What do you think about the esm 001 in black 16's ? I know the 17 looks sick but I prefer 16 for daily driver purposes.

Anyone have pics of black 16"?

 

ESM-001 16x8 +35.



Idk what 16 has to do with daily driving over the 17.. but to each their own. 16s are too small looking to me on the R56.

 

16 would have a little more meat on the tires, reducing the wear and tear on the suspension (and driver)

Btw I have an R53, but the pic above really helps. I bet it would look better dropped a little bit.

 

Would look a lot better lowered. All minis look better lowered, stock height is not my style. I guess 16 go better on the r53 since they have smaller wheel wells, but i dont think 16vs 17s provide any sort of different in ride, or such. I run on a good tire and its a 40 series and I would say it rides 10 times better than my 45 series RTFs. lol.

 

So i finally can join this thread as I pulled the trigger on some 8" wide wheels. But as I was getting the mounted and balanced, the shop took the liberty to putting them on my car... Even though I was excited to get them on (they're the first set of aftermarket wheels I've ever bought), I was sure that my suspension set up was a little low for the width and offset.
Here are the specs:

Wheel: 16x8 all four (BBS knockoffs)
Offset: +20
Tire: 215/40/16

As soon as I got in the car, I could just hear the rubbing on the back tires. The fronts, surprisingly, don't rub as much as I thought they would. I wanted to just tell the shop to take them back off, but I was flattered that they were taking pics for their website and had to be somewhere. Anyway, I drove home the whole way listening to the sounds of LOW. The only time i couldn't hear the rubbing was when I reached 50+ and my car lifted up due to the air underneath. So I got home and saw this awesome new protective coating on the shoulders of my brand new tires.

Basically, the tires melted the plastic fender to the part that was rubbing.

I know the fenders are plastic, but has anyone heard of anyone rolling/pulling the metal behind it. I would like to stay at the height...

 

I'm glad I didn't get et20 now lol.

 

You live and you learn...

(from the mistakes of others )

 

MINIng,

That's a lot what my tires looked like too before I rolled my fenders. (the metal part of the fenders at least. Basically, jack the car up, take the wheels off, and pound the metal towards the sky like there's no tomorrow. If it rubbed enough, it will have bent the metal so it is laying flat against itself. There is a little metal ledge (hard to explain without pictures) and it might be laying flat. You need to get something flat and get it under this metal, and once it parts a little, you can pound of flat again. Really hard to explain without pictures, but I can show you pictures of my fenders and how they look "rolled" so it can give you a better idea.

 

That would be awesome RedAndBlack!

 

...not a mistake, the setup you have is done on plenty of other MINIs, once trimmed up in the right spots...should be fine.

would love to see some more pics of the setup...you have em' posted in another thread somewhere?
J

 

i was trying to hide it until i got it all dolled up , but since you asked nicely i'll give you a preview.


Notice all the trimming on the floor

currently looking for black lug bolts with a lock and key... if any advice

 

nice,^^ still looking forward to see more shots...that's just teasing

are your original (black) lug bolts just tarnished and faded then? ..you can either order new OEM ones, ...or get some of those black plastic covers, I've got some...they aren't bad looking, but kinda gloss black, ..don't know of any place to get the black locking bolt though.

 

MINIng : Need more pics, I have a set 16x8 et26. I was wondering if 215's would fit.
Did the rubbing stop once you trimmed the arches? I really don't want to stretch 195's/205's unless I have to. I'm thinking the extra 6cm I have may just help given I have fixed camber plate on front and Adjustable Lower Control Arms (ALCA) on the rear.

 

Did you adjust camber? I would highest suggest it.

 

^^yep, adjust camber.

..also, that lil' bit of trimming...gonna need more than that, ..wheels off..then dremel tool, plyers..etc..

 

I don't know what you mean about original black lug bolts. If there are OEM black bolts, I will buy them. Its a 2006 r53. I bought it used with only one owner at 26k miles. It came with the standard boring looking bolts. I really just want something I can use with my tire iron and not a ratchet.

I just went to town on cleaning it, washed, clayed, polished and waxed, so I should put some nice pics up this weekend if the weather is still good...

What kind of pics are you looking for? wheel well?
My guess is that your setup would definitely work. I may have to trim the arches a bit more, but that one ride home did a lot of the work for me already and the rubbing has definitely decreased. Its just the average to larger bumps that cause the back tires to rub. Nothing major.
My guess with a 26et you're looking for a more flush look, which is defintely attainable. In retrospect, I would have gone that route, but I like the style and price of the wheels too much. Also, I think et is measure in millimeters and not centimeters.

I just got an alignment and don't want to burn through these new tires. But I will be going to town on those fenders very soon.

 

You are right, don't know what I was thinking?

 

hey guys, just wondering if anyone knew the max high offset the r53 could take on a 18" wheel?

basically looking to fit a 18x9.5 +35 wheel. outer poke looks good but I'm concerned about the inner clearance. obviously I can add a spacer but then I'm just adding to the already substantial poke.

 

Let me say first I highly doubt you will have success fitting an 18x9.5.

That said, there is no simple answer. The rear depends on whether you have steel or aluminum trailing arms. Front is dependent on your strut assembly but you won't fit an 18x9.5 in the front anyway.

The most extreme "successful" fitment I have seen yet was 17x9.75 et25 on the rear, that left about 5mm inner clearance with aluminum trailing arms. This was on a R53 originally with steel arms, that the owner said he replaced to gain clearance.

The extra diameter of the wheel will gain you a few extra mm clearance on the aluminum trailing arms but even still its likely you would need a small spacer.

 

^thanks for the insight. I have megan coils and megan rear lca's.
I've seen 9 wide with et25 wheels poke nice...
so if I add a 5mm spacer to the 9.5 et35 I would have 2mm less inner clearence then the 9.75 et25 and 1mm more of poke then the 9 et25.

so should be tight but manageable.

the front might be a different story though..

 

..the OEM lug bolts are...well kinda dull-ish charcoal black, then the elements degrades them with time.

the use of the tire iron vs a ratchet pretty much comes down to how much clearance your aftermarket wheels have around the holes, ...they vary. I have a set of aftermarkets that I can use the tire iron...and another set...not even close.

 

I don't know what wheels those are, but dude your car looks SICK!!!! From the rims all the way to the blacked out chrome trim

 

yeah, i've been having trouble finding them myself. i bet they don't exist in the style that i like, i.e. black that i can use with my tire iron. so i might have to buy them from wmw.

here are some of the pics that i took. nothing special and wasn't able to get out to my spot so...
baby got back!

 

^^..looks good. I really like how concave those wheels appear, they also give the illusion of being larger than 16"...maybe because of the car low like that.

..nice n' wide looking from the rear!

 

My 06 had the same stock bolts as yours, a goldish color with the dimpled head. I did buy a new set of extended oem ones from Turner though that were black to work with my 5mm spacers. So I guess depending on the year/wheel combo the car came with you got either black or the gold?

Anyways, I'm just waiting to get my 17x8's, will hopefully be ordering a set of 1552's in the next few days since I just got my bonus at work

In the meantime, here's a couple I shot of my friend Ashley's R53 on Vette Salad Shooters, 16x8.5 all around:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xstartxtodayx/7310674720/http://www.flickr.com/photos/xstartxtodayx/7310674720/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/xstartxtodayx/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xstartxtodayx/7303482312/http://www.flickr.com/photos/xstartxtodayx/7303482312/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/xstartxtodayx/, on Flickr