Quote:
Originally Posted by pyro4ik
I have a 2005 e53 but bought the following spacers by mistake:
20mm BMW Wheel Spacers 5x120 74mm PAIR 74.1mm HUBCENTRIC E70 X5 + 14x1.25 Bolts 
The wheel shop said the spacers fit the wheel hub using the bolts provided w/ the spacers, but the OEM lug bolts do not fit the spacer threads themselves. Is the fix as easy as just buying e70 lugs to bolt wheels to the spacers? Why is it that the spacers bolt on w/ no problem? |
It's simple...the spacers you purchased have a 74.1mm hub...the hub on your e53 is a smaller 72.56mm...anything larger can be put over something smaller. The bolt pattern is the same (5x120) on the e53 & e70...it's the size of the hub (or center bore of the wheels) that is different.
If you wear a size 10 shoe...slipping your foot into a size 12 shoe is no problem...but the inverse is not.
There's another issue that isn't mentioned and that is the spacers may have mounted okay...but are they truly centered on the hub? Our wheels are "hub-centric"...not "bolt centric". The wheel is centered on the hub...thus the need to buy hub centric wheels...or hub centric rings to center the wheel on the hub...then the wheels are secured to the hub with the wheel studs.
You can also see in the chart below that the e53 uses a different thread bolt pattern. The spacers you purchased clearly state that they use the e70 bolt which has a different thread bolt pattern.