BMW E21 Alloys

[Cti Stu]

Hi All, I'm hopefully getting a E21 316 bmw, anyone know what wheels will fit straight on and what size I can go to?? will E30 alloys go straight on??

[<Type desired username here>]

100mm pcd. Massive choice! VW, E30 BMW.

[427]

Heaps of stuff fits. You can do about 7" wide or more too. My 323i had 6.5 with heaps of space to spare. 14" and 15" look the best i think.

Have some inspiration





Cheers

[bodieanddoyle]

e21's use the massive et18 offset so some e30 rims may foul. et38 vw rims certainly will.
rob0r's your man on this, he also has at least two sets of e21 rims for sale in the FSW section

[rob0r]

Cheers Edd

4 x 100mm pcd is only part of the story. It is notoriously hard to find alloys for E21s that bolt straight on, and if you do they aren't cheap since you'll have people like me fighting to get my hands on them. 13" aren't so much of a problem, and I had a few sets for sale. 13" BBS and "turbines" (also known as alpina style) were OEM or options on the cars and these aren't so bad to get a hold of, I had a set of both for sale, but now I only have the turbines for sale. 13" wheels range from 5.5j to 6J wide with offsets from ET12 and ET18. I sold my 13" BBS for £120, and my turbines are up for £80 as a price guide.

13" BBS


13" Turbines


15" is where it gets tricky. There are a few wheels that bolt straight on due to the neccessary low offset. The plus side is that the rims are naturally dished as a result . There are three main 15" rims available

15" BBS Mahle, my favourite 15" rims. They do come up every now and then, I paid £250 for my very straight set, but they did need a good sanding. Normally staggered 6J fronts and 7J backs, ET13




15" Alpinas, which many consider to be the holy grail of E21 rims. Rarely come up, and when they do they are very expensive. Staggered again, 6Js and 7Js, ET12. I have a mismatch set of three 6j, one 7J


15" MiM 1900, more common and often found on E30s/golfs. I like this style and can be had from £150 (if your lucky) to £300. 7J, ET13. I might know of a set of these for sale.


Personally on a budget, or the situation you can't find any wheels you want, I'd buy a set of 20mm spacers and some E30 15"x7J ET24 BBS, or anything else that takes your fancy. If you're keen on E21s you should join www.bmwe21.net/forum . You can also check the thread below for what the Americans fit to their E21s

forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1149609

Hope that helps!

[Cti Stu]

The car has thoes 13" bbs alloys and also has these 15" ats alloys

[pablo993]

Jan 13, 2009 11:53:43 GMT rob0r said:

Cheers Edd

4 x 100mm pcd is only part of the story. It is notoriously hard to find alloys for E21s that bolt straight on, and if you do they aren't cheap since you'll have people like me fighting to get my hands on them. 13" aren't so much of a problem, and I had a few sets for sale. 13" BBS and "turbines" (also known as alpina style) were OEM or options on the cars and these aren't so bad to get a hold of, I had a set of both for sale, but now I only have the turbines for sale. 13" wheels range from 5.5j to 6J wide with offsets from ET12 and ET18. I sold my 13" BBS for £120, and my turbines are up for £80 as a price guide.

13" BBS


13" Turbines


15" is where it gets tricky. There are a few wheels that bolt straight on due to the neccessary low offset. The plus side is that the rims are naturally dished as a result . There are three main 15" rims available

15" BBS Mahle, my favourite 15" rims. They do come up every now and then, I paid £250 for my very straight set, but they did need a good sanding. Normally staggered 6J fronts and 7J backs, ET13




15" Alpinas, which many consider to be the holy grail of E21 rims. Rarely come up, and when they do they are very expensive. Staggered again, 6Js and 7Js, ET12. I have a mismatch set of three 6j, one 7J


15" MiM 1900, more common and often found on E30s/golfs. I like this style and can be had from £150 (if your lucky) to £300. 7J, ET13. I might know of a set of these for sale.


