need help interpreting numbers on rims

E28 technical advice asked and given! Troubleshooting, modifications and more.
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doug
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Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Pacific Grove, CA

Post by doug »

What does '73x16 H2 IS20 31/04' mean? Clearly they are 16" wheels. Is '73' the hub hole size, meaning it should fit an e28's 72.5mm hub? Does 'IS20' mean 20mm offset?
Velocewest
Posts: 1558
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: UK

Post by Velocewest »

[QUOTE="dotrp"]What does '73x16 H2 IS20 31/04' mean? Clearly they are 16" wheels. Is '73' the hub hole size, meaning it should fit an e28's 72.5mm hub? Does 'IS20' mean 20mm offset?[/QUOTE]

Look closer. I'll bet you it says '7Jx16' , meaning it's 7 inches bead to bead inside of the rim, and 16 inch mounting diameter, with a 'J' shaped bead flange (common). The 'IS20' is the offset, so 20mm. The 31/04 might be day and year of manufacture.

The dimensional measurements of wheels are relative to where the tire mounts, not the overall dimension including the bead flange.



[Edit by Velocewest on [TIME]1109354747[/TIME]]
doug
Posts: 1371
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Pacific Grove, CA

Post by doug »

Look closer. I'll bet you it says '7Jx16'
Thanks. I'm sure you're right about that. I didn't read them myself, got them from the person I'm thinking of buying them from.
The dimensional measurements of wheels are relative to where the tire mounts, not the overall dimension including the bead flange.
Not sure what you mean by that. A related question though: do spacers increase or decrease the offset? In other words, does positive offset mean the wheel moves out or in?
doug
Posts: 1371
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Pacific Grove, CA

Post by doug »

This may be useful info for somebody. The wheels in question were totally confusing me. Couldn't get them to fit on my e28. Turns out the current owner made an attempt to mount them on a e39 and ended up beating the crap out of the hub bore ... so now it won't fit anything. Think I may try to buy them cheap and try to fix it/them.
Velocewest
Posts: 1558
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: UK

Post by Velocewest »

What I was trying to say about dimensions through the haze of this fricken' cold is -- the measurements cast on the rim are not the overall dimensions, they represent the tire mounting dimensions. If you measure a 7x16" rim, the distance from outer lip to outer lip will be like 8 inches wide and 16.75 inches diameter. I'm not sure why I felt the need to explain that, possibly it is a result of the hallucinations brought on by Sudafed abuse.

BMW wheels have positive offset -- that is to say, the mounting surface is offset towards the outside of the rim from the centerline. So spacers will move the mounting surface back toward the centerline, reducing the positive offset.

Check out Tirerack.com's tech section, they have a very good article on offset with nice diagrams and such.
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