Koni street too low in rear for r517 wheels

[Eyalgr]

I purchased a set of koni street with springs.
Rode fine on R16 wheels.
I upgraded to R17. Now rear is too low. On bumps, wheel touches metal.
How to fix? Is it possible to use koni street on e36 R17 wheels?

[pbonsalb]

Wheel probably has the wrong offset or is too wide. Perhaps stock ride height springs would help. There are also thicker spring seats that will raise the car a little. I forget the sizes but available might be 5, 10, 15 and 20mm. Not sure which you have now. Any chance the spring popped out of the seat when you jacked up the car to change wheels? Any possibility the shock tower broke at the top and the shock rod is poking through inside the car?

[Eyalgr]

Answer to last question is no.
Thanks for your input, I'll look into changing the spring seats, as it's a 200k+ car, and when installing the new Koni, I did not replace any rubber parts.

[pbonsalb]

I don’t think the problem is the shocks. Plenty of us have run Konis with 17 and 18” wheels.

[JDStrickland]

I purchased a set of koni street with springs.
Rode fine on R16 wheels.
I upgraded to R17. Now rear is too low. On bumps, wheel touches metal.
How to fix? Is it possible to use koni street on e36 R17 wheels?

Your offset changed. You went to a lower offset than is needed for the car. You want an offset (BMW uses the term, ET) of 41 for a wheel that's about 7.5 to 8 inches wide. You can easily use a 225/45x17 on the E36 with a 7.5JJ wheel. Easily. You can fit an 8JJ or 8.5JJ with a higher ET, but you need to be careful that your ET does not cause the wheels to hit the springs.

All of these wheels will fit your E36, most of the E46 wheels will also fit. Click on any wheel and the specs will be shown, you are interested in the ET. You will find some of the M wheels that are staggered fitment (the rear is wider than the front) will have a different ET -- higher -- so the extra width of the wheel goes to the inside instead of into the fender. A lower ET will push the wheel outboard, into the fender.

I have H&R Sport springs and Koni Yellow shocks on a '94 'vert with Style 22 wheels. It works good.

[JDStrickland]

Answer to last question is no.
Thanks for your input, I'll look into changing the spring seats, as it's a 200k+ car, and when installing the new Koni, I did not replace any rubber parts.

Maybe you should give us more of a clue what's rubbing and where. I'm confused as to why you would not replace the rubber seats, but they are not the red line in the sand that makes the wheels rub. It's far more likely that you bought the wrong wheels, perhaps you should post the specs for them (diameter, width, and offset).

[pbonsalb]

I mentioned the spring seats because raising the rear end could move the fender arch up enough that the tire stops rubbing. Flaring/rolling the arches could also help. I agree the cause of the problem is probably incorrect wheel offset. The OP could also have the wrong size tires for the wheel diameter increase. He has not provided any information so we are just guessing.

[Eyalgr]

Wheels are staggered style 39 (ds2). Car is 97' 328is.
Not sure of wheel's offset. Rear tires are 245/40R17.
I believe the tire touches the top of the top of the frame, above the wheel.

[Eyalgr]

... now I see the link to e36 wheel styles. Original R16 wheels, style 30 have offset of ET 46. New R17 style 39 have ET 41 as jdstrickland mentioned.
What's the simplest way to fix this?

[pbonsalb]

If you have ET41 17” rear wheels, you should not be rubbing with 245/40/17 in the rear. Something else is wrong. Are your RTAB pockets torn out? Are your subframe mounts torn out? Do you have a bent lower control arm? What springs came with the Koni shocks you purchased? Maybe they are very short and meant to be used with rear ride height adjusters that effectively add some length?

[Eyalgr]

The mounting points in the trunk seem intact. The Koni strt I got is the kit, with h&r lowering springs (blue). Not sure about the other items in question. I'll take suspension apart to check the other items in question. Thanks

[pbonsalb]

When the subframe mounts tear it is usually the front ones and you can’t really see because the subframe is covering the area. Google for pictures and you should find some so you know what to look for under the car. I have seen pictures in this forum before.

[JDStrickland]

If you have ET41 17” rear wheels, you should not be rubbing with 245/40/17 in the rear. Something else is wrong. Are your RTAB pockets torn out? Are your subframe mounts torn out? Do you have a bent lower control arm? What springs came with the Koni shocks you purchased? Maybe they are very short and meant to be used with rear ride height adjusters that effectively add some length?

I'm not sure you are correct. I have the Style 22 M Doublespoke with an ET41 and 225/45x17. A 245/40 very well might rub on my car with H&R Sport springs and Koni Yellows. The 245 is fully .75 inches wider, .325 off of center. I can barely fit my finger between the tire and the fender. Having said that, it is a very tight fit. The car should hold a 235/40, but a 245/40 is a whole lot bigger. I agree, if everything else is good, the 245/40 should fit with a gnat's eyelash to spare.

The staggered fitment of the Style 39 that has the same ET as the square fitment is an inch wider, and the entire inch is on the outside (fender side) of the wheel. Using my square fitment as a guide, the stagger might prove to be a problem. And, the 245/40 is the right tire for that wheel.

[pbonsalb]

Factory fit on rear of 96-99 E36 M3 was 17x8.5 ET41 with 245/40/17. All E36 have the same rear fenders as far as I know, so I don’t think there are any differences there.

[mlytle]

Don't think the fenders are the same between m3 and regular e36. My m3 fits 245 with room to spare. I had to do a lot of fender rolling to get 245 to fit my 325 race car.

[pbonsalb]

Interesting. Never read anywhere in 15 years that the body changed apart from things like sedan vs coupe, front corner lights, reinforcements, and the ti and vert.

If you were running race tires, maybe they ran wide. In general, 245/40/17 fits with 17x8.5 ET41; 255/40/17 with 17x8.5 ET41 will rub. It seems that tires can run up to 10mm wider or narrower than rated width.

[Eyalgr]

May have to test same wheels on another e36 328is, with stock suspension, in order to verify the last posts.

[XnWarden]

The fenders are the same between non M and M. The suspension geometry is what is different. I say this having fully M3 swapped my 3 series.

I am fitting 245s with no issue. 17x9 arc 8 wheels with some minor camber. Full M3 suspension on a 328i chassis. Any fitment issues the OP is having boil down to suspension setup. Fender rolling is only 100% required when trying to stuff a 255 or greater into the wheel well.

As others have said, M3 came factory with 245s. The rear trailing arms and front control arms have different geometry that allow for more rubber.

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[XnWarden]

OP you just need M3 suspension.

Here is a potato quality photo of my fitment.

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[pbonsalb]

Thanks for clarifying; I was not aware non-M RTA was the issue. Beware the fix is not as simple as buying M3 RTA. The M3 arms require M3 axles and brakes. M3 axles don’t bolt up to a 328i diff; you need M3 diff output stubs, but they pop easily into the 328i diff. There is probably more, but I don’t know what.

[Eyalgr]

Mechanic fixed spring out of place (he said). Now rear wheels do not rub car panel. R17 style 39 on Koni strt with h&r springs work.

[pbonsalb]

A spring not going back into place was one of my guesses, 3rd sentence of post #2. You could easily have fixed this yourself with closer inspection. With short springs, this can happen when you jack the rear off the ground to work on the car or even just change a wheel. I’ll guess you jacked only one side, not the entire rear end, which overweights one side and underweights the other, changing the angles and increasing the risk of the spring not coming down perfectly centered. But if they are loose enough, they can end up out of place even if you raise the entire rear end.