Danger using 10mm Spacer for Front Wheels??????

[BlackX54.4i]

I just ordered a set of 10mm spacers for the front and 25mm spacers for the rear due to getting ready to lower the X and wanting to take care of the entire setup at one time...

While I was on Turner Motorsports website, I read this;

All BMWs use hubcentric wheels. When mounted to the car, the wheel rests on a lip instead of the wheel bolts or studs. The lip contributes to the strength of the wheel and the wheel cannot safely be used without a lip. The wheel bolts are not strong enough to support the weight and loads generated through the wheel. The lip is usually 9-10.5mm in depth.

You must be very careful when fitting 10mm spacers to any BMW. Since the depth of the hubcentric lip will vary, you risk bottoming out of the spacer before it sits flush with the hub. This will leave a gap between the spacer and the hub, seriously compromising the strength of the spacer.

Any spacer smaller than 10mm will not have a hubcentric lip on it. It's physically impossible since the spacer slides over the existing lip but is not thick enough to take the lip's place (the standard lip still protrudes through the spacer). With a 9mm lip, a 5mm spacer will only leave 4mm of stock lip left for the wheel to rest on. This is important to keep in mind when considering your wheel/spacer setup. A wheel with a beveled edge on the back will not adequately rest on the lip, resulting in a vibration because the wheel is not truly centered on the hub.

For most 5-lug BMW applications, Turner Motorsport offers a hub-extender (link). This takes the place of your hub's dust cap and adds an extra 10mm of lip for the wheel to rest on. Using the example above, instead of 4mm left over on the lip, you now have 14mm of lip to use. With the hub extenders, you can also change spacers around without fear of losing lip space - it can be used with a 3mm, 5mm, 8mm, or 10mm spacer.

Spacers with their own integrated hubcentric lip are: 10mm*, 12mm, 12.5mm, 15mm, 18mm, 20mm, 25mm, and 30mm.
* -- Note that H&R and Turner Motorsport each make a 10mm hubcentric spacer but due to interferences between the spacer and lip, it's best to leave this to specialized applications. The lip on the car must be shaved down so the 10mm spacer will fit flush on the rotor hat.

Anyone have 10mm spacers on the front and have any issues with them or did you end up going with the 12mm so that they bolt to the hub???

TIA!

[Hit Redline]

I have been running the H&R 10mm hubcentric spacers for several months with no issues on front and 25mm in the rear. No modification was needed.

[nom3rcy]

The guys at Turner have a good point. Probably not an issue for smooth road travel but if you hit a curb or something at high speed you could reach the shear strength of the lug bolts.

[BlackX54.4i]

Originally Posted by Hit Redline

I have been running the H&R 10mm hubcentric spacers for several months with no issues on front and 25mm in the rear. No modification was needed.

Thanks Redline...I know members have been running this setup, just wanted to make sure that there aren't any modifications needed...

[AlfaMale]

I've got hubcentric 25mm spacers front and rear. I like the look of the wider front stance too.

[J.Belknap]

Extended bolts for the 10mm spacers would be a good idea.

[LeMansX5]

7mm spacers in front and 10 mm in back. They came with custom bolts for extended lengths.

[BlackX54.4i]

I am going with 10mm in the front with 40mm bolts and 25mm rear which AFAIK do not require extended bolts since they bolt to the hub...

[ayat]

i used 25mm front and 30mm rear eibach hubcentric type 7 spacers, the spacers bolt onto the hub with bolts provided, then the wheels fix on to the spacers with standard or supplied wheel bolts, worked well on my car will post pics. this option is meant to be stronger when using wide spacers as opposed to using seriously longer bolts.