How I got the front clearance on my E36 without rolling...

[Okin]

For the front *ONLY*


Not as a DIY, so please don't trash the thread. This is in a response to something I get asked alot:

I need to meet you in person and have you explain/show me the whole adjusting the nose panel thing for more clearance. Me and ****** contemplated how to do this but couldn't come up with any idea as how to lol.

Well, you're in luck kiddo. My family has a few E36's and when something goes wrong..... you know the rest.

Goliath is a family members E36 M 4 door. Not satisfied with rubbing noises.... Yes, I told him to go with 18's.... his answer- Your car or mine? So... I just took the keys and walked away





Got it up in the air, on jackstands and pulled off the liners to expose the bumper slides and bracketry for the fender/filler and bumper guide. Now, I've done nearly everyone in my family (9 and counting) and still find it easy to do either the filler/fender or bumper 1st. I do the bumper, then I get the fender to line up. Easy for me, because I don't go extreme with it. For the finicky, go with the filler and fender first.


I loosened these 2 bolts to the bumper guide:





and slid the bracket out a little and tightened it while maintaining the line between the bumper and filler.







Your bumper should look like this:




Next is the filler if you chose to do it 2nd.

look up and you'll see this 8mm and 2 more that hold the fender here:






Yep... you guessed it. Loosen the 2 bolts for the fender 1st, lightly pull, then tighten. Do the same for the filler (the 1 screw circled in red), lightly pull and hold fender, then tighten. Here's a pic of the filler screw adjusted and tightened:






Put everything back the way you found it. Gave it a lock to lock check while down on the ground before heading out and Happens all the time.





I have quite a few more pictures if need be, but unfortunately they're all from an itouch.

[SeanDub]

So you gained all of what, a couple mm of clearance?

And you're saying this is your substitute for rolling fenders?

[motocaddy]

I've done this on my wife's VW with good success. I even added a few washers and used longer bolts to space the fender out more.

I would suggest doing this in addition to rolling, not as an alternative, though.

[SeanDub]

I would suggest doing this in addition to rolling, not as an alternative, though.

I could see that being beneficial for extremely aggressive wheels.

[Ollie]

So you gained all of what, a couple mm of clearance?

And you're saying this is your substitute for rolling fenders?

Well there's really not much to roll on the front fenders.

[skrapez]

Well there's really not much to roll on the front fenders.

truth

[Okin]

The Arctic Silver is lovingly called Goliath, as my cousins name is Davey. He doesn't like to have people work on it. I'd pick it up, do a couple little things and send the car back, so it would stay parked on a trickle charger in a garage. He's put about 6-7k on it in 2 years. I drive it more than he does, and I barely have driven it. It has a lot done to it from suspension mods, to Intake/catback exhaust, software upgrade, a UUC suspension bits like lower front sway bar, links front and rear strutbars- to Alcantra Vaders.... ( yumm...) carbon moldings, lips etc for aesthetics, and problem that I was asked to repair and achieved success:






and the car w/staggered 19x8.5 front and 19x10 rear which was waiting for this to happen so it could be dropped more in the front: IBT drop that isht!

So you gained all of what, a couple mm of clearance?

And you're saying this is your substitute for rolling fenders?

Yes to part 1, no to part 2. I put E36 in there, as that's what I own and was the only method I used for the fronts on my Boston Green E36.




I didn't even remove the liner completely on mine. I just removed about 8-10" top center and this method and was able to keep water from everywhere. This is and was in no means, a DIY. Sorry for the confusion.






And......

Well there's really not much to roll on the front fenders.

Yes. And I kno you might remember.... even spacers are needed on these cars for some fitment and a drop. Most might need a 5mm or so of distance from the strut, this would buy them back 6-8mm. If you want to lock or close this, or If you want to delete it forever, no harm/no foul. If you want to repost as a DIY, fine too.
and I'll send you detailed pics to clarify some more.

[_Cooze_]

Is it just me or does it look like there is a caster problem going on?? It's a funny angle, but this:





Looks much worse than this:



I understand the wheels are different sizes, but in that first pic, the caster looks out of spec..

[vgrntbeauxner]

this thread is full of que?