Personally on a budget, or the situation you can't find any wheels you want, I'd buy a set of 20mm spacers and some E30 15"x7J ET24 BBS, or anything else that takes your fancy. If you're keen on E21s you should join www.bmwe21.net/forum . You can also check the thread below for what the Americans fit to their E21s

forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1149609

Hope that helps!

Hi Rob I found a thread on this forum in relation to e21 alloys but noticed it was back in 2009 so thought I'd message you direct and leave a message


I've just picked up a mint e21 BMW 316 which is currently sitting on standard 13 steel rims and looks as if its setting a bit high in the arches.

So have been trying to get to grips with the sizes and what the offset means?

If I were to stick with 13" am I right in saying they are 6 wide on the front and 6.5 on the rear?

Although I d prefer 15" as they'd fill the arches and could accommodate upgraded disc breaks if I chose to do that mod.

Again is it 6 on the front and 7 on the rear or could I have 6" all round?

Where I get stuck what the 4x100 mean and I'm not sure what I should be looking when it comes to offset?


Any advise would be much appreciated - As the thread states above I'm probably looking to get a set of 15" Alpina turbines if I can find any.
And I assume 15 is about the largest that would fit or is there another more common size.

Any advise would be much appreciated

thanks

[oldspeed]

Factory fitted 13" BBS Mahle on my old E21:




Why oh why did I sell that car?

[welshpug]

the E21 being a low offset compared to most 4x100 isn't a problem at all, just bung some spacers on!

at least you wont have the problem of everything sticking out of the arches were it the other way round!

[pablo993]

Dec 21, 2014 22:39:51 GMT welshpug said:

the E21 being a low offset compared to most 4x100 isn't a problem at all, just bung some spacers on!

at least you wont have the problem of everything sticking out of the arches were it the other way round!

What do you mean low offset? and is the 4x100 in relation to the thread?

Just got an e21 and looking at 15" options

thanks

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

4x100 relates to 4 studs spaced 100mm apart from the centre of the diagonally opposite studs.

Offset is how far out the wheel rim sits compared to the centre where it meets the hub itself.

Low offset as standard means that the very front edge of the wheel sits further away than the centre of the wheel compared to a high offset wheel.

So if the standard wheels are 4x100 ET18 and you fit 4x100 ET38 wheels your wheels would be 20mm further under the arch than standard. So fit 20mm spacers with wheels (either bolt on kind or use longer bolts / studs) and you're sorted. As welshpug says it's a lot easier that way around.

[pablo993]

Dec 21, 2014 23:30:47 GMT fr€$h&m1nt¥ said:

4x100 relates to 4 studs spaced 100mm apart from the centre of the diagonally opposite studs.

Offset is how far out the wheel rim sits compared to the centre where it meets the hub itself.

Low offset as standard means that the very front edge of the wheel sits further away than the centre of the wheel compared to a high offset wheel.

So if the standard wheels are 4x100 ET18 and you fit 4x100 ET38 wheels your wheels would be 20mm further under the arch than standard. So fit 20mm spacers with wheels (either bolt on kind or use longer bolts / studs) and you're sorted. As welshpug says it's a lot easier that way around.

Cheers - Got the 4x100 bit just talking myself through the offset bit, think I'm there or there about.

I know on the e21 that 15" are really the max to fit and have read that you usually would get 6x15 on the front and 7x15 on the rear - from what your saying if I had 4 x 6x15" then I could use spacers on the rear?

The wheels I've been looking at are marked as ET13 - does this mean its 13cm from the front of the wheel to the hub?

thanks for the knowledge

[pablo993]

Dec 21, 2014 23:30:47 GMT fr€$h&m1nt¥ said:

4x100 relates to 4 studs spaced 100mm apart from the centre of the diagonally opposite studs.

Offset is how far out the wheel rim sits compared to the centre where it meets the hub itself.

Low offset as standard means that the very front edge of the wheel sits further away than the centre of the wheel compared to a high offset wheel.

