[dancing__narwhal]

I just installed wheel spacers for the first time on my e90 328i. Afterwards I noticed the handling felt slightly jittery on the freeway, especially over rough roads.

Is this to be expected with the wider track? Anything I should be concerned about?

I'm on stock suspension and wheels. Spacers are 10mm front and 15mm rear. I did check the lugs after the first 25 miles and everything was tight. I also rotated the tires at the same time if that makes any difference.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

You shouldn't feel any difference. The rotation likely made the biggest difference. More tread makes your car feel like that.

[n55jb4]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

I just installed wheel spacers for the first time on my e90 328i. Afterwards I noticed the handling felt slightly jittery on the freeway, especially over rough roads.

Is this to be expected with the wider track? Anything I should be concerned about?

I'm on stock suspension and wheels. Spacers are 10mm front and 15mm rear. I did check the lugs after the first 25 miles and everything was tight. I also rotated the tires at the same time if that makes any difference.

I have 10mm front and 20mm rear and a staggered setup on top of that. What this track widening essentially does is makes your car more stable on higher speeds by wider track and by increasing under-steer a bit. It's strange to hear that it made it jittery on highway. Mine is pre lci tho, not sure if lci will feel and response same way to spacers as Lci already has wider track. Is your suspension in good condition (shocks)?

[Needbmwpartzz]

I would guess you have some worn suspension bits....shocks going out or bushings shot.
Check then report back!

[chenry]

not normal - I'm running 10/15 on my 2011 LCI E90 and its smooth as can be - same holds true for my 2016 435 GC. On both my cars I went with hub-centric spacers and longer bolts.

Perhaps you're not running hub-centric? If you are, then it's time to dig a bit deeper into the situation

Good luck!

[dancing__narwhal]

Car only had 47k miles on it... should I really be concerned about the suspension at this stage? What would I look for if it was going bad?

Tire rotation might make sense. Rears were pretty worn and fronts were like new. Now the fronts are the worn ones and I swapped left and right as well so presumably that threw things off a bit. I did it myself so no tire balance or alignment has been done.

Honestly it's not really a bad feeling, I was just surprised as it seemed like slight movement of the steering wheel would cause the car to move around more than it did before. This is a new car for me so maybe i just didn't notice before.

[avocet]

added scrub radius will increase kickback and steering stiffness... the combination might be making you feel like it is more twitchy until you are used to it.

[6ixSpd]

No tire balancing and no alignment, and worn tires.

And you're still wondering why it's acting up?

[BSM n54iS]

Yea as long as you didn't make a mistake switching the bolts for the 10 & 15mm spacers when you rotated the wheels and have hub centric spacers. You need at least to rebalance the tires after rotating.

[mike-y]

have you checked your tire pressures recently?

[dancing__narwhal]

My spacers are hub-centric. Renn Motorsport with extended lugs.

To be clear, the car feels fine 98% of the time. It's mainly when I hit a large rough patch in the freeway (LA roads are horrendous) that the car seems to "walk" to the left or right a bit. It's not terrible and as long as I'm paying attention everything is fine. It just surprised me as this is otherwise a very stabile and planted car compared to my last car (mk6 GTI).

I can't imagine that alignment has much to do with it since it is smooth and straight under normal conditions. I'll get an alignment and balance soon as well.

Anyway, I'm not too concerned about it. Mostly was just curious if others had noticed twitchier handling with spacers.

[asquared]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

Car only had 47k miles on it... should I really be concerned about the suspension at this stage? What would I look for if it was going bad?

Tire rotation might make sense. Rears were pretty worn and fronts were like new. Now the fronts are the worn ones and I swapped left and right as well so presumably that threw things off a bit. I did it myself so no tire balance or alignment has been done.

Honestly it's not really a bad feeling, I was just surprised as it seemed like slight movement of the steering wheel would cause the car to move around more than it did before. This is a new car for me so maybe i just didn't notice before.

Wait...were you running a square setup to rotate the front and rear?

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by asquared

Wait...were you running a square setup to rotate the front and rear?

Yes running stock 17x8 style 285s

[Dabrwright]

Sounds like tire related.
Had the same problem with worn run-flats. Car moved around on rough roads similar to 'tramlining'

[Antetokounmpo]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

My spacers are hub-centric. Renn Motorsport with extended lugs.

To be clear, the car feels fine 98% of the time. It's mainly when I hit a large rough patch in the freeway (LA roads are horrendous) that the car seems to "walk" to the left or right a bit. It's not terrible and as long as I'm paying attention everything is fine. It just surprised me as this is otherwise a very stabile and planted car compared to my last car (mk6 GTI).

I can't imagine that alignment has much to do with it since it is smooth and straight under normal conditions. I'll get an alignment and balance soon as well.

Anyway, I'm not too concerned about it. Mostly was just curious if others had noticed twitchier handling with spacers.

I'll never understand why you Californians say this. I drove around LA for a week a year ago and thought the roads were immaculate compared to ours. I cant go 10 minutes without hitting my bumpstops.

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by Dabrwright

Sounds like tire related.
Had the same problem with worn run-flats. Car moved around on rough roads similar to 'tramlining'

Thanks this is helpful. The worn tires were in back before and are on the front now so that would explain why it jostles the wheel.

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by Harambe

I'll never understand why you Californians say this. I drove around LA for a week a year ago and thought the roads were immaculate compared to ours. I cant go 10 minutes without hitting my bumpstops.

Really depends where you are. LA is a large area. Some roads are great, others pretty rough. Also depends on your frame of reference. I don't live in LA but every time I drive through (which I did 4 times this weekend) I'm struck by how rough the roads are.

[Antetokounmpo]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

Really depends where you are. LA is a large area. Some roads are great, others pretty rough. Also depends on your frame of reference. I don't live in LA but every time I drive through (which I did 4 times this weekend) I'm struck by how rough the roads are.

I drove pretty much all over from Malibu (near el matador beach) to Long beach and everywhere in between. Besides the large dips in some intersections for drainage (mostly near the airport it seemed) I thought they were like glass compared to ours here.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

I just installed wheel spacers for the first time on my e90 328i. Afterwards I noticed the handling felt slightly jittery on the freeway, especially over rough roads.

Is this to be expected with the wider track? Anything I should be concerned about?

I'm on stock suspension and wheels. Spacers are 10mm front and 15mm rear. I did check the lugs after the first 25 miles and everything was tight. I also rotated the tires at the same time if that makes any difference.

Im running 5 mm and 10 mm and change wheels frequently
If i dont tighten the wheel nuts evenly I get vibration in the wheels, especially cruising on the highway
Remove the wheels, make sure hub is clean (free of dirt or rust) behind the spacer, make sure the spacer is pressed up against the hub, then put on the wheels and do up the nuts. I tighten them in a star pattern, finger tight first, then using the wheel brace then finally using a torque wrench to 120
Should be nice and smooth

[rsyed07]

If its good 98% of the time and its only on the freeway I suspect its the road you are driving on. I know certain inner city highways have grooves or ridges on certain stretches of the highway. I've felt that feeling before because the tires fall into the ridge make the car jitter slightly like its on rails.

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by Socket

I tighten them in a star pattern, finger tight first, then using the wheel brace

I did this. Pretty confident they are installed correctly. I don't feel any vibration.

[n55jb4]

Ditch those RFTs and you ride will get MUCH better both control and comfort wise. No BMW (unless it's a armor plated versions) should come off the line with RFTs - they ruin ride