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[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I have a 335is lowered on H&R sport springs with the 19 inch wheels with 265/30 tires in the rear. I really want to fit a 12mm spacer or at least 10mm, it looks to tucked in and in all my testing I rub to much for it to be acceptable despite being seemingly OK when measured. It's mainly on the right side though and I'm worried if maybe my car has had bad bodywork done due to an accident. The right side is repainted and wasn't on the Carfax... I had previous 335is with Avant Garde M359 which has similar offset but was 19x10 instead of 19x9 like IS wheels and I could even fit a 10mm with not much rubbing. With no spacers my car does not rub at all.

Is something wrong with my current car? Is anyone else with similar setup on LCI E92 and not rubbing? Do I really need to roll my fenders? I thought most people could run this set up like that from what I read.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Here are pictures of where it rubs inside. Not even sure if fender rolling would be enough?

Passenger side:



Driver side:

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

So this weekend I think I'm just going to cut out the small metal part of my fender on the passenger side where paint is all rubbed off.. Based on the imgaes... it's really the only problematic spot. Driver side just touches fender liner which isn't an issue IMO.

There must be something wrong with the bodywork or post accident repair of my rear passenger side.

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

So this weekend I think I'm just going to cut out the small metal part of my fender on the passenger side where paint is all rubbed off.. Based on the imgaes... it's really the only problematic spot. Driver side just touches fender liner which isn't an issue IMO.

There must be something wrong with the bodywork or post accident repair of my rear passenger side.

It's rare that you'll rub 100% evenly on both sides. It could be due to bad body work, but subframes move around on the stock bushings, alignment settings could be a tad off side to side, etc. I wouldn't sweat it too much unless the paintwork is noticeable and it looks like they did a poor job. Have you checked your alignment recently?

Shaving them isn't a bad idea and should take care of the issue but make sure to seal it VERY well especially living in Canada or you WILL get rust. You need a 2k epoxy primer or cosmoline or something. Regular spray paint will not cut it and you'll get bubbling.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

It's rare that you'll rub 100% evenly on both sides. It could be due to bad body work, but subframes move around on the stock bushings, alignment settings could be a tad off side to side, etc. I wouldn't sweat it too much unless the paintwork is noticeable and it looks like they did a poor job. Have you checked your alignment recently?

Shaving them isn't a bad idea and should take care of the issue but make sure to seal it VERY well especially living in Canada or you WILL get rust. You need a 2k epoxy primer or cosmoline or something. Regular spray paint will not cut it and you'll get bubbling.

Tbh the paint job they did is not great at all. I already have 1 or 2 ever so slightly small bubbles on the fender from the outside. You can see in the pic the under fender is also chipping a bit. I can feel the paint lines near the trunk they didn't mask nicely. When I installed my dash cam and run the wire to the rear, I couldn't even remove the passenger side rear trim... it's like they used glue to stick it on, I'm afraid I might have something bad on that side but oh well... the car is in my possession now and don't have much history so just living/ignoring with it. Don't want to open a can of worms so to say and dig deeper

Ok so alignment wise, I'm glad you bring that up. I just got my alignment spec sheet today from when I did it in October (after installing the springs) because I wanted to see if maybe alignment was my issue. At the time they told me that they could not adjust the toe bolt in rear because it is seized, thought that might be why I was rubbing but as you can see they were talking about the driver side rear toe not passenger. They said it was close enough to spec to not cause to much wear anyways. This brings me to my follow up question though, since they couldn't adjust toe they didn't touch camber much on that side and you can see it's more than right, maybe it's that added camber that clears my left side and if I did the same on right, it could solve it? But idk if .7 degrees makes a significant difference



Yeah that to... was worried it might rust even worse. My plan was just to use some touch up lol. Or maybe some tremclad would be a good idea. And over that, I could use some Fluidfilm yearly or every X months.

