[squidlyboy]

I'm getting ready to pick up a BMS 12mm spacer from Burger Tuning/Motorsports for my 328i fronts. My concern is that when i measured my front OEM hub lip last night, it was 13mm (see pic). They say that F30 fronts can take any size of spacer and that this 12mm one will fit BMW F30 fronts fine, but i thought i read somewhere (can't find the reference now), that the hub lip still needs to be under 9.5mm-10mm in length for the spacer to work. I also heard that all F30's will have hub lips that are in in this exact range (9.5mm-10mm). Can someone confirm these two things?

So.. i'm left to wonder, do i just have a one-off lip that is different/longer than most other F30 owners? And if so, will this BMS spacer work for me, or will it leave a gap, making it useless? Has anyone else measured their front lip? And did you have problems with spacers that was promised to work with your F30?

I need to know because Jason (spacer expert) from Burger says that all sales are final on spacers (liability issue), even if they end up not fitting your car. Great. Way to stand by your product and your claim that this spacer is compatible with the F30. I can't get a refund if the spacer ends up leaving a gap.

The other thing is that everyone says the F30 rears have an issues with 10mm spacers, as they are not deep enough to clear the lip of an F30. Well... i measured my rear hub lip last night as well, and found that it also is exactly 13mm. So if my front and rear hub lips are exactly the same, won't the fronts and rears have the exact same issue? I keep hearing that only the rears are the problem and that the fronts can take anything. But thats only true if the rear lip is longer than the front lip. Anyone else do measurements on their hub lips to see what their lip length differences are between front and rear?

[G30 B58]

You ever get this resolved?

[squidlyboy]

Yah... sort of

The reason i posted was because Burger Tuning was giving me some bs about not having the clearance information on that spacer. I'm like wtf... i wanna buy your spacer, my hub lip is longer than expected, will it clear? He goes, "I don't have that information. Sorry". And the worst part is that since they don't take refunds for spacers (for any reasons), if the spacer doesn't clear my lip, i'm out $100.

Dude, like really? i told him, if i can take 30mins to jack up my car, take off my wheels, to measure the hub lip, surely you can take 30secs to slip the spacer out of the box, and caliper the lip recess... that's like a wheel salesman saying, sorry, i don't give out offset information, but it should fit on your F30, but btw, if it doesn't, no refunds. WTF.

Finally Terry Burger himself got involved and re-iterated that clearance info is something they don't normally have / give out, but that they would do it this time for me.

To make a long story short, he measured it, it turned out the lip recess was 12.08mm (which wouldn't fit), so i decided to go with another spacer.

BTW... whoever is propagating this myth that F30 front's can take any size spacer should stop saying that. I woulda had to shave down my lip in order to get it to fit.

F30 front lips will NOT take ANY size spacer. They suffer from the same issue as the rears. The proper way to do it is to measure your hub lip, give that information to the vendor, and ask them to provide info on the lip clearance on their hubcentric spacer you are interested in, and have them verify the spacer you want has the proper clearance.

[tboooe]

WOW! I guess I am super lucky because I just bought Burger spacers without measuring the hub lip on my F36. I wonder if this only applies to F30? I cant speak to Burger customer service but I must say their spacers are top notch! I've purchased ECS and H&R in the past but the quality and finish of their spacers are superior. Another nice touch are their lugs. The black is a satin finish and very consistent and smooth. Most people dont care but OCD nerds like me appreciate this attention to detail.

Anyway, so what spacer did you end up going with?

[squidlyboy]

yah, i really wanted to get their spacer - looked like a quality part.

To be fair to them, i think i got the "business" from them because they thought i was one of those types people who was asking upfront about their refund policy because i was gonna try a bunch of spacers out to see what looks best. They probably didn't want to deal with me, because they thought i was "that guy". Honestly, i did my research, and i know down to the mm what i want/need. I just really wanted to know if it was going to clear.

I don't think their no-refund policy is totally a liability issue. I mean, its just a solid chunk of metal. I can see if ppl drive around with it for thousands of miles before returning it, but just popping it in to see if it clears? I think they probably had a lot of returns in the past when people didn't like the way they looked ("its still not flush" ... "the wheels stick out too much"), that they got tired of having to take back all these parts on people's whims.

I just ended up getting some generic brand off Amazon.

[lbovill]

I find this very interesting. I purchased mine from BMS and they did fit perfectly, but I think I was operating under the assumption that the tolerances on manufacturing a part like this must be pretty precise and therefore they should only really have to measure twice and cut once and the rest of us can reap the reward.

If I were not so lazy I would pop my car up, pull the spacer off and measure to see for myself.

I guess I can say good thing it worked out perfectly for me. I would have been torn up otherwise.

[squidlyboy]

Jason wrote back and said the 12.08mm clearance was mistakenly measured from a 10mm spacer, but that the 12mm spacer had a clearance of 13.43mm. So it woulda cleared. I told him i had already bought another spacer :-(

So the 12mm one woulda fit, but not the 10mm one. In any case, the front's still won't take ANY spacer, and its best to measure hub lip and verify with vendor first.

There's a lot of factors involved here. My hub lips are both 13mm. From everything i read, most people's F30 fronts are like 11m-12mm, and only the rears are 13mm. I guess manufacturing tolerances are not as precise as you think they should be ...

But the other thing is that BMW reserves the right to tweak parts/tolerances from production build to production build if they think somehow a change is necessary for safety, reliability, robustness, ...

[USC2000]

This is good information to know. I'll definetly measure the hub lip before ordering. If they are 13mm then I can get the 12mm spacers for the rear as 15mm seemed just a bit too aggresive.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by USC2000

This is good information to know. I'll definetly measure the hub lip before ordering. If they are 13mm then I can get the 12mm spacers for the rear as 15mm seemed just a bit too aggresive.

