Fikse Wheel Fitments

["Carl Buckland" <buckland@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I remember hearing something from Fikse that you should go with either
> 8" or 9", but that their 8.5" rims were not a good application (due to
> the way they assemble and balance the half-rims) for the E36.
> 
> Carl?


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As we all know, Fikse is making premium wheels available to
E36 cars, for a little while longer, at the ultra-competitive price 
of $495 each.  There are other wheels to consider, but it is hard to 
beat the value of this $800 wheel at this price.  In my opinion, 
there is no other wheel offered in this price range that even comes 
close.  The Forgeline and Speedline are priced similarly, but are not 
quite as nice. The HRE is just as nice, but are $800/per or more.  

I spent quite some time with Jim Fikse this afternoon on the topic 
of fitment, and came up with some guidelines.  All of this applies to 
the E36 M3, and indirectly to the other e36's (which have less 
flairing, and different alignment perameters).

1  The first question is, what do you want to accomplish with your
wheels, and how far are you willing to modify your stock car?

2  If you want to stick with your stock tires (assuming 225/40 front, 
245/40 rear), the only way to go *with Fikes'*  is 8" front, and 9" 
rear. If you have a '95, and want to stick with 235/40's all around,
go with 8" all around. 

It is for the stock/street driver that Fikse designed their 9 rear, 8 
front setup.  It is not perfect, but close, and allows for the use of 
the OE tires.

A 9" rim is perfect for a 245/40. A 245/40 tire is really too big for 
an 8" rim.

An 8" rim is in the (high, but correct) range  for a 225, and perfect 
for a 235/40.  the OE rims on a '95, 7.5", are really on the small 
size for a 235/40, even though they came that way.

3 If you want to go to the track, or otherwise increase all four tire 
sizes to 245's,  you have two options:
     3a  go with 8.5", 37.5mm offset on all four corners;
     3b  go to 9", 44mm offset at all four corners.

There is NO truth to the rumor that there is "something wrong" with
the 8.5 fitment.  It just isn't Fikse's best recommendation.  The 
problem is, 9" all around requires some mods. More on that later.

8.5" all around, with 245/40 tires, provides the advantage of easy
rotation, and a more balanced front/rear geometry.  I have huge 
disstate for the idea of smaller tires on the front, and think that 
BMW did it because of corporate pressures for EVEN MORE understeer.
"Keep the dweebs on the road," and all that.

The (smaller) downside to 8.5" all around is that 8.5" is on the 
(ever so) slightly small size of the ideal width for the average 
245/40.  It is certainly ok (hell, many of us used 8" rims for 
255's!), but the ideal width rim for a 245 is 9".  

Even with 8.5" rims, 37.5mm offset, you will probably need to do a 
little bit of rear fender lip rolling, but what's a little hammer 
between friends?

9" rims all around is the best, but definitely requires body mods and
alignment mods.  For 9" rims (with 44mm offsets), mounted with 245's, 
to work in the rear, you need a lot of negative camber,  you will 
need to flare your fenders,  and you'll have to take a hammer to your 
muffler.  In the front, you need a ton of negative camber, spacers, 
and small spring perches (read: coilovers).

Conclusion:  Get rid of your OE 225's (too small to start with), and 
mount 245's all around (or at least replace your 225's with 235's). 
Go with either 8.5's all around, or 9" all around.  It is just a 
matter of how much you want to modify. 

If you want to stay with 235's all around, go with the 8" rims front 
and rear.

One more point:  if you are going to use your wheels on the track, be 
sure to spend the extra $50 and at least have the centers annodized.  
makes for easy cleaning.

I don't have time for complex questions, so please just take this for 
what it's worth.  Trust me, I have spent a lot of time on this issue.

Carl Buckland

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