Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[thaenzy]

Hello,

In my search for nice winter wheels, I stumbled upon these;
http://www.2dehands.be/auto-onderdel...m_medium=email

However, they are for a 3-series; ET20. I guess that with ET20, my wheels will be too far inside the car? So I suppose I need spacers then? Which 'size'? Which 'brand'? Are there original BMW spacers?

It's a 2008 model, currently with these 18" 135i wheels on it. http://www.1addicts.com/forums/attac...1&d=1225663817 . They fit perfectly so I would like the same width with my winter wheels...

Thanks in advance!

[Cozy]

You have your 'ETs' all mixed up. The lower the number is, the further it sticks out i.e. ET50 will tuck further into an arch than ET20 which will push the wheel outwards further towards the arch lip.

Are you sure that these are ET20? That's even too aggressive for an E90 and will make the wheels protrude the body of the car. Non-M3 E9X has an offset of between ET34-37 stock for 18" wheels, M3 E9X has an ET of around ET23 Front & ET29 Rear stock for 18" wheels and M3 wheels on a non-M3 are known to rub quite badly. I ran ET30 on my 335i and that was about the limit for the body of the car honestly with no arch mods.

First things first, the offset of 1-Series 18" wheels (18x7.5 F, 18x8.5 R) in style 261 (Europe) & style 264 (US) are ET49 Front & ET52 Rear. This is your reference point.

Bottom line is that if these wheels are definitely ET20 then they will not fit a 1-series without sticking out passed tha arch and rubbing on dips (if stock suspension, lowered then forget it). Basically what you're asking wheels with an offset of ET20 to do is to stick further outwards by 30mm per side...now go look at your arches and see that there isn't 30mm of room per arch between arch lip and tyre.

The highest offset that the E9X carries in staggered fitment is ET34 front & ET37 rear, this is for both 17" and 18" wheels (17/18x8 F, 17/18x8.5 R) both of which will rub horribly on a 1-series with no arch mods. For non-staggered fitment wheels the offset is ET34 all round, this is for 16" & 17" options (16x7 & 17x8)...basically any E9X wheel is going to be a horrid fit for your car.

My advice is to look for some 18" (18x8 F, 18x8.5 R) wheels from an E46, the stock 18" M-Sport wheels (MV2 & MV3) carry a similar offset as our 1-series', ET47 front & ET50 rear, they fit very nicely and only sit further outwards by 2mm . Alternately you could look for some 17" (17x8) E46 Winter wheels, the 17's were all non-staggered if I remember rightly and are ET47 all round so will still fit well. I notice that you have a 120d, this opens up your options a little as I assume the brakes are fairly small (135i can only have 17" minimum due to brake size) meaning you could possibly try 16" (16x7) E46 Winter wheels which are also ET47 all round non-staggered.

Of course if you don't want genuine wheels due to cost then look for any suitable aftermarket wheels with an offset around ET47 to ensure a direct bolt on fit but beware, some spoke designs may require spacers to clear brake calipers OR if the wheel is particularly wide (9" or 9.5") then spacers may be needed to stop the wheel rubbing on the shock absorber, which will then push your wheels outward and you risk rubbing on the arch lip.

Edit: I forgot that the older Z4 uses the same offset as E46 (ET47/ET50) so consider those. The style 108 BBS split-rim also looks quite nice .

[thaenzy]

Wow, many thanks for the info! Too bad to let those wheels go then :-)
I'll continue my search, WITH understandig of ET's ;-)

From your suggestions, I only really like the MV3's. Unfortunately, they seem to be hard to find. (At least, in the 2nd hand market in Belgium...)

[Cozy]

No problem.

The MV3's wouldn't really fit your car, they'd stick out too far and rub badly, you might even risk the wheel poking past the arch lip which is illegal in a few countries, mine for certain.

You can readily get replica MV3 wheels though and in E46 offsets, 18x8 all round which means you don't get a wider and deeper looking rear but they are only Winter wheels after all .