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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 F10 Technical Topics Wheels / Tires / Suspension / Brakes Anyone used wheel spacers on OEM 18" wheels?
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      04-25-2013, 12:14 AM   #1
hufington
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Question Anyone used wheel spacers on OEM 18" wheels? Maybe H&R 12mm?

I was wondering if anyone has installed wheel spacers on OEM Style 237 18 x 8.0 wheels. My car is a 535 non-Msport and would like to add some spacers to bring the wheels out.

What is the ideal thickness? What brands can I use w/o any problems? Do I need to get an alignment after I install spacers?

I was thinking of H&R 12mm

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-55...0-f13-f25.aspx

or

15mm

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-55...0-f13-f25.aspx

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
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Last edited by hufington; 04-27-2013 at 07:03 PM..
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      04-28-2013, 11:50 AM   #2
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wow, I guess no one knows anything about this issue.
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      04-28-2013, 10:17 PM   #3
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Each vehicle has an ideal offset with a particular wheel to accommodate clearances and bearing load. Moving the wheels out, if they still allowed proper clearance (which may not be true!) WILL increase the load on the bearings, and could significantly affect the longevity and potentially the alignment since there would be a longer lever arm to change the orientation of the wheel on the same springs. IOW, spacers are more common to put a non-stock wheel at the proper place, not to move an OEM one into a non-OEM position (except for people who don't care about their long-term health of the vehicle! IMHO).
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      04-29-2013, 03:09 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jadnashuanh View Post
Each vehicle has an ideal offset with a particular wheel to accommodate clearances and bearing load. Moving the wheels out, if they still allowed proper clearance (which may not be true!) WILL increase the load on the bearings, and could significantly affect the longevity and potentially the alignment since there would be a longer lever arm to change the orientation of the wheel on the same springs. IOW, spacers are more common to put a non-stock wheel at the proper place, not to move an OEM one into a non-OEM position (except for people who don't care about their long-term health of the vehicle! IMHO).
Interesting logic, however, the same is true for any wheel as they are designed as standalone parts and you should not use any spacer with them either as that would change their offset. Furthermore, according to your logic any other wheel other than OEM wheels would then put a different load on all suspension parts that they are designed for, which would sacrifice longevity of the suspension parts. So, anyone with aftermarket wheels is "destroying" his/her car in the long run?

That said, what do you mean with "the proper place" when you mention the position of the wheels because there are so many cars on the market that use the exact same suspension components with different wheel and tire packages that vary in diameter and width and those are offered directly by the manufacturers?
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      04-29-2013, 04:42 PM   #5
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If you look over various wheels, you'll notice that the face where the bolts are will vary in location inside to outside of the rim. This is the face that determines the load on the bearings. For example, stock may have 20% of the rim width towards the outside, and 80% towards the inside of the mounting face. A spacer will move that out, if required, to put that face where it should be and maintain the balance L-R to keep the load similar on the bearings. IOW, you want the part of the tire L-R of the bolt pattern to be in a specific relationship on a specific vehicle. Get a deep dish wheel that moves the tire out a couple of inches, and you've increased the lever arm on the bearings and increased the track of the vehicle - a spacer won't help that except to make it worse. The tire's tread may no longer be enclosed by the wheel housing (which is illegal, BTY), and on suspension compression, the tire may hit the fender, or impact it when you turn.

So, to allow one wheel to fit more than one vehicle, you can buy spacers to provide the proper orientation of the tire patch relative to the vehicle. The tire patch should usually grow with the same relationship of L-R, but there's a limit at either side where it will no longer work.

Now, there are also spacers, like a ring, that compensate for a hub mounting hole that is too big, but that's just for centering around the hub, not L-R like the spacer I think you're talking about. Apples and oranges.
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      05-16-2013, 09:57 AM   #6
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Decided to go with H&R but undecided about the size.
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