Hi Everyone,

My first time on the forum.

Just rolled out of the garage an 1988 M6 that had been sitting for about five years, and after some minor re-furbishment, things are up and running. Since the tires need to be replaced, my mechanic suggested swapping out the rims for something more modern to take advantage of the now far better tires avaialbe. After reading through some threads here, it seems that this is pretty standard procedure.

So, for the vetrans, a couple of clarifications/questions if you don't mind. I saw posted in a couple of places that the E39 wheels work well on the E24, but we need "hubcentric rings." Can someone let me know what these are? (Obviously, I am NOT a mechanic). Second, is this my only option? Finally, what is the best source for finding these late model BMW rims? There are zillion places on line, just wondering if there is a consesus on where to go for this stuff.

Thanks for your help.

Ok, E39 wheels are some of the cheaper, easier to find, and best looking wheels to put on the E24. Like you have found out, hubcentric rings are needed in order for them to fit. Here is why.

The E24 has a hub diameter of 72.x mm. The E39 has a hub diameter of 74.x mm. So there is a difference in the hub diameters of about 2mm. That 2mm is a big enough gap to make the wheels not seat correctly and cause vibrations, premature tire ware, and also premature suspension ware.

this is where the hubcentric rings come in. They are litterally a little metal ring that you put on the hub of your car that adapt the hub to 74.x mm so you can put on E39 wheels. You can get them from tire rack for about 16 dollars for a set of 4 shipped to your house.

There are other options. If you like the period style wheels, you can get wheels from the E31 8 series, which are the same hub size. You can also look at E32 wheels as they are the same size. Rondell is a company that makes nice wheels, and im pretty sure (correct me if im wrong lee or andrew) that they dont need hubcentric rings.

Where to buy? If you dont want to pay shipping, look on craigslist.com, or in the forums like this one or roadfly, bigcoupe, or even mye28.com as the E28 has the same wheel options. eBay is always a place to look for a good deal.

Remember when you are buying to make sure you can find out the offset of the wheel. It will be a measurement notated like: ET20 or ET11. If you can find that number in the ad, post a thread that you found some wheels with the offset stated in the ad and ask to see if it will work for your car.

Hope this helps!

-Jeff

Edit: (I've got to learn to type faster or quit watching golf while typing replies :). A lot of this is redundant, but I'll post it anyway).

"Hubcentric" means that the rim is centered on the hub by tightly fitting over a central spigot or lip on the hub. BMW's have a rim with a 5x120mm bolt pattern and most have a 72.56mm hub centering spigot, but the e39's have a 74.1mm centering spigot so the rim has a bigger hole. To fit these rims to the other models, a thin circular shim or centering ring is used to fill the gap.

Many aftermarket rims are "universal", and also have the larger hole to fit the e39 so are sold with these centering rings to fit all of the other models.

Actually the only thing that prevents you from fitting any other BMW rim is the offset, or "ET" of the rim. The e24 takes an ET of around 20mm as do many other models. Many of the 3-series, however, have an ET of around 40mm which won't work without wheel spacers*.

Here is a site that shows all of the wheels BMW made, click on the picture and it will show you all of the models the wheel came on and in what sizes and offsets (It's in German, but it's mostly pics and numbers): http://felgenkatalog.auto-treff.com/

Here is a Forum about nothing but Rims and Tires for the e24: http://bigcoupe.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4 (http://bigcoupe.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4)

Here is an example of choices: http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r44/ron635/WHEELS.jpg

*Not to be confused with the centering rings, spacers move the rim away from the hub and the larger ones must also have there own centering spigots.

Personally I don't like having to add hubcentric rings. I did this on one car (not a BMW) and never got rid of the shimmy 'till I finally bought OEM wheels.

There are lots of OE and aftermarket wheels available out there, so unless you're wedded to a certain look that's only available in something non-hubcentric or with a large offset, I'd recommend looking for wheels that fit without hubcentric rings or spacers.

I have a bunch of E24 pictures with different wheels on my website's GALLERY:

http://www.wokke.de/GALLERY.htm

Maybe this helps with a decision. Since it is the E24 top model stay away from cheap after market rims :nono

My personal favorite is definitely BBS RS 3-piece split rims. See here:

http://www.wokke.de/GALLERY/69.JPG

Personally I don't like having to add hubcentric rings. I did this on one car (not a BMW) and never got rid of the shimmy 'till I finally bought OEM wheels.

There are lots of OE and aftermarket wheels available out there, so unless you're wedded to a certain look that's only available in something non-hubcentric or with a large offset, I'd recommend looking for wheels that fit without hubcentric rings or spacers.

I can definitely NOT support what you say about hub centric rings. If you get the correct ones there is no reason whatsoever to stay away from them. I've been running various BMW OEM E39 as well as aftermarket rims on my E24, E32 and E34 bimmers with hub centric rings and NEVER had any problems.

Wolf

My car is running E39-bore wheels w/ rings, and I've never had an issue. My impression is that there are more aftermarket wheels avialable in that bore size, though I think BMW "switched back" to the bore size commom to E32 et. al. with the new 5/6 series. Overall, i think the E39 wheels have the best mix of sizes and looks, and I'm careful about non-OEM wheels. Used E39 wheels are also pretty easy to find inexpensively.

Ditto craigslist. Just sold a set of 4 E39 rims (with tires) there.

I can definitely NOT support what you say about hub centric rings. If you get the correct ones there is no reason whatsoever to stay away from them. I've been running various BMW OEM E39 as well as aftermarket rims on my E24, E32 and E34 bimmers with hub centric rings and NEVER had any problems.

Wolf

I realize many have done it with no problem, but I was voicing a personal opinion. People should be careful about hubcentric rings and spacers. There are too many people out there who aren't careful, and then they wonder why they have suspension failures and other problems. This is especially true if the wheels are non-OEM. I'm not suggesting you are one of those people.

I think there are plenty of wheels out there that have hub and offset suitable for an e24, and that I would stick with them unless I saw a set of wheels with different size that I absolutely had to have. I know the e39 wheels are very popular, and I think they look great, but they aren't my bag.

I realize many have done it with no problem, but I was voicing a personal opinion. People should be careful about hubcentric rings and spacers. There are too many people out there who aren't careful, and then they wonder why they have suspension failures and other problems. This is especially true if the wheels are non-OEM. I'm not suggesting you are one of those people.

I think there are plenty of wheels out there that have hub and offset suitable for an e24, and that I would stick with them unless I saw a set of wheels with different size that I absolutely had to have. I know the e39 wheels are very popular, and I think they look great, but they aren't my bag.

I can imagine that here in Germany we have one advantage. ALL rims offered in the German market have to have an approval to be street legal and the tests for such approvals are quite strict (and expensive). This way we do not get the cheap far east stuff which may be of low quality sometimes.

I would get a set made for a E31...same offset and hubs. I especially love the E31 throwing star wheels!

At least get one ex E32/E38/E65...same hub, close offset, and a host of options.

I used to have a set of exE38 wheels on mine. Looked great!