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Thread: e36 Fitment question

  1. #1
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    e36 Fitment question

    What's the farthest you can get the et on a 17x8 wheel without needing to have serious camber to fit an e36? Looking at a squared setup. I'm looking at some different wheels that are et 10 - 20 on 17 x 8" probably with a 235 / 45 R 17 tire.

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    Take a look at the link below - it's a great guide for wheel fitment and spacing/offset.

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  3. #3
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    You will be running w/ET20 and 235/45/17 tire. 205/40 in some cases 45/17 barely fits with e39 style wheels that are ET20ish?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aeko View Post
    What's the farthest you can get the et on a 17x8 wheel without needing to have serious camber to fit an e36? Looking at a squared setup. I'm looking at some different wheels that are et 10 - 20 on 17 x 8" probably with a 235 / 45 R 17 tire.
    All the wheels we have listed for the car are 17X8 with a 40mm offset. Those do not require any modification. A lot depends on the tire and the tire size you choose. I would not go with a 235/45R17 as they are taller than stock. With a 225/45R17 you can do a 17X8 with 38mm offset and no mods. With a 235/40R17 a 40mm offset or higher is needed.
    If I can help let me know.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Aeko View Post
    What's the farthest you can get the et on a 17x8 wheel without needing to have serious camber to fit an e36? Looking at a squared setup. I'm looking at some different wheels that are et 10 - 20 on 17 x 8" probably with a 235 / 45 R 17 tire.
    The front will probably be fine with an offset like that. In the rear you're going to have problems. For comparison, I run 245/40 on a 17x9 ET42 and any wider would require a fender roll (I run 2 degrees camber in rear). In your example a 235 on a 17x8 would be an inch or so narrower than my tires, but that savings could be more than swallowed up by the 20-30+ mm difference in offset. You could probably fit something with an offset above ET20 with a 235 and between 1.5 and 2 degrees of camber. If you want to run a really low offset like ET10 though, you will likely need a fender roll.

    I know there's E36 M3 guys who run the Apex 17x9 ET30's with 245/40 square, and those will fit with a rear fender roll. I personally went with the ET42's because I didn't want to mess with my fenders.
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    Quote Originally Posted by TostitoBandito View Post
    The front will probably be fine with an offset like that. In the rear you're going to have problems. For comparison, I run 245/40 on a 17x9 ET42 and any wider would require a fender roll (I run 2 degrees camber in rear). In your example a 235 on a 17x8 would be an inch or so narrower than my tires, but that savings could be more than swallowed up by the 20-30+ mm difference in offset. You could probably fit something with an offset above ET20 with a 235 and between 1.5 and 2 degrees of camber. If you want to run a really low offset like ET10 though, you will likely need a fender roll.

    I know there's E36 M3 guys who run the Apex 17x9 ET30's with 245/40 square, and those will fit with a rear fender roll. I personally went with the ET42's because I didn't want to mess with my fenders.
    Thanks! I was actually thinking that the front might be more of an issue based on the factory fitment of the ET 47 wheels. I'm not super set on 235 (and the ratio is also negotiable) but if I'm going to run 17x8 wide wheels I'd like to have something wider than 225 which I have on my 16x7 set.

    I'm not averse to fender roll since my car is already pretty far beyond the point of being in mint condition, so if that's all it takes to run ET 10 I think that's doable. I'm only wary of camber since I want to be able to take trips in this and not put too much extra wear on the tires.

    Also with a fender roll is it necessary to keep the inner plastic wheel well guard out afterwards, or will it fit back in?

  7. #7
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    If you're still shopping for wheels, see if you can find or assemble a set of OEM (17x8.5 ET41) or aftermarket (17x8 - 17x9 ET40+) E36 M3 wheels. The OEM 17x8.5 ET41 wheels with 245/40 tires are plug and play all around with nothing else needed except maybe a thin spacer up front depending on your struts and camber. As far as I know the 328i chassis is identical to the M3 in terms of wheel well size and fender clearance, so anything that fits an M3 should fit you.

    I'm not sure you even need to remove the liner to roll the fenders (I'd have to look). All you're rolling is the inner lip where the sheet metal folds over. You're rolling that fold flat against the inside of the fender, ideally after you've gone and stripped all the seam sealer out from inside that fold. If the liner needs to come out for the roll, you'd put it back in after. It's also a good idea to hit the freshly folded metal on the inside of the fender with some sort of protective coating or sealant to prevent rust.
    Last edited by TostitoBandito; 04-28-2018 at 03:19 AM.
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  8. #8
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    As of now I'm looking at these for the future. I stumbled across a really cheap set of 16" OEM wheels in the style I like that came on e36s stock I couldn't pass up. So, I'm going to rock those for the time being and see if I can save up for a nice set of 17". The 16" option tire for the 328i I think was 225 wide stock so that's plenty for now until I start heavily modding the car.

    Good to know about the 17x8's then, and I'll see about rolling the fenders. Nice tip about the sealant too, thanks!

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