I have the 12mm in the rear and at stock height they are very close to flush with my Pirelli run flats. They are a bit more recessed than the front with 10mm which are perfectly flush. I am totally conservative and would rather have the wheels recessed a bit than poking past the fender. When I drop the car on coils the 12mm will rotate to the front and 15mm in the rear should be perfect.

[f30luxline]

During my spacer shopping I determined my hub lips on all for are 15mm, measuring with calipers. Most likely the same hubs with the measurement of 13mm.

Luckily I only needed 5mm for my application.

[Jchan112]

Originally Posted by f30luxline

During my spacer shopping I determined my hub lips on all for are 15mm, measuring with calipers. Most likely the same hubs with the measurement of 13mm.

Luckily I only needed 5mm for my application.

I have a set of h&r 5mm spacers with lugs if your interested.

[f30luxline]

Originally Posted by Jchan112

I have a set of h&r 5mm spacers with lugs if your interested.

Already purchased some, thanks!

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by Jchan112

I have a set of h&r 5mm spacers with lugs if your interested.

I'm consider some 5mm's for the rears. How much?

[Jchan112]

$75 shipped. PM me, lmk! Thanks!

[f30luxline]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

I'm consider some 5mm's for the rears. How much?

Originally Posted by Jchan112

$75 shipped. PM me, lmk! Thanks!

I'm not meaning to bust your sale but thought I would add my opinion on spacers.

I ordered these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had been researching spacers daily for about a month before I made my purchase. Although H&R is a great brand and produces great quality product you have to really evaluate what you are buying here. 5mm spacer are a completely flat piece of material with a few holes milled into it, very simplistic. I had even priced out what the cost would have been for me to fabricate my own. It came down to being able to make all 4 spacers for about $55 (i have access to mills) but then I would have had to by lug bolts.

If I were needing anything bigger than 5mm (or anything with a step) I would have definitely chosen a name brand.

The amazon spacers as seen also come with the lug bolts. I have had these installed since Nov 1 and haven't noticed any issues. Hub-centric hole fit snug and all holes aligned as they should. The only downside I could point out is the finish quality of the lug bolts. Definitely a cheaper coating on them. I'm a little skeptical on how long they will hold up.

[squidlyboy]

Yah, thats exactly what i was thinking too... its essentially just a big washer :-)
dang.. thats a good price, and it includes the extended lugs too. Just a couple of questions

1. From the pic, it looks like the inside hole of this 5mm spacer is beveled / chamfered. Is that an optical illusion or is there really an angled cut? If so, what is the purpose of that? Seems like it would compromise the integrity of the spacer? I've not seen a spacer with that kind of cut inside the hole before.

2. Have you noticed any rust building up on the lugs?

I might end up getting this one... Thanks for the reference!

[f30luxline]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Yah, thats exactly what i was thinking too... its essentially just a big washer :-)
dang.. thats a good price, and it includes the extended lugs too. Just a couple of questions

1. From the pic, it looks like the inside hole of this 5mm spacer is beveled / chamfered. Is that an optical illusion or is there really an angled cut? If so, what is the purpose of that? Seems like it would compromise the integrity of the spacer? I've not seen a spacer with that kind of cut inside the hole before.

Not sure why they beveled the edge. I installed the non beveled edge against my wheels. The hub is still supporting the wheel so the integrity isn't compromised. I get "0" vibration from 0-115mph.

2. Have you noticed any rust building up on the lugs?

No rust in 3 months

I might end up getting this one... Thanks for the reference!

[squidlyboy]

nice! ... just ordered a pair

[squidlyboy]

Actually, i think i know now why they bevel the edge I had heard conflicting stories about putting anti-seize on the spacer and was trying to figure out - should i or shouldn't i ? i guess the right answer is: put it on the hub lip, but don't put it on the hub face

Anyways... here's the before and after shots of 12mm spacers in front and 5mm spacers in the rears. My specs:

Before:
F: 19x8.5 +35et -> wheel gap: 11.5mm
R: 19x9.5 +40et -> wheel gap: 3.5mm

After:
F: 19x8.5 +23et (effective offset w/ 12mm spacer)
R: 19x9.5 +35et (effective offset w/ 5mm spacer)

True Flush

[f30luxline]

Looks good! What's your synopsis of the Amazon spacers?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by f30luxline

Looks good! What's your synopsis of the Amazon spacers?

I love 'em! Seems like a high quality part, very precisely milled and the price is spot on for essentially what is a chunk of metal. Felt very solid and robust. And for half the cost of what H&R, BMS, and other equivalent spacers on the market go for, you can't beat it.

I was expecting worse as far as the lugs go, but the coating seems to be pretty decent quality as well. I was wanting to make sure there was little possibility for rusting, and that appears to be taken care of.

I test drove last night and no vibrations. The fitment was perfect around the hub lip, no gaps (flat against the hub/rotor face). I just slathered some anti-seize around everything that touched the hub lip and spacer lip - good to go. And with the beveled edge, taking it out/off will NOT be a 5 hour ordeal as some have experienced (due to rust). I really didn't even need to put anti-seize around the hub lip as there is almost no spacer contact with it (tiny beveled edge) - now i understand ;-)

Thanks again for butting into my pending sale ... You rock dude!

[tboooe]

Yeah I think for the thinner spacers, these generic ones work just fine. As mentioned they are just washers. For thicker ones where being hub centric matters more, I would only go with reputable ones.

Curious why you think you need anti-seize in AZ? I've never used it in Socal and have not had any issues removing the spacers. BTW, the Burger ones come with a little notch in the spacers that lets you fit a flat headed screw driver in between the spacer and hub, making removal easier.