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Tbh the paint job they did is not great at all. I already have 1 or 2 ever so slightly small bubbles on the fender from the outside. You can see in the pic the under fender is also chipping a bit. I can feel the paint lines near the trunk they didn't mask nicely. When I installed my dash cam and run the wire to the rear, I couldn't even remove the passenger side rear trim... it's like they used glue to stick it on, I'm afraid I might have something bad on that side but oh well... the car is in my possession now and don't have much history so just living/ignoring with it. Don't want to open a can of worms so to say and dig deeper

Ok so alignment wise, I'm glad you bring that up. I just got my alignment spec sheet today from when I did it in October (after installing the springs) because I wanted to see if maybe alignment was my issue. At the time they told me that they could not adjust the toe bolt in rear because it is seized, thought that might be why I was rubbing but as you can see they were talking about the driver side rear toe not passenger. They said it was close enough to spec to not cause to much wear anyways. This brings me to my follow up question though, since they couldn't adjust toe they didn't touch camber much on that side and you can see it's more than right, maybe it's that added camber that clears my left side and if I did the same on right, it could solve it? But idk if .7 degrees makes a significant difference



Yeah that to... was worried it might rust even worse. My plan was just to use some touch up lol. Or maybe some tremclad would be a good idea. And over that, I could use some Fluidfilm yearly or every X months.

If the right side isn't seized, increasing the camber to match the left side should get you where you need to be. Fluid film is great but washes off easily. Cosmoline is what the military coats their jeeps, guns, tanks with and it lasts basically forever. I'd do this or Eastwood 2k epoxy primer, or both. That should get you sealed about as good as factory if you do go the shaving route. With bad bodywork, even rolling the fenders will crack the paint so may as well just shave at that point. Good luck!

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

If the right side isn't seized, increasing the camber to match the left side should get you where you need to be. Fluid film is great but washes off easily. Cosmoline is what the military coats their jeeps, guns, tanks with and it lasts basically forever. I'd do this or Eastwood 2k epoxy primer, or both. That should get you sealed about as good as factory if you do go the shaving route. With bad bodywork, even rolling the fenders will crack the paint so may as well just shave at that point. Good luck!

Alright here's my game plan then, I'll try and see if they can just align my rear end for half price or cheaper, well technically... all they have to align is one corner lol. If so I'll start with that and ask them to add more camber. I also played with my rear right toe bolt yesterday to try and make things work but I just ended up screwing up my wheel center alignment lol (didn't mark the original position good enough).

If still rubs after that, I'll cut off the metal fender piece and call it a day. Hoping that camber adjustment just fixes it all though, would be absolutely perfect. I'll compare with the alignment spec of my old car if I can find that to.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Alright so update. The shop was still going to charge full price even just for adjusting my 1 bolt of my toe so I said F that (I'm cheap when I have the chance to lol). I also saw my old alignment specs of my old 335is with no rub issues and camber was at -1.8 both sides so don't think camber would've helped.

Fixed my toe and then went at it with a dremmel. At first all was going well, I cut out most of the rubbing part, I felt good and then went for a drive.... still rubbing. Did more trimming it would still rub. Some roads would rub less than before though but on big dips it did and still as rough (like you know it's rubbing on metal VS fender liner). Did test drive with masking tape to see exactly where it would leave an imprint when rubbing and it seemed like it kept rubbing almost on the bottom flat edge and still near the top where I cut. I didn't want to cut that much where it can start to separate either. I felt pretty defeated and pissed, pulled out the angle grinder with a grinding wheel and figured I could shave like that the slight milimeters I needed but it quickly heated up the paint and I stopped after that. Went for a drive and still rubbed. Before stopping for the day, I figured I'd try my 10mm front spacers thinking it wouldn't really do much of a difference and that fit like a glove. Was not able to get any rubbing at all in my test drives and on the worst wavy roads I had so I think I'll ditch my 12mm rears and use my 10mm on rears and also ditch front spacers alltogether. It stills look better/more aggresive than stock and fills the gap nicely and the front is not already to inside.

[335i54n]

this post got some good pics of the most critical rub spot, yeah you probably have to cut/shave a little of the fender. also thats a lot of rear toe, which doesnt help

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=813032