New Wheels D-Force LTW5 17x9

Date: July

So I FINALLY got my 17x9 LTW5s mounted after a long wait from UUC. Back story is that I ordered these on 11/24/2010 for 15% and free shipping from UUC. They didn't show up until 5 months later 04/24/2011. Long story short Rob from UUC didn't take any responsibility for selling something that was delayed so horribly. I ended up calling D-Force directly and they drop shipped me the first set that they had come in stock. UUC sucks but D-Force is a good company. I will never order from UUC again.

A little information about these wheels. They come in a good variety of sizes with a bolt pattern and offset specific to BMW. These 17x9 have a +41mm offset great for a square setup on the e36. The weight alone of one rim is 16.6lbs! I didn't have a chance to weigh the rim alone by itself but here is an image from Vorshlag.

I couldn't find a lighter 17x9 on the market that looked decent for less than $250. Some say they look like the 5zigen FN01RC. And well, they do. Here is a comparison of them side by side, again, stolen from Vorshlag. The 5zigen are 3 lbs heavier though.

Anyway, I was able to weigh the wheels I was running against the mounted LTW5. I was running the Style 197 18x8,18x8.5 OEM BMW e92 wheels with Bridgestone run flat tires. Which means about double the rubber and a huge 18. The overall weight of the tire and rim of the Style 197 came out to a whopping 51lbs 9oz!

Style 197 18x8 Bridgestone RFT  225/40/18

I put the LTW5 with 245/40/17 Nitto INVOs I had from my DSI's on the scale and the weight was about 9 pounds less.

D-Force LTW5 17x9 Nitto INVO 245/40/17

That's 9 lbs per side x4 = 45lbs all taken out from rotational mass. HUGE difference. I also weighed the lugs against the spacer and studs.

Stock OEM Lugs

Stock lugs were about 12oz.

BBS Lugs TMS Nuts UUC 12mm Spacer

5 BBS 92mm studs, 5 Turner lug nuts and 1 12mm UUC spacer came out to almost 2 lbs. About 1lb 2 oz difference from the OE Studs. So add 1 lb to the mix. 

First things first was to install the studs on the front hubs. To run the 17x9 in the front you need a 12mm to clear the strut housing. Having a 12mm spacer mean you need longer studs. I picked up BBS brand long 92mm studs used from a dude in Arcadia. I put some red Loctite on the ends and torqued them down to around 18-22ft-lbs. Various sources quoted the torque value was anyway from 15-25 so I just went with something in the middle. Anything above 18 felt like a little much.

The ends of the studs are built to accept a 5.5mm allen hex key. A 5mm hex key will not really work and will round them out. I learned that quickly as I tried to torque them down. To be able to use a torque wrench I invoked the double nut method.

Here we are with the spacer installed. (I'm not a huge fan of the UUC spacer, but it'll work for the mean time.)

And here are some of the finished product.

Impressions are that the car feels actually drivable again! So much freed up power, braking, turn-in. Everything feels better. It's nice to have my car back. The 18s were nice baller street rims, but did nothing for the performance of the car. I can say, style wise, they are definitely track wheels and not exactly the most original thing out there, but I am more concerned with function and the best look I can get after first satisfying that function at the moment. 

Easier said = form follows function.