E39 Fitment Dilemma

[static_e39]

Hey guys. New member with a quick question for anyone who has had to do it before:

what wheel specs did you use for your fitment.

right now my car is sitting on BBS Style 42's as a temporary wheel, and ive begun the ordering process for new ones to get better fitment.

so, as we know, the front fenders are naturally wide and are difficult to find wheels that can be flush with the fender. ive calculated from my current 17x8 et40 to a 18x10 et10 that the front will sit perfectly how id like, obtaining an extra 1.99 inches to the outside of the car. good deal.

BUT, with the back i cant seem to get the measurment right.
ive calculated the change from a 17x8 et 40 to a 18x10 et 18 to be correct at 1.72 extra inches protruding to the outside of the car. the math adds up correctly, but visually the front needs much more poke than the back does by over what appears to be an inch (so if the back needed another inch of poke, the front needs 2 - and so on)

im wondering why the math suggests this will work fine, and if i should just make the move and run the risk of having to pull and flare my rears, which i was eventually planning to do. thanks

[willlarney]

I'm running a 11x18 with a 4.5 inch lip. I don't know my backspacing but ET is probably somewhere around +5 to +10. The lip sits about 5mm past the (heavily pulled) fender. Camber is at about -4. E39s EAT lips with no camber adjustment so don't be afraid to go wide/get low et wheels! ...but If you end up going too wide, there is very little options for rear camber adjustment. Just the SPC camber bushings that give you 1.25 degrees of camber both ways and they're only 80 bucks. Then there is some other brand that makes bushings that everyone complains that they go bad within a year, but will apparently go about 4 degrees both ways although they're $300 and some change iirc.

Hope this helps.