Im looking at getting some winter wheels for Das Wagen to save my nice Style 32s from our lovely Cleveland winters. Per the title, Im running the US-spec M5 calipers up front (the small ones). The going thought seems to be that the smallest alloys that will clear are 17. Im curious to see if a smaller 16 plain steel wheel will still clear. Not worried about the rears as even with the 540i calipers Im back Ive got plenty of room.
Thanks!
__________________
-Geno
'87 325is s52 swapped
'95 525iT Das Wagen
'02 Range Rover 4.6 HSE
'98 Discovery LSE Mud Rat
Yes, at least radially. They are the same calipers/rotors as the 540, which came stock in non-sport trim with 16" wheels. Now, if they are aftermarket steelies, you may have some lateral clearance issues, but there's no way to know that unless you try.
Two things:
The 540 uses a 302mm rotor, and the M5 uses a 315mm rotor. I don't know of a factory 16" E34 M5 wheel option, but I had no issues fitting E38 16" Style 5s over my 315mm brakes. There was a few mm of clearance on the barrel.
Typically, steelies have less barrel clearance than alloy wheels, so it would be a tough one. I dislike steelies on these cars, because alloy wheels (like my old Style 5s) can almost always be sourced just as cheaply as the uglier and far heavier steel wheels. Shrug.
Well as a follow up, I located some cheap alloys from Craigslist, which turned out to be a quite decent set of Borbet type CF wheels. Jury is still out on the steelies but these clear the 315mm front brakes just fine. Das Wagen is sporting a fresh set of Altimax Arctic 12s so she’s all set for winter now.
Last edited by BlackSpeed66; 10-21-2018 at 10:13 PM.
__________________
-Geno
'87 325is s52 swapped
'95 525iT Das Wagen
'02 Range Rover 4.6 HSE
'98 Discovery LSE Mud Rat
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