So if the standard wheels are 4x100 ET18 and you fit 4x100 ET38 wheels your wheels would be 20mm further under the arch than standard. So fit 20mm spacers with wheels (either bolt on kind or use longer bolts / studs) and you're sorted. As welshpug says it's a lot easier that way around.

OK - I'm looking at two sets of wheels

both 15" with 6 on the front and 7s on the rear - however one is marked at ET12 and the other at ET13

I'm guessing both would fit and due to being ET12/13 both shouldn't require any spacers etc?

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

The measurement is in mm and it's based on the distance between the mounting part of the wheel and the centre line of the wheel if you cut it in half.

This image explains it better than I can describe...



Ultimately though I ways compare to existing wheels or other wheels that I've seen fitted to see what the difference will be and based on the info about alpina wheels above ...

15" Alpinas, which many consider to be the holy grail of E21 rims. Rarely come up, and when they do they are very expensive. Staggered again, 6Js and 7Js, ET12

... The wheels you've found will fit exactly the same as the Alpina wheels.

The ET13 v ET12 is 1mm so won't be a problem.

Hope this helps

[rob0r]

I'm here if needed! I think everything has been answered, if you need anything else then let me know. Those wheels will fit perfectly, they are also the same fitment as my 15" BBS Mahles pictured above.

Cheers

[pablo993]

Cheers guys
thought it'd be straight forward getting a new set of alloys for the old girl, the current steels are letting her down some what. I guess with the availability of Alpina style 13" I should really consider those and forget the brake upgrade as it'll never be tracked, however cant help but think it would look so much better on a nice set of 15".
I thing anything larger wouldn't suit the car - Let the search commence.

Guess I'll need to start researching brake options.

thanks again

[pablo993]

Dec 22, 2014 7:01:24 GMT fr€$h&m1nt¥ said:

The measurement is in mm and it's based on the distance between the mounting part of the wheel and the centre line of the wheel if you cut it in half.

This image explains it better than I can describe...



Ultimately though I ways compare to existing wheels or other wheels that I've seen fitted to see what the difference will be and based on the info about alpina wheels above ...

15" Alpinas, which many consider to be the holy grail of E21 rims. Rarely come up, and when they do they are very expensive. Staggered again, 6Js and 7Js, ET12

... The wheels you've found will fit exactly the same as the Alpina wheels.

The ET13 v ET12 is 1mm so won't be a problem.

Hope this helps

Now I'm getting there - what does the ET stand for?

Based on the car being an e21 316 what would you suggest the parameters (ET) I need to be looking at in order to stay within the arches?

Thanks

[pablo993]

Dec 22, 2014 9:41:59 GMT rob0r said:

I'm here if needed! I think everything has been answered, if you need anything else then let me know. Those wheels will fit perfectly, they are also the same fitment as my 15" BBS Mahles pictured above.

Cheers

Hi Rob one thing that you maybe able to clear up for me is after reading several threads there's a suggestion that you need 7x17 rather than 6x17 Alpina turbine alloys?

Is there a preferred size or doesn't it matter.

thanks

[pablo993]

Dec 22, 2014 7:01:24 GMT fr€$h&m1nt¥ said:

The measurement is in mm and it's based on the distance between the mounting part of the wheel and the centre line of the wheel if you cut it in half.

This image explains it better than I can describe...



Ultimately though I ways compare to existing wheels or other wheels that I've seen fitted to see what the difference will be and based on the info about alpina wheels above ...

15" Alpinas, which many consider to be the holy grail of E21 rims. Rarely come up, and when they do they are very expensive. Staggered again, 6Js and 7Js, ET12

... The wheels you've found will fit exactly the same as the Alpina wheels.

The ET13 v ET12 is 1mm so won't be a problem.

Hope this helps

Hi one thing that you maybe able to clear up for me is after reading several threads there's a suggestion that you need 7x17 rather than 6x17 Alpina turbine alloys?

Is there a preferred size or doesn't it matter.




thanks

[welshpug]

I doubt you'll find a 17" wheel as narrow as 6", my e34's standard 15" wheels are 7" wide
the 17" ones are 8 and 9"