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[Wolfie1]

Hey guys so I have been reading a bunch of different spacer threads and need a little bit of help!

I am on stock shocks but I have lowering springs. Most annoying part about buying a used car is not knowing the exact parts PO have put on. So I do not know what lowering springs our on it... Dealer said he thinks they were KW???

From my research it seems like I would be safe going with 10mm in the front and 12mm in the rear with no rub.

Am I playing with fire because I don't know how low it is? It is NOT slammed by any means but is there any way to tell how much it has been lowered?

Also I am on Hancook Ventus V12 evo 225/40ZR18

[dailowill]

I might be wrong, but I don't think KW makes just lowering springs -- they usually do full on coilover kits.

What wheels are you running? The width/offset is going to play a big factor in how wide spacers you can use without modifying the fender.

For reference, my current setup is 225/40R18 on 18x8.5E45 with 10mm spacers front and back and I need to modify the front fender so I don't rub. I also have OEM strut mounts with negative camber maxed out and M3 lower control arms.

[asbrr]

Originally Posted by Wolfie1

Hey guys so I have been reading a bunch of different spacer threads and need a little bit of help!

I am on stock shocks but I have lowering springs. Most annoying part about buying a used car is not knowing the exact parts PO have put on. So I do not know what lowering springs our on it... Dealer said he thinks they were KW???

From my research it seems like I would be safe going with 10mm in the front and 12mm in the rear with no rub.

Am I playing with fire because I don't know how low it is? It is NOT slammed by any means but is there any way to tell how much it has been lowered?

Also I am on Hancook Ventus V12 evo 225/40ZR18

Really hard to say, you could take some pics and post them, as well as measurements (lower fender edge to center of wheel) and see how that compares to people. Just visually judging the amount of wheel gap will give some idea.

Best bet is to "look" at how much clearance you can see. A 10mm spacer shifts the wheel 10mm outwards, so do you have 10mm of space from the fender and fender liner? Assume that at max compression the tire will "tuck" under the fender at least 1-2", you need to have clearance there with your current setup.

This is all assuming you're running stock wheels, if you are not, knowing the wheel dimensions and offset is also important. Off hand, if the wheels are stock 18", the fronts you will be very close depending on how much drop, the rears you might actually be ok with. Again, more info is needed....

[Dackelone]

Don't buy 10mm spacers. Get either 5mm or 12mm... something about the 10mm spacers that fail since they don't have enough of a "lip" around the hub area. The 10mm spacers tend to fail.

Go find a stock 1er and see how much lower your car is. You might just want to buy new shocks and (matched)springs and start from scratch. Doing the suspension is a slippery slope, bc then you will want to do the M3 control arm bits and the rear subframe bushings.

Dackel

[Wolfie1]

I am on stock wheels... Sorry I did not mention that...

Can you believe I do not have a ruler in my apartment!?!? Going to get one tonight and just do the measurements. I'll let you know what I find.

And I know suspension is really last on my list but my birthday is coming up and my parents are nice enough to still get me a gift. Just bought the car so my Father asked me what is something around 150$ so spacers were the perfect choice in my mind.

I'll let you guys know what I sizes I end up going with

[ShocknAwe]

http://www.burgertuning.com/BMW_wheel_spacers.html

Do 12mm front and 15mm rear for stock wheels. Dial as much negative camber in as you can up front and you'll be good to go for a while.

If you can, pictures of your damper/spring setup and well try to figure out what you have.

[wjk_glynn]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Don't buy 10mm spacers. Get either 5mm or 12mm... something about the 10mm spacers that fail since they don't have enough of a "lip" around the hub area. The 10mm spacers tend to fail.

Hi Dack,

It depends. With 10mm spacers it'll work on some hub/wheel combos, but not on others. They're right at the tolerance edge.

I've 10mm BMS hub-centric spacers on my 135i with 264 rims and they fit correctly per Turner Motorsports guidelines:




More details at Turner's excellent write up: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/t-wheel-spacers

Karl.

[Wolfie1]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

http://www.burgertuning.com/BMW_wheel_spacers.html

Do 12mm front and 15mm rear for stock wheels. Dial as much negative camber in as you can up front and you'll be good to go for a while.

If you can, pictures of your damper/spring setup and well try to figure out what you have.

I was not planning on adjusting Camber.... That's why I was looking at just doing the 10mm and 12mm. Am I going to have to adjust camber going with this set up??


Obviously I'd love to do 12mm front and 15mm rear but how hard is adjusting the camber? Will I need to get the car a reailment? Is going out that much wider going to make a difference in handling? Or at that point is it just for looks??

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Wolfie1

I was not planning on adjusting Camber.... That's why I was looking at just doing the 10mm and 12mm. Am I going to have to adjust camber going with this set up??


Obviously I'd love to do 12mm front and 15mm rear but how hard is adjusting the camber? Will I need to get the car a reailment? Is going out that much wider going to make a difference in handling? Or at that point is it just for looks??

Negative camber up front is all for handling on these cars. Then again, we don't know what you have anyway.

[Wolfie1]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Negative camber up front is all for handling on these cars. Then again, we don't know what you have anyway.

hmmm okay that makes sense. Just read a thread and it doesn't seem to hard to adjust. Sadly Suspension set up is where I lack the most knowledge....

[wjk_glynn]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

...Do 12mm front and 15mm rear for stock wheels.

Just a side notes that I had rub with 12mm spacers in the rear of my car.

That was with BMW PS (I measured ~15mm drop from stock), -1.8° camber, stock rear 264s and stock rear RE050A RFTs (245/35-18).

10mm spacer was okay.

I'm guessing that you might want to be at stock height for a 15mm in the rear.

Karl.

[Wolfie1]

Originally Posted by wjk_glynn

Just a side notes that I had rub with 12mm spacers in the rear of my car.

That was with BMW PS (I measured ~15mm drop from stock), -1.8° camber, stock rear 264s and stock rear RE050A RFTs (245/35-18).

10mm spacer was okay.

I'm guessing that you might want to be at stock height for a 15mm in the rear.

Karl.

Yeah I went with 10mm in the front and 12mm in the rear! I am going to be putting them on tomorrow and will hopefully post some pictures!!!

Also, when I have the wheels off am I going to be able to identify what company made my lowering springs?