hartge 16" some wheel advice..be warned

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:39 am

Hi there, ive just fitted a set of 16" hartge h27 type wheels that ive had refurbished, 205 r16 50profile tyres.

anyway,. once fitted there was this revolutionary rubbing type noise... first thought it was the sidewall protector rubbing on the front struts.. put a spacer in.. no change..

eventually after trial and error the problem were bolts that were too long. even the bmw ones i had. wheels i had on before were regular standard 14" bmw mags. the offset of the hartge's are somehow less..

i suppose a factor could also be, during the wheel refurbishing they gave the inside of the hartge's a skim.. so changing the offset slightly from say 20 to 19.5 or 19 or something...

grinding the bolts down 5mm solved the problem.

just thought i'd save someone a headache or two.

ciao
Anton

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:07 am

Offset stamped on mine is ET25 - have you any pictures of yours?

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:43 am

anton wrote: i suppose a factor could also be, during the wheel refurbishing they gave the inside of the hartge's a skim.. so changing the offset slightly from say 20 to 19.5 or 19 or something...

Could be... wouldn't have thought they'd take much off unless you asked them to though

Taking material off the mounting face would increase the offset btw

If spacers didn't solve the problem, but grinding the bolts down 5mm did, I assume you're still using the spacers with the shortened bolts? Or were they really thin spacers that you tried?

& what were the bolts hitting?

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:15 am

ive still got the spacers. either 4mm or 5mm

but ive got dunlop 7000d with thick protector.
with no spacers u could fit maaaaybe 2 business cards thru the clearance..

what did the bolts hit? dunno.. thinking maybe that protective plate that sits behind the hub/caliper assembly...

otherwise shafing inside of hub?? mind you.. ive seen e30 struts OFF THE CAR... and if u look at that protective plate that sits behind the hub it juts out at places.. because the shafing noise wasnt a constant one..kinda sounded like a horse galloping.

ciao
anton

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:41 pm

Anton,

Did the noise use to disappear when say taking a left hand bend. The noise you describe is "exactly" the same that i am having.

My first problem was that the rim was rubbing on the front shock, had to get 15mm hubcentric spacers with 41mm bolts. The rubbing has stopped but now there is a continuos "whoooooooshh" harsh rubbing sound, but when i take a left hand bend it goes and then as soon as i strighten up it returns

I have 18" Kahns, i dont know the offset, but how would i find that out

You think the bolts are causing issues for me?

Saboor

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:53 pm

yep. bolts being too long!! offsets can differ slightly especially if wheels are refurbished. as the inside of the wheel (part that mounts on the hub) gets skimmed on a lathe.

sure only 1-3mm, but its just that little bit than can catch.

when i was at the wheel place today i tookout a original 14" bmw mag (was still in the car from when i swapped over to the hartge's at the mag wheel repair place).

take a original bmw bolt, stick it in the bmw wheel.. see how much thread sticks out on the inside.

now take the same bolt stick it in a loose 18" wheel.. how much thread is sticking out? spot a difference?

it should be no less or no more thread. i woulndt just blindly go grinding bolts down. do ur homework on your specific situation. imho i think 18" is a little big for e30.. u might pickup allsorts of hassles. for one your TOE IN/OUT might have to be adjusted to miss the fenders, to such a degree perhaps that u might even wear your tyres unevenly.

also, let a decent wheel place check your THRUST ANGLE. this is basically how much forward or back the wheel is inside the arch. could be that on a straight line your wheel is rubbing the plastic/rubber fender lining.. but when u turn it misses it.

hope this helps
ciao
Anton