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BMW bolt pattern fits on F-Bodies?

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Old 06-17-2002, 08:45 PM
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Talking BMW bolt pattern fits on F-Bodies?

I'm in a massive wheel hunt for my car, and some guy e-mailed me with a set of BMW wheels. He said that the BMW bolt pattern is only 1/10 of an inch smaller than the GM, but that he ahs run his BMW wheels on his Camaro before without any problems. Has anyone else ever heard anything like this????


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Old 06-18-2002, 07:50 PM
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A co-worker of mine put BMW rims on his '93 S-10, so...

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Old 06-18-2002, 11:20 PM
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BMW = 5 x 120mm

Camaro = 5 x 4.75" or 116.375mm real close. bend studs tightening down.

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Old 06-19-2002, 01:43 AM
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There is someone over seas who has a set of 18's off a BMW on his third gen. I don't know how he did it but man, they looked awsome
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Old 06-19-2002, 08:00 AM
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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by mrr23:
BMW = 5 x 120mm

Camaro = 5 x 4.75" or 116.375mm real close. bend studs tightening down.

</font>
I really think I'd rather elongate the holes in the wheels before I even attempted to install them. Bending the studs isn't smart, nor is it safe. Slotting the wheels and using flat nuts with washers instead of acorn nuts is probably the safest way to approach this.


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Old 06-19-2002, 04:09 PM
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nor is grinding out the holes that's how you get vibrations that won't go away. mainly high speed vibrations
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Old 06-19-2002, 04:35 PM
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Where did you find the conversion table for the standard tometric conversion for the bolt pattern? 3/4" should be .750, shouldn't it?

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1 of 200 built in 1986, and 1 of 44 known to be in existence. Sold that one, found the 45th, UNREGISTERED 86 SS Aerocoupe. So, now, 1 of 45 known.

1987 Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe, 355/380hp, project car/playtoy!!
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Old 06-19-2002, 07:51 PM
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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by mrr23:
BMW = 5 x 120mm

Camaro = 5 x 4.75" or 116.375mm real close. bend studs tightening down.

</font>
Dude, you math is wrong! 1" (inch) = 25.4MM, so 4.75" would be 120.65MM, conversely 120MM would be 4.72". The difference would be equivalent to three business cards thickness.

G22luvr: 3/4" is .750", just one is a fractional representation, the other is decimal.

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Old 06-19-2002, 08:35 PM
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If you really want to split hairs there is 0.02559" difference or about 25 and 1/2 thousands of an inch difference. If I were a betting man, the manufacturing tolerances between the two wheels could exceed that in some spots. I'd bet the BMW wheels would slip right on and the stock acorn lug nuts tighten right up..... If this was the case, it would be waaaaaaaay more desireable than bending the studs or egging the holes.
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Old 06-20-2002, 07:16 AM
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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 1989gta:
nor is grinding out the holes that's how you get vibrations that won't go away. mainly high speed vibrations</font>
Grinding the holes is still the safer way to go (although I'd just find wheels that fit better). Bending the studs is just asking for trouble, but as long as you grind the holes relatively uniformally, the balance won't be off that much, and considering how close to the center of the wheel the weight imbalance would be, wheel weights on the edge of the rim would be more than capable of making up the few gram difference here or there.

I do suppose that if the wheel wasn't hub-centric, then it would be necessary to have a machinist with a milling machine do it to ensure that the holes are all elongated accurately with respect to the center of the wheel. I never thought about non hub-centric wheels, which may well be the case with the BMW wheels.



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