[sootyvrs]

There have been many threads from enthusiasts wanting to put spacers on the 1 Series with very few on this forum who have had them fitted. So I hope this thread will help those considering fitting them.

I personally have always thought OEM 1 Series 18" wheels have rather conservative offsets which could do with more aggressive stance and this is really noticeable when the car is lowered like on mine.

I bit the bullet and purchased 4x12mm spacers for the front and rear to complement my winter wheel set-up that I have just installed.

Spacers are TPI hub-centric ones purchased from ebay

Wheels are pre-facelift 208M 18x7.5" ET47 front and 18x8" ET49 rear with Pirelli SottoZero 240 225/40/18 winter tyres

The spacers would make these equivalent to 18x7.5" ET35 front and 18x8" ET37 rear. As you can see in the pics, the front is very tight and so far I have had no issues with rubbing on arches.

Here are some pics to show the clearances

 

[rm163603]

Looks good, quite subtle... I presume the arches don't rub...

When I think of wheel spacers I can't help thinking of the ones that Leepu fitted to a car in this weeeks Bangla Bangers show.... 6 inch wheel spacers fabricated from steel bits welded together!!! Sounds safe!!!

 

[Sensisimon]

Looks just right to my untrained eye.

Can't get my head around the fact that this is Sootyvrs's car, because I'm so used to seeing it with the AC Schnitzers.

 

[sootyvrs]

Looks just right to my untrained eye.

Can't get my head around the fact that this is Sootyvrs's car, because I'm so used to seeing it with the AC Schnitzers.

Yes my car is looking quite "Normal"...... Not got used to this "winter spec" myself as yet :roll:

Although 208M's are quite common on a 1er, I must say that they do look very tasty for an OEM wheel!

 

[sootyvrs]

Looks excellent! Much more aggressive stance.

I presume you bought longer wheel bolts too?

Yes longer wheel bolts required... thought the nice and shiny bolts might have been a giveaway.

 

[nicknameless]

sweet

 

[marco_polo]

Good work, I'm considering getting some for mine now....

Where did you get your longer bolts from please?

 

[sootyvrs]

Found some pics that I took when I did a fitment test for winter tyres some months back. This should give you a good comparison.

Pics of wheels before fitting spacers

 

[sootyvrs]

Good work, I'm considering getting some for mine now....

Where did you get your longer bolts from please?

I managed to negotiate the price of spacers to include free bolts if I purchased 2 sets (front and rear)

from here -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TPI-WHEEL-SPA...946?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a078243aa

 

[-J-]

Been Looking at putting some spacers on the back of mine for a while, Would I need longer bolts if using either 3mm or 5mm spacers
Heres a pic what size do you think?

J

 

[sootyvrs]

Been Looking at putting some spacers on the back of mine for a while, Would I need longer bolts if using either 3mm or 5mm spacers

The only problem with spacers less than 12mm is that they won't have a lip (as per above pic of spacer) to centre the wheel which can introduce wheel wobble as the bolts are doing the centring instead of the hub lip.

You may need longer bolts still but depends on what you have already. You can remove a wheel and place the bolt through to see how long the bolt is and how much room to manoeuvre.

 

[DarkKnight130]

Been Looking at putting some spacers on the back of mine for a while, Would I need longer bolts if using either 3mm or 5mm spacers

The only problem with spacers less than 12mm is that they won't have a lip (as per above pic of spacer) to centre the wheel which can introduce wheel wobble as the bolts are doing the centring instead of the hub lip.

You may need longer bolts still but depends on what you have already. You can remove a wheel and place the bolt through to see how long the bolt is and how much room to manoeuvre.

Looking good Sooty! 8)

As for the less than 12mm spacers not having a lip, that is true. But I have TPI 3mm spacers on the back of my 1er to give a slightly staggered stance and even had 5mm ones on before that and there is still plenty of the original hub centre left exposed to centre the wheel properly on both the 3mm and 5mm, there was on mine anyway.

I wouldn't go any bigger than 5mm though as Sooty says, as they don't have the hubcentric lip on anything below 12mm, and it is vital to have that! Don't want the whole load / weight of the car sat on 5 bolts now :shock:

 

[Onehp]

Looking good! Out of practical reasons I prefer the OEM look for the winter setup so that my mudflaps have a better chance catching all the grime and gravel...

As for the less than 12mm spacers not having a lip, that is true. But I have TPI 3mm spacers on the back of my 1er to give a slightly staggered stance and even had 5mm ones on before that and there is still plenty of the original hub centre left exposed to centre the wheel properly on both the 3mm and 5mm, there was on mine anyway.

How was you clearance with either, and what was the ET on your wheel? For next summer season I would get some 3 or 5mm spacers rear, et40 225/45/17"...

 

[dieseldave]

How much space do you recon you safely have left at the back I'm running 45mm offset wheels which fit perfectly at the front but are left stranded come the back would I get away 12 mm spacers on 45 mm offset rims.

 

[sootyvrs]

How much space do you recon you safely have left at the back I'm running 45mm offset wheels which fit perfectly at the front but are left stranded come the back would I get away 12 mm spacers on 45 mm offset rims.

Depends on width of the wheel and also what tyre size you have?

 

[dieseldave]

18 x 8 running 225/40/18

 

[sootyvrs]

18 x 8 running 225/40/18

That's 4mm closer to the arches that what I have with the 12mm spacer at the rear. It will be very tight to catching with 12mm spacer.

As mentioned earlier perhaps a 5mm spacer may work for you which will be safer bet as you can still see the hub lip to centre the wheel..

 

[ogee]

Wheels are pre-facelift 208M 18x7.5" ET47 front and 18x8" ET49 rear with Pirelli SottoZero 240 225/40/18 winter tyres

I really like the look of the car with spacers, and I'm thinking about doing the same on my car. Have read this post several times without noticing that you say that your front wheels are ET47. I thought I have the exact same wheels, but mine are ET49. Is it a typo, or have BMW in fact made two different versions of the 7.5x18 front wheel?

BTW, the part number of my front rim is 36118036939.

 

[Slats130]

Just out of interest what have you used to get the water to bead off like that? was that a rinse straight after waxing it? its very even all over even on the wheels

 

[sootyvrs]

Wheels are pre-facelift 208M 18x7.5" ET47 front and 18x8" ET49 rear with Pirelli SottoZero 240 225/40/18 winter tyres

I really like the look of the car with spacers, and I'm thinking about doing the same on my car. Have read this post several times without noticing that you say that your front wheels are ET47. I thought I have the exact same wheels, but mine are ET49. Is it a typo, or have BMW in fact made two different versions of the 7.5x18 front wheel?

BTW, the part number of my front rim is 36118036939.

There were several sites that stated 18x7.5" front BMW 1 series wheels are ET47 except one which said ET49 (all non official BMW sites) so I always state the offset that is mostly mentioned.

Just out of interest what have you used to get the water to bead off like that? was that a rinse straight after waxing it? its very even all over even on the wheels

I had just fitted the wheels and the wheels have only been used for 1 winter so perhaps they still have some coating from the manufacture? I've not waxed them or anything. It had just been raining plus if I recall I might have washed the car the day before.

PS The wax I used on the car in winter is Collinite 476S which is one of the best waxes for beading water although not put any on wheels.