If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
recently posted this up somewhere else and thought it would be good to have here too - a good explanation of why you should be buying these adapters:
OEM 5-lug style 5's are the most popular example of a wide range of stock BMW (and other manufacturers') wheels that people like to run on 4-lug e30s.
as i see it, there are several factors that must be taken into account when considering a modification like running 5-lug wheels on a 4-lug car:
1) what are the available options?
- full 5-lug suspension swap, redrill or adapters
2) are you planning on driving the car on the track or the street?
- i would not recommend adapters or a redrill for track applications
3) what is your budget?
- if we're talking about running a set of wheels for purely aesthetic purposes on a street car, only two of these options make sense from a budget/effort standpoint, and that would be a redrill or adapters.
4) which option will fit the best?
- let's say you were hell bent on a 5-lug swap. unless you're planning on purchasing a $1,500+ e30 m3 setup, a hacked together e36/z3/whatever setup is going to totally bugger the geometry (especially the front castor) those german engineers worked so hard to perfect. an e36/etc 5-lug swap also widens the track significantly, so your 5-lug wheels now bolt up directly, but fit the same way as they would with $400 adapters - except you spent way more money and effort to get there. also, if you want to change wheels it's much harder to reverse a 5-lug swap.
- fill and drill will allow you to retain the stock offsets, but you'll need to buy spacers to get the wheels to sit properly in the fenders - there's another $200+ on top of the $300+ you spent on the redrill...if you can find a place who will touch that project.
- we've sold quite a few sets of 18mm 4x100 > 5x120 adapters to e30 guys running style 5s and other 5-lug wheels - there are a bunch of pics and reviews in this thread...people are realizing the degree to which this 4-to-5-lug design has opened up their wheel options.
- if you've ever seen a 4x100 redrilled style 5 wheel, you'll know that to do that they must machine into the centerbore of the wheels. i personally wouldn't want to run those on my car, and it's the same reason many machinists will refuse to do the work. i know there are people out there who have run redrilled wheels safely, but if there's a price-competitive option that's more readily available and less of a safety gamble, i'd go that route, personally.
- a considerable amount of time was put into the research and development of this product line, and the result is a 4-to-5 lug adapter design that is revolutionary. i've been using adapters in some form or another for about 8 years now, and these are the best i've ever seen.
- from the modular hubcentric rings, to the use of studs (which makes installs much easier) and the design of the kidney-shaped adapter plate, which means no moving parts (compared to all other 4-to-5-lug adapter designs) - these are by far the best designed/built and safest adapters on the market, and the best choice if you want to quickly/easily/cheaply/safely run 5-lug wheels on your 4-lug car.
This off topic a little bit, but I've followed the thread and I like to run BMW wheels on my Volvos. Can you make an adapter that is 5x108(hub) to 5x120(wheel) in a 15mm thickness?
here's 42 draft's response when i passed your issue onto them:
"We verified that those were the correct lugs, they should not have rounded out like that. You may need to use a deeper socket to get the entire lug nut head in the socket. The socket might have been bottoming out on the stud on the adapter so it could only grab onto half of the head or so which could cause it to weaken and round. With the entire head of the nut in the socket it will not round though."
sorry, just saw this now. this is not the case. i can send in some of the nuts to show what i experienced. ran into a couple guys today that also purchased these with the same issue.
the depth of socket is less an issue than the depth of lug nut. the beveled sides make for a very limited actual grabbing surface, regardless of socket selection. the material of the nuts seems to be too soft to cope and gives under tension.
Comment