I just replaced my stock wheels with 17x9 +45 RPF1s. As far as I know, many are running this setup on a Series 2 with no issues, however my front brake callipers barely clear the wheel with a gap of 2-3mm. I drove up and down the street and heard a faint clunking sound. The sound eventually disappeared.

It turns out the wheel weights on the front drivers side are rubbing on the calliper and have sheared off a bit. Is this something to be alarmed about? I could probably get them to rebalance the wheels and place the weights in another location. The calliper does not appear to be damaged.

To anyone else using these wheels in this size, how much clearance do you have and are you experiencing the same issues?

Image of the car - you can see the clearance kindof:

 

Re-balancing and having them put the weight on the inside is probably your best bet.

 

Thanks. I will get that taken care of when I take my car out of hibernation

 

I have some experience for you. I got these 1st - 17x9 house brand and there was not problem with weights.



After using them on street and track - I said "cool", 17x9s are good, so lighter 17x9s are better and I got these:



Nicer lighter prettier. What's not to like? Weights is one thing. The construction is different with the RPF1 having a much higher internal rim tiffening area. You can get around that sortof telling the shop to install weights placed as inside as possible, right up against the spokes. Even still things aren't perfect. Here are nice new weights installed, tucked up against the spokes, and even pounded down to be sure they're flat. The result:



Not so nice. And it's not the weights. It seems to be track rubber / road debris that gets ground into the wheel and the caliper. You can see, the weight is fine. Yet the scaring and marks are still there. The good news is it seems to come off both wheel and caliper pretty well with Orange concentrate.

On the street I don't know what would happen. It looks like no space at all, but any is enough if you don't get junk in there.

It's still a pain to clean ... the RPF1 isn't perfectly designed for us.

 

you can run a 1/8" spacer and still have enough thread length with the OE wheel studs (look for Mustang 5 x 4.5 spacers, they won't be hubcentric though), every little bit helps

it's just your wheel choice though, I have 17 x 9 +55 SSR Type C Competition wheels with the Racing Brake OE size 4-piston brake kit (bigger caliper) with 7mm spacers (and racing studs, effectively moves the wheel to +48) and have a bunch of clearance, lighter still too

 

I just received the Axis Matrix 19X9.5 IIRC +43 Offset with 245/35/19 Falken FK452. The fronts couldnt clear the calipers at all, so I used the smallest spacer I could find which was a 3mm one. Now the wheels turn fine but wheel to caliper clearance is about 1mm ..... is this acceptable ? o.O

 

I dont think this is very safe.

 

You DEFINITELY need to get these rebalanced. The tire shop should also check your clearances for you, so that this doesnt happen again.