Widest possible wheels on E21 without modification

[Vegardb92]

I have a 323i that needs some new wheels. I've googled alot and i get kinda lost because of all the different sizes that comes up. I want 15" wheels, but without too much stretched tyres because i like the meaty fitment look. I dont like the pulled fenders, the only thing im gonna do is just fold in the edge.

I think they're gonna be around 8 in the front and 8.5 rear with around 10 offset but i really not sure. I'm gonna order custom 3 piece wheels so i need to get the sizes right

For suspension im gonna run coilovers eventually but at first i think im just gonna cut my springs.

[Layne]

If you have a car with perfect paint and you can't risk messing it up at all, you have to go 6' front and 7" rear. Seriously, there is just no room to spare. You can bend over the flange under the front fenders to fit 7". You really should do that anyway. It's going to mess things up worse if a tire catches it. I don't know if you can fold over the flange on the rear. It's THICK. 2 or maybe 3 pieces of steel stacked. It's also wide, so you can probably go to 8" if you can fold it over. I had some 8" zero offset wheels on mine one time and they caught the fenders a little too much to drive like that, but they cleared the inside.

So NO mods 15x6 and 15x7.
Very slight mods 15x7 square.
More mods 15x7 and 15x8 probably.
All out, not counting fender flares, stretched tires, or suspension mods 15x8 and 15x8.5 probably. There's just very little room in there.


Are you buying the image wheels? I love those. I'd probably go 16x7 suqare or 16x7 and 16x8 if I could afford those. There's no real performance benefit to staggering the wheels. It mostly just causes understeer, but looks cool.

[pofo]

I was having the same thought the other night. What am I going to run next spring?

I was thinking BBS RM's but I dont want to spend an other 2k plus on wheels.

But it all depends on the wheels specs. There are wheel fitment calculators that can help with this.

This is my fitment goals for next spring.

[Vegardb92]

Here is one with ESM reps 15x8 ET13 allround. i think its a little too much poke in front, and the rear could be a little bit wider, but i dont know if 15x8 with ET lower than 13 will work, does it?

[Layne]

You said no stretched tires... those are like 195's on an 8" wheel.


Offset is the dimension from the center of the wheel to the mounting face, so it is dependent on the width. A 15x7 et13 wheel and 15x8 et0 are exactly the same on the back and the 8 sticks out 1" more on the front. That's what you have to do to avoid hitting the suspension.

[Vegardb92]

i know how to wheel dimensions work, but you can see that on the rears you COULD have a wider wheel and tyre and the front could have a wider tyre if the wheel had a higher offset

[Tom D]

I think both of those cars above look tacky, especially the blue one. stretch never looks good and it never will, no matter how many people without taste are doing it!

pofo, I thought you said you were a thirty something year old man, so why do you want your car to look like an 18 year old put it together?

[Vegardb92]

I kinda like stretched tyres if done correctly, when a car is properly low and the wheels dont poke to much, but i've been tired raping my car and fender because its scraping all the time.. i just want good handling and trackday look to it. The plan is to swap the original m20b23 and automatic transmission with a light tuned m20b25 with a manual and modify my rear subframe to fit E28/E30 or E34 diffs and fit a newer powersteering rack from a e46 or something

[pofo]

I think both of those cars above look tacky, especially the blue one. stretch never looks good and it never will, no matter how many people without taste are doing it!

pofo, I thought you said you were a thirty something year old man, so why do you want your car to look like an 18 year old put it together?

Good thing your not driving it

[Layne]

i know how to wheel dimensions work, but you can see that on the rears you COULD have a wider wheel and tyre and the front could have a wider tyre if the wheel had a higher offset

No you can't. On the rear the wheel will hit the trailing arm. You can grind some of it away to get a few more mm, but not much. On the front it will hit the tire rod end. Nothing you can do about that in a 15" size. Some 16's and probably all 17's will go over the tie rod.

[Vegardb92]

Of course you can go wider if you have a wider offset... and i think i dont need too much stretch too.. 8.5 with 215/225 i think would work

[Layne]

That's a ridiculous amount of stretch. I like to run 245's on an 8" rim and 265 on a 9.

[Vegardb92]

That's a ridiculous amount of stretch. I like to run 245's on an 8" rim and 265 on a 9.

are you running 245 on a E21?

[hdx]

For a little tire stretch and easy no modification or just a little rolling .

15 x 7.5" with a 4.250" backspace i think would be the widest you could run with a 205 50 15 tire.

[Heretic E21]

Here is one with ESM reps 15x8 ET13 allround. i think its a little too much poke in front, and the rear could be a little bit wider, but i dont know if 15x8 with ET lower than 13 will work, does it?


]

I promise you there is a spacer under that front wheel. Probably a 10mm or wider. The rears have none and that's why they look so much more in the fronts would fit similar without a spacer too, but it would also put the wheel right on the tie rod. So not really possible.

I have many different (mostly between 4.5 and 5.2" of back spacing) offset wheels from my VW, and I find the most I can cheat backspacing on my E21 is to about 4.5", and that puts the wheel like a 1mm away from the tie rid. I'd be more comfortable with 4.25" of backspacing or less.


Which brings me to my question, who know what diameter wheel will go OVER the tie rod?

[jjgbmw323]

I hit the tie rods on the front of my car when I test mounted the BBS RMs. A 15 mm spacer needs to be run.
On the rears I hit the trailing arm as well, I think I need a 5 mm in the back. 195 50 15s in the front 205 50 15s BBS RMs rears.

BBS RMS are 15 x 7.5 front and 15 x 8 rears.....

I have a custom rear e30 center chop with negative camber and caster adjustments.
Also have Gaz Coil overs, and have rolled the fender lips all the way around before I painted it....

[dieslcruisrhead]

That's a ridiculous amount of stretch. I like to run 245's on an 8" rim and 265 on a 9.

I'd love to see a pic. I'm trying to figure out setup on mine, mostly for racing. I will hack the body so it doesn't matter what it looks like.

[E21nE30]

For a little tire stretch and easy no modification or just a little rolling .

15 x 7.5" with a 4.250" backspace i think would be the widest you could run with a 205 50 15 tire.

I'm hoping to resurrect this old thread by asking if I can fit the following wheel set on my lowered E21.

Front 15 x 7.5 ET13 running 205/50R15
Front 15 x 7.5 ET 0 running 205/50R15