Is Anyone Running Spacers on Stock Roadstars?

[Ben Carufel]

I want to give the Coupe a little more agressive look, and I've always thought the wheels were tucked too far into the body.

Is anyone running spacers on their stock Roadstars? I'm going to be putting 255's in the rear and 235's in the front, for what that's worth. A 5mm or 10mm would be enough for me...

Anyone done this? Results/opinions?

Thanks!

[Randy Forbes]

I have 5 mm spacers on each front wheel (235/40 x 17). They were really for when I would run the Hoosiers, but I didn't like dealing with them when trying to line up the lugbolts. As a result, I used some Loctite 515 Flange Sealant to hold them in place and left them on with the stock wheels too.

Just be certain to use correspondingly longer bolts with whatever spacer thickness you decide on.

[Ben Carufel]

How do they look with the stockers? Noticeable difference? Does it make the lack of wheel well fill in the back even more pronounced?

[dwm]

Like Randy, I'm running spacers in the front. Mine are there to clear the new coilovers, and might go away once I get around to trying the removal of the helper springs on the coilovers. I'm using 10mm spacers from Rogue. I notice them (wider track up front feels a little different at turn-in), but visually it's not a big difference... casual observers aren't likely to notice.

In the rear, well... it's my opinion that the rear wheel wells are too big (diameter) :). Lowering the car an inch or more in the rear helps a lot, but it still looks like too little tire for the well. That's part of the reason I'm going to cover my rear wheel well liners with a layer of carbon fiber (matte finish); a lot of the well is visible, I'd like something that looks a little better.

Randy, which 5mm spacers are you running? The H&R? Are you running the Turner caps to keep some hub-centering?

[Ben Carufel]

I think a 10MM coupled with an extra 10mm of tire width (255 vs. 245) would really help fill out the arches a bit. Coupe's suspension is stock, but will be replaced sooner or later with either Bilstien Sports (keeping the stock springs) or lowered a bit on an as-yet-to-be-decided set of springs and shocks.

But you did bring up an interesting point -- hubcentricity. I remember from a year and a half ago when I was looking into suspensions for my first car, an E30 325i, many people stressed the importance of getting hubcentric parts. I would have thought that the Coupe is a new enough/expensive enough to mod vehicle that hubcentric spacers would be all manufacturers make for it. Is this not the case?

[TeamM3]

the rear track is already several inches wider than the front track, if you don't mind looks at the expense of handling go for it

note that spacers increase the lever arm length working against the spring, without an increase in swaybar or spring rate you'll be inducing more body roll as well

[dwm]

I think a 10MM coupled with an extra 10mm of tire width (255 vs. 245) would really help fill out the arches a bit. Coupe's suspension is stock, but will be replaced sooner or later with either Bilstien Sports (keeping the stock springs) or lowered a bit on an as-yet-to-be-decided set of springs and shocks.

But you did bring up an interesting point -- hubcentricity. I remember from a year and a half ago when I was looking into suspensions for my first car, an E30 325i, many people stressed the importance of getting hubcentric parts. I would have thought that the Coupe is a new enough/expensive enough to mod vehicle that hubcentric spacers would be all manufacturers make for it. Is this not the case?

That is the case, but the roadstars have a chamfered inside edge. With a 5mm spacer, I don't think the roadstars will center before the lugbolts are in, because 5mm spacers don't usually have an extension of the hub center (would have to be too thin). But Turner has caps that look like they might solve this problem w/ 5mm spacers. That's why I asked if Randy is using them; I haven't seen them in person or heard from anyone using them.

10mm and above is a non-issue on this front. There might even be some 8mm out there that aren't an issue on this front.

[TeamM3]

Dinan and maybe others sell a spacer kit (or at least they used to) that will maintain the hubcentric feature using OE wheels with the thinner spacer plates

[///MDex]

I want to give the Coupe a little more agressive look, and I've always thought the wheels were tucked too far into the body.

Is anyone running spacers on their stock Roadstars? I'm going to be putting 255's in the rear and 235's in the front, for what that's worth. A 5mm or 10mm would be enough for me...
I run those sizes Ben, and JMHO, but the extra beef will do plenty for your 'look' desire. No spacers needed. I can take some rearward pics if you'd like.

[Ben Carufel]

Yeah, that'd be much appreciated!

After staring at the Coupe today, I'm thinking maybe just spacers in the front.

[///MDex]

Yeah, that'd be much appreciated!

After staring at the Coupe today, I'm thinking maybe just spacers in the front.
I got some pictures taken, but will get them uploaded in a few hours to another machine.

After looking at my fronts, I don't even think you'll need them there. One thing to keep in mind while looking at my pictures though - I'm running the H&R Sport Springs.

[///MDex]