IND Distribution has been dedicated to the BMW M car since the company’s inception, and through nearly a decade of commitment have done everything possible to learn the secrets of BMW M to a science. We have explored every aspect of BMW’s marvelously engineered machines, and work tirelessly to ensure that our client base is always at the forefront of available information.
Today, we are proud to announce that in cooperation with BBS North America and Falken Tire we have made the first critical steps to understanding the M3/M4’s wheel well packaging, and in turn the available space we can use to install wider wheels and tires.
While IND specializes in custom tailoring widths and offsets specifically to the client, this document will provide some good basic guidelines for what we've found works, and what does not. IND will work directly with BBS to develop custom width and offset wheels for the M3 and M4 in the near future, so please keep in mind that what you see here were existing applications and installed on the F80 for testing purposes only.
For those who have not been introduced to the BBS brand, please have a look at our photo tour of both the main German BBS manufacturing facility, as well as the more elusive tour of the German headquarters of BBS Motorsport:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=917761
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=914945
BBS has been responsible for creating some of the best road and racing wheels in the world, and have contributed more to the modern racing wheel than any other wheel manufacturer. We can think of no better company to partner with, for this or any other project.
With all of this said, we are happy to present our findings to the M3/M4 community!
Late last night, one of the first F80 M3s in our area rumbled its way into our warehouse for the first ever test fit of performance wheels on this chassis. After several hours of measuring wheel well clearance, damper position, and the shape and packaging of the car’s brake system, we were finally ready to move on to the good stuff- actually test fitting wheels!
A few basic cliff notes are in order, before we get into the details of our findings:
- Please keep in mind that IND custom tailors each set of wheels we sell to each client we have, and that the information below should serve only as basic guide lines.
- We're happy to say that the OE brakes easily clear 18", 19", and of course 20" wheels. This car should accept a wide range of wheels and tires both for the track and the street!
- We're also happy to announce that this car can easily accept very wide wheels! Thus far we've focused on 9.5" wide front wheels, and 10.5" wide rear wheels.
- We've found that a 9.5" wide front wheel with a +27 offset, and a 10.5" wide rear wheel with a +35 offset will be very flush fitment on the F80 chassis, giving the car an aggressive stance for a good basic setup.
- We've also determined that a 275/30/19 front tire and 295/30/19 rear tire are a small 2% smaller in rolling diameter than the tires originally provided by BMW, and are a great fit and sizing combination for both appearance and performance.
The M3, with IND's custom painted engine cover.
Installing our Macht Schnell stud conversion kit.
Measuring maximum caliper diameter.
Our test subjects for the night.
The BBS RE wheels, mounted on our client's F80 M3. These were a good fit in front when spaced to a +27 offset, and just a touch too flush in the rear, at a +30 offset.
Wheel fitment close ups of the BBS RE wheels. You can see that the 9.5" wide wheel works perfectly with a +27 offset, but the 10.5" wide wheel should be just a touch higher offset for a great fit.
The BBS FI wheels. At a 9.5" front width with a +26 offset, the front FI fit nearly perfectly. The 10.5" +28 rear wheel was too aggressive.
Front brake clearance shots of the 19" BBS CH-R wheels. Plenty of space!
Front and rear brake clearance shot of the 18" BBS FI wheels, again showing available space.
We will continue to update this thread as we learn more about these amazing new machines. All of us at IND are absolutely thrilled to begin to study, analyze, and develop the M3 and M4 to their fullest potential.