Front hub spacer removal question

[Rusty]

Hi. I need to remove the outer spacer from my front hub for better wheel fitment. Do I simply pry them off or is there more to it, e.g. shorter lug bolts?

 

[bavbob]

You will have to remove the outer bearing under the cap. Others chime in but I think that spacer is an integral part and not sure how the bearing will seat without it.

 

[Rusty]

Ah, you're right. The car is in storage now so I didn't know what the part/assembly was. I found this repair manual image.

Follow-up question: I installed 15" OZ Alpina-turbine-style rims (7J-15 H2, et 10) with 205-65 tires and the fronts are 0.5" or so beyond the fender line. Are there any adjustment options be to bring them more inward?

 

[Brian D]

That's not a spacer, it's the actual hub. The brake disc bolts to it and the assembly is then mounted to the axle stub. It's #1 in this drawing.

Edit, posted a minute too late. The only way to bring the wheel inward would be to machine the mounting face, and it depends on the wheel construction if you could even do that.

 

[Rusty]

Thanks for the help. I'll ponder some options.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Hi. I need to remove the outer spacer from my front hub for better wheel fitment. Do I simply pry them off or is there more to it, e.g. shorter lug bolts?

I think you’re thinking the hub that holds the wheel studs is a spacer, it isn’t and can not be removed. I moved my front tires closer to the center of the car by milling 3/16” off the backsides of the wheels, then I had to trim all the wheel studs the same amount so it was a lot of work for very little gain.

IMO our coupes are backwards :shock:, in the front the track is too wide (where we need clearance for turning wheels) and in the back the track is too narrow unless you put wider rims or rims with more offset on. Until someone makes shorter lower control arms for the front we are pretty much limited on how wide of a rim we can use on the front………. my observation and 2 cents worth on the problem, others may have different ideas. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

['69 2800cs]

The size and offset of your wheels is fine....what you need are camber plates at the top of the struts to "lean" the wheel and tire in more.

There are fixed and adjustable plates available...I run an adjustable plate set to about 1.5 degrees negative camber and it's still tight with my 14x7 rims and 195 tires.

Narrower tires would help you as well.

I'm with John on the backwards part...stock, the front is too high with positive camber.

 

[Rusty]

I moved my front tires closer to the center of the car by milling 3/16” off the backsides of the wheels, then I had to trim all the wheel studs the same amount so it was a lot of work for very little gain.

It's comforting to know my predicament isn't an isolated issue.

 

[Rusty]

The size and offset of your wheels is fine....what you need are camber plates at the top of the struts to "lean" the wheel and tire in more.

I might try this (in unison with lowering springs to reduce top-of-tire-wheel-well height).

 

[Stevehose]

I have 15" OZ Alpinas with camber plates. The wheels don't go past the fenders but they need to be rolled to keep from hitting when turning into a driveway.

I might try this (in unison with lowering springs to reduce top-of-tire-wheel-well height).

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

+1 with Steve's solution; I have 16" 205/65 all around- you should either roll the fender lips yourself with a tool from Eastwood or have a body shop do it. New camber plates/springs/shocks will help but rolling the fender lip now will allow you to change to a larger size if you want to in the future.

Best of luck

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Moving the top of the strut inward is certainly a quick way to get more tire clearance particularly at the top center of the tire. I just have to wonder how the negative camber affects the handling and tire wear ? One and half degrees negative camber is like autocross specifications, BMW calls for zero degrees camber + or - 30 minutes as being ideal. Also positive camber makes the car want track straighter on the highway, does the negative camber make the car a little bit twitchy at speed ? I’d like to hear thoughts & observations on the above from people that have already changed the camber angle on their coupe. Thanks ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[kasbatts]

Just had an alignment and I have the fixed camber plates on the car, machine showed 1.25 deg neg camber.
Car feels good,
I certainly wouldn't recommend more than 1.5 for a street car, more than this is getting into race car territory, but
a lot of it depends on body roll and a bunch of others factors.

 

['69 2800cs]

I suspect BMW's spec of 0 camber is to induce lots of understeer to suit the average driver. If you want to turn, you want negative camber. These cars lean quite a bit in the turns and the negative camber counteracts that, keeping the tire square to the road.

Another opinion. http://www.bmw2002.com/documents/bmw-camber.pdf

I don't think positive camber helps with straight line tracking though, perhaps you are thinking of positive caster? More caster increases the self centering effect at the steering wheel but also increases the steering effort.