New pads and brakes installed – Alloys don't clear calipers, advice needed

[solaris10]

So I got myself a set of Hawk HPS pads and new rotors to replace my worn stock items. After an annoying issue (mainly the thread of the torx head screw that holds the rotor in place wearing out!) I finally got the old rotors off and put my new rotors and Hawk pads in. So when it came round to putting my alloys back on I found the callipers were not clearing the alloys!! My current setup on the front is BBS LM 19x8.5 ET45 + 10mm spacers so ET35. I then tried to put my stock alloys back on without the spacer and they fit fine and the spokes clear the callipers no issues. Stock alloys ET43.
Has anybody else come across this? Will a 25mm spacer be overkill? what size spacer do you recommend I use ?

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm57/ybachetta/a4/47e67cd6.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm57/ybachetta/a4/8dcafe07-1.jpg

[mr shickadance]

umm 25 spacer would be overkill imo, the ending offset would be et 20, which is a pretty higha mount of poke,

im a bit confused by your post, from what i gathered your stockers at et 43 fit and clear the calipers and rotors, but the bbs lm's at et 35 do not clear the calipers?

if thats correct then its kind of normal, the design of the bbs lm has caused clearance issues in the past with our cars but typically the authentic bbs lm's fit and it was the replica wheels that have had issues, most people get aorund it by adding like a 5 mm spacer....since you already have a 10 in there try a 15mm spacer the ending offset would be 30 which is not too bad and it should take care of your clearance problems

i am currently waiting on a set of bbs lm reps (linea corse lemans) with an offset of 35 and will be adding a 5 mm spacer to clear it


other solutions is to keep everything the way it is and grind down the caliper until it works.....obviously you are hindering the integrity of the brakes but people have done it before and been fine....if you grind, be sure to paint over the grinded portion as the unprotected metal will rust.....very fast like paint it as soon as your done grinding

[Sharkfin]

How is this even possible, you didn't change brake sizes right?

[martin0079]

I have lm reps 8.5 et35 and 5mm spacers fit good so I would say your best bet is to go with 15mm that will make your et45 a et30 like mine. What you have to remember is that the offset is the distance from the center of the rim to the back side of the hub on the rim. The stock rims are 7.5 and your lms are 8.5 so it has a different cennter point from the stock rims plus the face of the lms is kind of flat. I plan to get rid of my reps because the fronts stick out too much

[Homer]

How is this even possible, you didn't change brake sizes right?

He most likely installed the new wheels with worn pads in the calipers. The caliper moves AWAY from the face of the wheel as the pads wear.

[Homer]

Also, what rotors are those? My zimmermanns came precoated.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qkvPjMJ5Ulw/TdM9s9IY93I/AAAAAAAAFNU/ByU9u1YULBc/s800/photo-30.JPG

[your daddy]

get needed spacers

[solaris10]

Thanks for they replies, i'm going to order 20mm spacers and see how it works out.

[Quattro]

what I would do is slightly grind your calipers a bit so you can get smaller spacers. When i installed my old hre wheels, i needed to shave down the calipers slightly + spacers to make it work...I would say 3mm is not dangerous for you to shave (only where the wheels hit).

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

20mm seems a bit much. I would suggest something like a 10mm or 12mm. Depending on how low you are 20mm might work but you could have rubbing issues.

Jason

[felondnb]

20mm seems a bit much. I would suggest something like a 10mm or 12mm. Depending on how low you are 20mm might work but you could have rubbing issues.

Jason

I used to have ET45 LM reps all round using ECS 17.5mm spacers - that was the smallest sized spacer I could use for those and it was pretty tight. It depends on the caliper though, of course.

More recently, I bought some staggered LM reps and the fronts were ET35 which still didn't clear the brakes, so I used 10mm spacers as I wanted the centre bore collar. However, 5mm or so would probably have done the job.

If you have the 2.0T, the calipers are very big... also, it depends on the design of the wheel as to how much clearance you will have.

Hope that helps?! [:)]

[solaris10]

20mm spacers arrived today , installed and calipers cleared! off set on the front is now ET25. Thanks for your advice chaps.