it and see how it compares.

I don't want to do any fender work as that's a more permanent solution to temporary wheels, or wheels that can be swapped out for better fitting ones. Plus I hardly ever hear any rubbing so far, so it's very mild. If anything, I'd probably just drop down a tire size, or get the v718's with an offset of 50 instead of the 45 I have.

[Eyeman]

Actually it is kind of weird that my rear tires haven't worn fast or unevenly. My Porsche (968 so front engine) has pretty much always went through 2 sets of rears to one set of fronts. So far my BMW is the opposite but I had some front camber issues that hopefully I've fixed. My Porsche did always wear out the inside of the rears first. Maybe the Porsche stock camber settings specified even more camber than I'm running on my BMW.... but that would be find of shocking.