Installing Wheel Studs

/in , /by

When I ordered the square set of Bimmerworld TA5R wheels for use when taking my M2 to the track, I also ordered a 73mm premium wheel stud kit to make changing the wheels a bit easier. The studs mount into the wheels where you would normal thread the lug nuts. The advantage at the track is the studs hold the wheel in place while you tighten down the nuts. This is very helpful when you are working on your car by yourself in the paddock.

Here are the tools I needed for installing the wheel studs:

  1. Adjustable Wrench
  2. Toque Wrench
  3. 17mm Deep Socket
  4. 22mm Deep Socket
  5. Brake Cleaner
  6. Wire brush
  7. Compressed Air

I have never done this before so like most things, I looked for a YouTube video to help guide me through this for the first time. I found a great video by AutoPilot that shows how to install the studs.

Here are a few tips for installing wheel studs:

  1. When I removed the OEM wheels, I sprayed the lug nut holes with brake cleaner and while that soaked in, I took the opportunity to wash each wheel.
  2. The video recommends a wire brush to clean the treads. I went into my gun cleaning kit and found a wire barrel brush that would go all the way into the treads and back out to get them good and clean.
  3. I then blew out each tread with compressed air and while they dried out I removed the next wheel.
  4. The loctite that is on the studs will give you a false sense of tightness when handing tightening each stud. After I got the studs as tight as I could by hand I put on the two nuts and tightened those together. Then used the torque wrench on the outside nut to finish threading the stud until the nut slipped a bit. Then I used the double nut technique to torque the stud to the 75ft/lbs recommended by Bimmerworld.
  5. Be careful reversing the double nut as it is easy to loosen the stud that you just torqued down.

Being new to this, I am always impressed with myself when I put the car back on the ground, go for a test drive and everything still works!

TPMS Sucks

/in , /by

At my first track weekend, I learned the hard way that the Tire Pressure Monitoring System in my M2 sucks.

I started the day at the recommended PSI in my OEM tires and by the end of my first session I was getting a warning from my car about the pressure being too high. This was a minor distraction while on the track as is any warning your car throws at you while driving hard.

For the next session, I reduced the pressure before heading out on the track and things went from bad to worse. Now I was getting the low pressure warning which also forced the car back into comfort mode, not something you want when mid-corner on a race track!

Why a M car doesn’t have a track mode that disables all the electronic nanny’s is beyond me. BMW does let you reset the TPMS system pretty easily:

After a reset you can get the car back into sport or sport+ mode, but if you haven’t built up enough pressure by the end of the reset it will put you back into “limp mode.” Or if you keep the pressure up enough not to throw a warning for low pressure then you will get the high pressure warning by the end of a session.

The sweet spot for starting PSI is a moving target as altitude, track temperature and driving conditions all impact how much pressure builds up during a session. I decided I didn’t want to deal with this again for my next track weekend so I had the TPMS coded out of my car.

For a couple hundred dollars I got Code My Car to remove the TPMS feature from my BMW M2 and code in a few other features that I couldn’t do myself with BimmerCode. One of the upgrades I got coded in while removing the TPMS was the European programming for the traction control system. This makes Sport & Sport+ modes a bit more aggressive than the US version.

I am looking forward to my next track session and not having to fight the TPMS warnings all weekend.

Square Wheel Setup For The Track

/in , /by

I got what I consider high praise from my instructor during my first track weekend. He said,

I could already drive my M2 better than the OEM tires and brakes could handle.

He recommended I upgrade my tires and brake pads before my next HPDE event in June. I jumped on some of the forums to research wheels and tires. I started to seriously consider several of the APEX wheels that are made to fit the BMW M2. Most of the 18″ APEX wheels where on backorder and I wasn’t confident they would arrive in time for me to get tires fitted on the wheels before June.

As I dug deeper, I found the Bimmerworld TA5R wheels that got great reviews, were flow formed so they are strong and light weight and would fit my M2 without spacers. My salesperson, John Webb, was a big help in making sure I got what I needed for a square setup while maximizing the tire contact surface.

I settled in on a set of TA5R 18″x9.5″ wheels in black. John recommended a set of wheel studs to make swapping my wheels at the track easier and faster. He also recommended a 255/35/18 tire to make sure the wheels and tires would fit in my wheel wells without rolling the fenders.

Why Go Square?

I won’t pretend to know enough about driving dynamics to explain how having tires that are the same width will impact the performance of the car. From what I have read in the forms this will balance out the grip as the staggered setup tends to break loose in the front when pushing hard. The big appeal to me in having all 4 wheels and tires being the same was to improve tire wear and ultimately keep my costs down. By going down from 19″ wheels to 18″ wheels I can open up the selection of tires that will fit inside my wheel wells and using the same width on all 4 corners means I can rotate the tires to get the maximum life out of each set.

Now on to find a set of tires for my new wheels…