My new rims

echothreezero

echothreezero

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#1
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#1
Sneak preview...

My new rims arrived on Thursday. A mate of my local forum had them test-fitted without tyres for me, but I had forgotten to explain to him that being 17x7 ET 20, the crucial clearance point was the rear guards (esp. on a lowered f/l), and he had only tried them for clearance to the struts on the front.

So it was with some trepidation that I test fitted them without tyres on Thurs night. Result? Inclonclusive, but it was going to be tight.

To be safe I had tyres fitted to two of them on friday without a balance so they wouldn't be marked if I had to return them. Test fitted on rear on Friday. Clearance on rear guards is 2/5ths of f**k all, but enough. Spirited driving on rough roads with sub in boot confirms this - time will tell what happens with a carload of passengers.

So on Monday the car goes in for two more tyres, 4xbalance and a wheel alignment.

Only other issue was that they needed centre locating rings (as predicted). I have recently decided to try a different engineer and so by way of an audition I had him make these for me out of Aluminium. The guy is an absolute craftsman as they are works of art. Beautiful bevelled edges, and fit contour of wheel hub perfectly. Perfect snug fit and even gave me a cylinder of nylon the right size to use as a punch to press them in without damaging them.

Pics explain...

Original wheel hub that is slightly too large:



The rings - shiny ain't they?



Rings installed:



On Car 1:



On Car 2:



These pics are crap and don't give an appreciation of how they affect the look of the car overall.

Will post proper before and after pics some tim elater this week.
 
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echothreezero

echothreezero

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#4
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#4
Doughnut's car is 5 lug from his sig pic.

When you say nice options, do you mean what rims should you buy??? Well that depends on your taste, your budget, and the range available in your area. I bought my ones on a NZ online auction site similar to ebay. They were about 600km away and I met the vendor halfway to pick them up.

it also depends on how extreme you want to go and how much fabrication you want to do.

What size do you want to go? if you want 17's you should go for 17x7. Any wider and you get into trouble with legality in some areas, stress on suspension and steering and clearance probs.

You should also look for an offset of ET20-35 (positive offset between 20 and 35mm). 35mm only just clears the front struts, and as I found out 20mm only just clears the rear guards.

Stud pattern is 4x100, and centre locating rings are vital not just to get them lined up on the hub, but the design of the BMW hubs is for the weight to be carried here - the studs are not engineered to carry all the weight on an e30.

Also, at ET 20mm you may struggle to put 215's on - I run 205's anyway. I find with stock power, 215's are a tad wide.

Other consideration is ride comfort - 17's make for quite a low profile (around 45mm tyre height above the rim). 16's look cool, and are probably the optimum wheel size for e30, but I prefer 17's.
 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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#5
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#5
The new rims look great Graham, with your tight clearance issues purhaps a rolling of guards is in order to get more room?

318i 1985 said:
Donut has some choice rims for a early e30 like mine.
Click to expand...
Doug, my rims are BBS rk's 17" by 7.5" wide, Also I don't have a 5 lug conversion I'm still running the 4 x 100 stud pattern stock.
Peace.
 
echothreezero

echothreezero

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#9
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#9
Hammer is too rugged even for me. You use the baseball bat like a rolling pin but with leverage against something to press back and fold up the inner guards. Hammer will prob shock and crack the paint and you won't get a smooth curve.

Got everything finished and fitted yesterday. Still need BMW centre caps.

More bragging pics... Sorry about fuzziness of the odd pic - in a hurry this morning.









 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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#10
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#10
Haha, I was joking about the hammer, yeah wooden baseball bat or large rolling pin with a handle cut off works great... Well, if you know what your doing that is!

Even if the engine was falling out/apart, the first thing i'd do is get those bmw roundels...

Wheels look pimpin' yo, haul arse bitches :)
 
echothreezero

echothreezero

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#12
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#12
What a weekend?! New rims on - sweeeet even got the BMW centre caps sused. Then go to a BBQ at a local BMW service agent - H&R rep is there and I suss purchasing a new set of springs. Nxt thing you know I win a door prize and the springs are on the house. So h&R's in the e30 next week I'm afraid.. Then I go see this mtech II I been chasing for awile. Next thing you know its mine. So mtech II kit photos any day now.


Loving it
 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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#13
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#13
echothreezero said:
What a weekend?! New rims on - sweeeet even got the BMW centre caps sused. Then go to a BBQ at a local BMW service agent - H&R rep is there and I suss purchasing a new set of springs. Nxt thing you know I win a door prize and the springs are on the house. So h&R's in the e30 next week I'm afraid.. Then I go see this mtech II I been chasing for awile. Next thing you know its mine. So mtech II kit photos any day now.


Loving it
Click to expand...
Good to hear your getting some good luck, I haven't had any of that stuff in ages...
[poke]

Be sure to take lots of pictures of the swap out on both h&r's and the kit swap and post em up ASAP! [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)] [:)]
 
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echothreezero

echothreezero

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#14
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#14
Thanks mate. Bought the car in Auckland and I live about 4 hours from where I bought it. Towed it the first hour to my g/f's place on Aucklands North Shore and a transporter is picking it up today. Their depot is an hour or so from my place, so sometime tomorrow I'm going to shoot down with a trailer and pick it up.

Then it'll probably take me a couple of nights after work to strip it and put the kit on my car. Springs will arrive hopefully on friday which means I can put them in on the weekend and put my ones in the new car. Its the exact same colour (parked them side by side) and will be "manualled" for my g/f. Matching lowered diamandschwatrz 4-door e30's anyone???

badass.
 
Doughnut

Doughnut

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#15
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#15
Both you and your g/f will have e30's....
That is soooooo cool "badass" indeed! Good luck with the bumper swaps!
I'll be tacking two weeks of some much deserved holidays in another week. will be painting my entire car and cut some yukky under door rust spots :)

Opel metalic green is such a sexy colour imo!
 
E30m42cab

E30m42cab

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#16
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#16
echothreezero said:
Matching lowered diamandschwatrz 4-door e30's anyone???

badass.
Click to expand...
That's what it's all about!!.... unfortunately my girlfriends E30 is not Diamondschwartz... it's ugly beige/gold.
But my lowered E30 and E34 match perfectly in the driveway too:)

I've lowered the E30 about a month ago, but I haven't snapped any pics yet! Koni adjustable shocks and Intrax springs. Still haven't managed to put the UUC short shifter in yet.
 
E30m42cab

E30m42cab

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#18
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#18
Joseph, you know what the best add on to my car was? The clutch stop! $20USD... UUC Big Boy Clutch Stop... makes a huge difference in shifting, and it only takes about 1 minute to install!! Should work perfectly once I get the shifter in.
 
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