Topic: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Hey all!

We recently acquired an ex-lemons e32 that we are trying to get back into C class domination. It came with some cheaty/nice "style 37" 18" wheels that we want to sell to help fund other things to car needs, which means finding a cheap set of racin' wheels.

I have a nearly endless supply of 17" take-offs, and I want this e32 to have a 17" wheel as wide as possible and as cheap as possible. I found some catfish camaro SS wheels (17x9+50) for only $125 and I think I'm gonna go that route and add a spacer since the factory offset on this BMW is +20. Does anyone know about any other options that I should look into that are super cheap, 17", and 8.5-10" wide? With the factory offset being +20, I'm going to need to run a spacer or adapter on just about anything, so any adaptable lug pattern is on the table. I don't think it'll get much better than these camaro wheels... but figured this would be the group to know about junkyard racin' parts!

As a side note... has anyone actually had issues here running 5x120.7 (Chevy) lug patterns on 5x120 (BMW) cars? It's widely debated but I don't think I've found any real reports of issues... it's only .025" in bald eagle units so I can't imagine it would actually matter.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Centerbore?

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Lemon_Newton-Metre wrote:

Centerbore?

Doesn’t matter… I’m pretty sure that any wheel I choose will require a spacer. I have machine shop access so I can bore or turn the spacer to adapt different center bores.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

1989ish corvette swablades?

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Daytona 13th - Charlotte 9th - Sebring 2nd-Charlotte 25th broken brakes - Road Atlanta 14 10th-Daytona 14  58th- Humid TT 19th Judges' Choice!

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Oh that's not a bad option... I don't think those are worth much and are decently wide. I'm not seeing any locally but I'll keep an eye out.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

pretty sure C4 "sawblades" fit and they are 17x9.5

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

I thought they were x8.5-9" but hot damn your right, they had these in 9.5".

I'll keep an eye out for these... I can't imagine many wheel options that could possibly look more out of place on a 7 series BMW, they'd be perfect! Stretching tires onto an 80's american wheel, bolted onto a full size euro luxury sedan is absolutely the aesthetic that I'm going for.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

duthehustle93 wrote:

I thought they were x8.5-9" but hot damn your right, they had these in 9.5".

I'll keep an eye out for these... I can't imagine many wheel options that could possibly look more out of place on a 7 series BMW, they'd be perfect! Stretching tires onto an 80's american wheel, bolted onto a full size euro luxury sedan is absolutely the aesthetic that I'm going for.

We run them on our 88 Trans Am. You will need spacers as they have a ton of backspacing. They aren't expensive either.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

It’s the opposite of your question, I realize,  but I can confirm that BMW pattern wheels fit the C4 Vette hubs fine. I have 17” e46 wheels on my ‘84.

I think the sawblades are about the cheapest really wide 17 out there, good answer…

Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
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Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Nope that's helpful! Opposite confirmation is a good thing!

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Ah yes, the pursuit of cheap wide BMW wheels. Welcome to the club!

For starters, do not listen to anyone who tells you that a 5x4.75" will not fit on a BMW with a 5x120mm spacing. I can confirm 100% that the two bolt patterns are interchangeable. The difference between the two patterns is a (cross pattern nonetheless) tolerance of 0.025". If you think your average machinist making these knockoff wheels can machine a hole anywhere near those tolerances, I've got some land in Florida I'd love to sell you.

All of my information is based on the E39 5-series platform, so apply accordingly, but most BMW 5-series require very little offset once you start getting over 9.5 inches wide. In fact, I only run +10mm offset with a 9.5" wide wheel on my square setup.

Bang of the buck, the C4 Corvette wheels are by far the widest wheel your money can buy. Unfortunately, they have MASSIVE positive offsets. The 17x9.5 ZR1 wheel has a staggering +54mm offset and the wider 17x11 wheel has +50mm offset. Either of these wheels would require an alarmingly wide 40-50mm space. Most tech inspectors and / or track set the limit of spacer widths to 25mm, so be warned.

Also, your options for tires in 17" diameter is really limited these days. I assume you want a competitive tire, and there are only a couple of options at 275/40R17 and those aren't necessarily the faster tire out there at the moment.  Stepping up to an 18" wheel opens up many more options, but also add an "18 inch wheel tax" that makes an already expensive tire even more costly.

The Pentastar whisperer

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Click on car by rim size.  Fill out as many fields as you like (Holes and PCD being critical).

https://tire-size.net/#wheel

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Thanks for your detailed experience! Definitely helpful to get confirmation that they'll fit. I wasn't too worried... but lots of forum posts made by people who don't understand the existence of tolerances.

I'll continue to keep an eye out for C4 wheels. I took some measurements and did the math... and it looks like with our current setup I'd be okay with 17x9 w/ a 1.5" spacer. Because it's just correcting for an offset, rather than changing the lever arm on the rotating assembly, I'll sleep fine at night. I wouldn't be changing the factory designed offset, and with that in mind a thicker wheel spacer should be safer if it's the bolt on kind since there's more thickness in stress-riser areas.

Thanks for your input on the 18's! However, I'm pretty dead-set on 17s. I'm not trying to be competitive, just cheap. And 17's are wayyy cheaper and I have an endless supply for free RS4 17" take offs.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: cheap and wide 17" OEM wheels

Bricoop wrote:

Click on car by rim size.  Fill out as many fields as you like (Holes and PCD being critical).

https://tire-size.net/#wheel

That's an awesome resource... thanks!

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i