# Um, afraid I did something really stupid . . .



## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

I was looking for rims and tires for my 95 E36 m3 and I saw that these were a good price with only 2 minutes left for the auction, so I put in a bid. Only after I won the auction did it dawn on me that those rims look like E46 M3 rims.  I know that the E46 has a highly different offset. What are the offsets for front and rear on the E46, and can I make these work with spacers, and if so what size should I get? Basically, can I make these fit or should I try to find a way to gracefully bow out of my winning bid . . .


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## LmtdSlip (May 28, 2003)

Cant say about fitment but you entered into a contract with the seller. So you are obligated to see it through. Worst case is you resell them and take a hit on the shipping.

You could offer to cover the sellers listing & final value fees and a little something for the effort for him to consider letting you off the hook.


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## rwg (May 10, 2002)

Ask in the Tirerack forum. Gary will know.


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## scottn2retro (Mar 20, 2002)

I have seen e46 M3 FRONT rims all the way around on an e36 before, but I don't think the back wheels will fit. Maybe try to sell the rears and find a pair of fronts. Or try to re-sell the whole set as is.


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## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

well, I would really like to make the set fit. anyone know the offset for the rear of an E46?


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## scottn2retro (Mar 20, 2002)

300ZXNA said:


> well, I would really like to make the set fit. anyone know the offset for the rear of an E46?


I'm sure the guys on the e46 M3 forum know it off the top of their heads.


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## rwg (May 10, 2002)

rwg said:


> Ask in the Tirerack forum. Gary will know.


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## bren (Jul 1, 2002)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the E36 offset is 47 front and rear. The E46M3 is 47 front and 25 rear. I don't think you will get the rears on your car without a good bit of fender stretching.....spacers will only make matters worse. 

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If the seller won't let you back out then you can re-sell them as you got them for a decent price


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## scottn2retro (Mar 20, 2002)

bren said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the E36 offset is 47 front and rear. The E46M3 is 47 front and 25 rear. I don't think you will get the rears on your car without a good bit of fender stretching.....spacers will only make matters worse.
> 
> I wouldn't worry about it too much. If the seller won't let you back out then you can re-sell them as you got them for a decent price


I think the OEM offset for e36 M3 is 41mm.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

Those offsets need to be tied to a wheel width to be meaningful.

In any case, E46M3 rears won't fit on a E36Me unless the rear suspension is jacked way up or the fenders cut out and some sort of widebody kit installed.


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## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

well, I may not be buying them after all. In his auction he did not state what shipping was, but I got an email from him and he wants $250 to :yikes: ship them from Houston to Idaho!! I told him there is no way I am paying that much for S&H. If he doesn't come down, I am not sending him payment for those.


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

Not really. Since offset is related to the center of the wheel it stays pretty constant.

E46 M3 47mm front, 26 mm rear.

E36 like 40mm or so. So the rears will be like running 15mm spacers.

Also are they actually E46 M3 wheels, or replicas? The replicas are nromally in sets of 4 with the same approximately 40m offset.

And if they are real E46 M3 wheels, and you got them for a good enough price, I can always use another set of wheels.


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## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

well, I will sell them to you if they won't work at all. And according to the auction, these are real OEM wheels, not replicas. However, let me work on that shipping amount. I am not paying $250 to ship those. I just paid $132 to ship a set of rims to Toronto from Idaho, and that price included packaging . . . I think he was upset that he didn't get a good price and is trying to recoup some of the money he expected to make.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

Pinecone said:


> Not really. Since offset is related to the center of the wheel it stays pretty constant.


No, this is exactly why it doesn't stay constant (I'm assuming you're responding to my comment re: different wheel widths).

Since what we're looking for is fitment within a space, you need to know where the inside and outside of the wheel sit relative to the rest of the car. Since the offset is measured from the centerline of the wheel, given we have 2 wheels with the same offset but different widths, the wider one's inner and outer edges will stick out further than the narrow one equally on both sides.


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## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

well, since these are said to be OEM BMW E46 M3 wheels, they should be 18 x 8.5 right? how does that effect things . . .


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

300ZXNA said:


> well, since these are said to be OEM BMW E46 M3 wheels, they should be 18 x 8.5 right? how does that effect things . . .


Because if they're actually a full set of fronts and rears, as scottn2retro said, they're different.

18x8ET47 F 18x9ET26R


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## 300ZXNA (Mar 22, 2004)

well, again for the money question: can I make these fit with spacers, or am I fooked? I just took 265/35/18's off of the rear and there was no rubbing (wheels were 18 x 8.5 with 40 mm offset), so I tend to think that the 255/40/18 would fit if I can use a spacer to get the rim out away from the brakes. It seems as though a 15mm spacer should solve this, right? Someone help me out here . . .


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

No, a spacer will make the wheel stick further AWAY from the car. You seem to know that already. The problem here is that the rear 18x9 is ALREADY far away from the car (less offset) You would in theory need an 'anti-spacer' which obviously can't exist.


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## Nick325xiT 5spd (Dec 24, 2001)

you've got your offset directions reversed. it's moving closer to the fender.


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## Plaz (Dec 19, 2001)

This sounds like a job for the DeBigulator™.


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