Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

Been gathering as much info as I can about going with wheel spacers. Did some searching here, btw.

2002 Z3 Coupe. Stock wheels and tire widths. Stock suspension (no lowering). I'm wanting to add 10mm or 12mm spacers to the rear to help fill out the rear wheel arch. It's just a looks thing for me. I've been reading that others have done this, and the visual "trick" works. .. appears the car is lowered slightly, or at least "filled out".

The problem is, I don't really want to add spacers to the front. The fronts are already, mostly, in the right place visually. Also, I don't want to negatively effect the steering feel of the car. Adding spacers to the front will move the center of the tire even further from the steering axis. I can only imagine this will result in "deader" steering. I really love how these cars have quick snappy steering, and wouldn't want to lose that.

The issues with just adding spacers to the back are;

- Will this negatively effect the car's handling? More understeer. More body roll. If it does effect it, how noticable is it. I don't track the car. Spirited driving on country roads, and daily commuter.

- Will this increase the tire wear on the inside edge of the rear tires? Adding spacers shouldn't increase the camber, but is there some other geometry problem by doing this?

Lastly, does anybody know if the replacement longer bolts are black (like BMW bolts)? Thinking of either H&R's spacers, or Rogue Engineering. Both hubcentric.

Thanks gents.

- T

Reply » Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

Lastly, does anybody know if the replacement longer bolts are black (like BMW bolts)? Thinking of either H&R's spacers, or Rogue Engineering. Both hubcentric.

Thanks gents.

- T[/quote]

I lowered my M coupe with HR and Koni's. I run a HR 5 mm front and 15mm rear to fill the wells with the 2002 M3 18 inch rim. The look is great and the tire wear is not effected at all.

the 5 mm use a longer bolt supplied in black and the 15mm use a short blt to attach to the hub, then standard BMW lugs attach wheel to spacer.

When I track the car, I have used the 5mm in the rear one day..more rear width seemed to give more rear grip and increased Coupes tendency to understeer. I am trying to go the opposite way with my set up so I took them out.

Something to consider is whether you will need to role the fenders depending on how wide you go, you may rub when the car leans while cornering.

Reply » Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

- If I only do the rears.. doesn't seem like they'd rub. But I'll keep that in mind, thanks. If I did the fronts.. then yeah, I can see how that would happen.

- You felt an increase in oversteer when the rears were on the 15mm eh? Hmmmm...

- Yeah, I saw those H&R spacers, and how they bolt to the hub first, then you bolt the wheel to the spacer. Didn't occur to me ... that's a really smart way to keep the original BMW bolts on the outside. Plus, I'd still get to use my wheel lock bolts (one each wheel). But, I don't know.. there's something about the double set of bolts thing that make the engineering part of my brain uneasy. Let's see.. it shouldn't be increasing the shear forces on any of the bolts. That would have been the main weakness.

Just feels not quite right though. Anyone know if this would be bad for the hubs or the wheels? Just thinking safety.

Thanks!

Reply » Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

Quote:

No, he said more understeer with a wider rear, as expected. It's not going to be hugely different with 10mm and stock tires though.

Quote:

- Yeah, I saw those H&R spacers, and how they bolt to the hub first, then you bolt the wheel to the spacer. Didn't occur to me ... that's a really smart way to keep the original BMW bolts on the outside. Plus, I'd still get to use my wheel lock bolts (one each wheel). But, I don't know.. there's something about the double set of bolts thing that make the engineering part of my brain uneasy. Let's see.. it shouldn't be increasing the shear forces on any of the bolts. That would have been the main weakness.

Just feels not quite right though. Anyone know if this would be bad for the hubs or the wheels? Just thinking safety.

Thanks!

More unsprung weight would be the main disadvantage, but it's not a lot.

This weekend I found a place selling chrome-plated lugbolts in various lengths for our cars. I ordered a couple to check the quality, I'll post when I get them.

With the stock tires on the M, I ran 10mm up front to clear my coilovers, and it looked fine. I'll soon know what it looks like with longer spacers and 235/45-17 on the front.

Reply » Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

Daniel, did you decide if you're going to keep your spacers or...?

Reply » Wheel spacers only on the rear - Ruin handling?

Quote:

Daniel, did you decide if you're going to keep your spacers or...?

Funny you should ask, I was about to PM you...

The folks who were supposed to mount my new tires gave up after breaking down one of the front tires; they decided they couldn't do the work w/o risking damage to my wheels. So after wasting 90 minutes over there on Friday, I dropped the wheels and tires at the local dealer since they did an excellent job patching/plugging one of my tires.

I just picked up the wheels w/ new tires about 30 minutes ago. I need to change my clothes and start playing. I'm not sure I'll get it done tonight, I've got a court date early in the morning. But I haven't forgotten about you.

Page 1 of 5