Does anyone here have 16" alpinas 7 + 8" and not rolled their fenders? I have these springs on the rear but need to change the fronts which are currently ones i got made. They are very stiff however judging by peoples comments are no lower than ST's will be. They are probably a bit stiffer.
I am running old yokohama tyres 205 up front and wondered whether I might get away without rolling? I dont want to do it and plus with the stainless arch trim its probably not possible.
Anyone care to measure the width of their front tyre across the thread as this may be the most important factor?
I must correct an obvious typo in my earlier post. I couldn't have Alpina 16" wheels with 225/50/ 15's on the rears. Should of course say 225/50/16's !
my front tyres are 185-190 accross the thread pattern edge to edge. Just wondering if such a small amount is enough to negate the possibility of the tyre catching the wheel arch?
The overall rim and tire diameter of the 205/50r16 setup is about .75 inch smaller than the 205/55r16 setup. If your car still has the standard springs and shocks, then the smaller 205/50 tire will overly accenturate the huge gap between top of tire and the fender lip giving the front the very unsightly 'jackup' look, made worse if the car still has the strut collar inserts. If your coupe has been lowered with sport springs and sport shocks, then undoubtedly, you'll probably have some rubbing issues during hard cornerings or going over severe road bumps. I would stay with the 205/55 and the 225/50 pairing as they are a perfect match in overall tire height and revolutions per mile thus avoiding the speedometer/odometer discrepancies of the 50 series tire. Use the classic 205/55 and 225/50 setup and adjust your clearance issues accordingly and roll your front fenders if necessary.
I started with the staggered 18s and correct tires sizes and had no problems until i removed the spacers on my car. since then i've caught the inner fender lip 3 times. I first replaced the springs and shocks with Carl's set up and bilstein HDs. i liked the lowered look and hoped this would help. I still caught my lip and damaged my tires further. I then changed my tires to some yokohama's of the same size but were definitely a smaller diameter tire across the top than the michelins i was running.
I also committed a small crime...i shaved off 1/4" off the inside of the wheel to help with the offset. this in combination with the new tires i hoped would fix the problem without rolling the fenders.
today i caught the lip again and sliced my new tire down to the cord. it was going into a driveway with the wheel turned. this time i've damaged the fender well...the curvature is off and probably can't be made perfect without using a hammer and having to paint. paintless work can be done but i'll have to see how well it turns out. I didn't roll the fenders in hopes of not damaging the paint and now i've damaged the fender itself I'm really frustrated.
I think i'm going to just put the original wheels back on and get some new 195/70s all around. hopefully this will fix the problem or i'm going to have to put the spacers back on. i think the car looks so much better without the spacers but this is painful.
Wheel arch interference with this set up in the front will happen.
You can get away with stock springs, but any lowering sport springs require some additional clearance at the front.
I recently rolled fender lips with CSL SS flares . . all four . . lots of work, but it can be done! Staggered Alpina wheels and Alpina springs.
The flares were done separately, the body edges were done with a fender roller. All of it prior to any paint work.
Would anyone with Carl's springs(suspension techniques), hd bilsteins and 16" alpinas with 205/55's up front be kind enough to measur the gap from the top of the tyre to the wheelarch? Prob on both sides as they always seem to vary!
i would have been glad to but have switched back to the original alloys as of today. i actually like the look just as much. i wish i could have been some help though
ccr
Two ways to run the 16" alpina's. Go to Tirerack or some other tire store and have them roll the front fenders using heat. the second method involves a blow dryer and a baseball bat. I rolled the front fenders on my e30 by heating the fenders on a hot day with the blow dryer and slowly working the bat against the tire to fold the lip in. Worked out great and no paint cracking.
I'M USING LARGE FONT FOR EMPHASIS--DO NOT HAVE THIS SETUP WITHOUT ROLLING THE UPPER SECTION OF FRONT FENDERS FOR ABOUT A 75-90 DEGREE ARC--PERIOD!!
NO ROLLING OF REAR FENDERS IS NEEDED--IN THE FRONT IF NOT ROLLED YOU WILL DAMAGE TIRES OR FENDERS OR BOTH AS CCR HAS RECENTLY EXPERIENCED--SORRY THAT YOU CHOSE TO RISK RUNNING WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF CRACKING VIRGIN PAINT.
TRUST ME--MORE RESEARCH ON THIS SUBJECT IS NOT NECESSARY--TO DO SO FLYS IN THE FACE OF ACTUAL ROAD EXPERIENCES OF MANY THOUSANDS OF MILES ON THE BLUMAX SINCE INSTALLING THIS COMBO--ORIGINALLY ON MY 14" WHEELS--AND WITH ROLLED FRONT FENDERS THEN--IT WAS WELL TESTED AND CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THEN--SINCE FOLLOWED BY FOUR YEARS WITH THE 16" STAGGERED ALPINAS ON THIS SAME SET-UP--WITHOUT A SINGLE ISSUE!!
IT IS IMPORTANT AND I WOULD RECOMMEND TO HAVE ALL FRESH SUSPENSION BUSHINGS, SWAY BAR LINKS, ALL STEERING LINKAGES, LOWER CONTROL ARMS, AND ALL OTHER RELATED IN TOP CONDITION BEFORE INSTALLING THIS SET-UP--TO INSURE BEST RESULTS--DON'T SHORT-CUT
BTW--TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE THE CLEARANCES ARE THE SAME FOR ALL 6 CYLINDER E9's EXCEPT FOR THOSE WEARING THE WHEEL ARCHES--SOME ISSUES MAY ALSO ARISE FROM THE TYPE TIRE YOU SELECT--JUST DON'T TRY TO OVERDUE THE WIDTH OF THE FOOT PRINT OR YOU MAY EXPERIENCE THE INSIDE OF TIRE RUBBING ON THE VERTICAL STRUT AND NECESSITATE CHANGING TO A NARROWER PROFILE--I HAVE A SET OF ONE OF THE BRIDGESTONE POTENZAS WR RATED--THEY ARE FINE!!
Installing a fixed camber plate of 5/8th's of a degree will move the outside face of the tire inwards approximately 3/16". This can be tried separately or combined with the fender rolling to eliminate rubbing on the wheel arch.
The math is based on an article copied below from Ireland Engineering and hopefully will resolve the rubbing on my 76 o2 (lips already rolled).
Well just back from the Nurburgring and a great trip was tarnished as I did indeed catch the fender with the tyre turning into a parking space in a field. Disaster.
I am now going to roll both front fnders but am not sure how this will pan out with the wheel arch extensions.
Mario - you have done this - how did you go about it? My car is painted and I dont ideally want to paint the wing but could paint just the lip as it will be covered.
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