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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Suspension | Brakes | Chassis > E90 LCI Wheel Carriers For 320 to 335 Brake Swap



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      07-25-2024, 04:54 PM   #1
theconcernedscientist
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Unhappy E90 LCI Wheel Carriers For 320 to 335 Brake Swap

After giving it a remap to 210 hp, I decided to swap my 2010 320d's standard brake for a set of larger 335 brakes Everything went fine for the front, but trying to get the rear brakes installed correctly has proven to be a nightmare. This is because I couldn't get the handbrake to work since the larger rear disk needed larger handbrake shoes, which in turn needed the larger wheel carrier from a 3-liter car.

Had I read this excellent post from 2019 by MrNice2028, I would not have bothered with the rear brakes...

However, switching to a wheel carrier from a 3-liter car and putting it on a 2-liter is not simple. This is because in doing so, you will also need different drive shafts, which will not bolt onto the differential. And if you change the differential, you will need a different prop shaft and it's just a pain for many reasons. I found a workaround to this problem: reinforced drive shafts from an older 320d E91, which had the right connection to a 2-liter differential but was thicker at the other end so it slotted nicely into the 3-liter car wheel carrier.

So I bought a pair of used wheel carriers off an E93 with a 3-liter engine, and everything bolted up fine, but now I have two major issues. The first is that the rear track width has been visibly reduced—the wheels are clearly more inset with the E93 wheel carriers. I know the E90 LCI got an 8mm track width increase on each side, and that's apparently all down to it getting different wheel carriers that pushed the wheel out more. I later learned that the used E93 wheel carriers that I got were from a pre-LCI car, which is why they messed up the rear stance.

Another issue was the wheel speed sensors. My car had the active variety with the magnetic ring around the drive shaft, while the new wheel carriers that I got had the other variety, the passive or so-called "hall effect" type of sensor that isn't compatible with my car. So my car not only looks weird with the narrower rear track, but my speedo isn't working along with ABS, DTC and a bunch of other systems all because of the different wheel speed sensor type.

My questions are as follows:

I will buy different wheel carriers. Should I look for E90 LCI ones off a 330d or 335d to retain the 8mm per side track width increase?

Will I be able to find wheel carriers from an LCI 330 or 335 diesel with the correct type of wheel speed sensor so that I don't have to change the ABS module and do all sorts of recoding on my car to get everything to work?

Thank you!

Edit: Here's a photo of my car with the big brakes but the original rear wheel carriers.
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Last edited by theconcernedscientist; 07-25-2024 at 05:00 PM.. Reason: Added a photo of my car
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      08-01-2024, 01:01 AM   #2
josip0505
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Hi did you manage to solve this problem with abs sensors and if so can you help me how to do it because I have the same problems as you thanks in advance.
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      10-24-2024, 10:20 AM   #3
Lopina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theconcernedscientist View Post
After giving it a remap to 210 hp, I decided to swap my 2010 320d's standard brake for a set of larger 335 brakes Everything went fine for the front, but trying to get the rear brakes installed correctly has proven to be a nightmare. This is because I couldn't get the handbrake to work since the larger rear disk needed larger handbrake shoes, which in turn needed the larger wheel carrier from a 3-liter car.

Had I read this excellent post from 2019 by MrNice2028, I would not have bothered with the rear brakes...

However, switching to a wheel carrier from a 3-liter car and putting it on a 2-liter is not simple. This is because in doing so, you will also need different drive shafts, which will not bolt onto the differential. And if you change the differential, you will need a different prop shaft and it's just a pain for many reasons. I found a workaround to this problem: reinforced drive shafts from an older 320d E91, which had the right connection to a 2-liter differential but was thicker at the other end so it slotted nicely into the 3-liter car wheel carrier.

So I bought a pair of used wheel carriers off an E93 with a 3-liter engine, and everything bolted up fine, but now I have two major issues. The first is that the rear track width has been visibly reduced—the wheels are clearly more inset with the E93 wheel carriers. I know the E90 LCI got an 8mm track width increase on each side, and that's apparently all down to it getting different wheel carriers that pushed the wheel out more. I later learned that the used E93 wheel carriers that I got were from a pre-LCI car, which is why they messed up the rear stance.

Another issue was the wheel speed sensors. My car had the active variety with the magnetic ring around the drive shaft, while the new wheel carriers that I got had the other variety, the passive or so-called "hall effect" type of sensor that isn't compatible with my car. So my car not only looks weird with the narrower rear track, but my speedo isn't working along with ABS, DTC and a bunch of other systems all because of the different wheel speed sensor type.

My questions are as follows:

I will buy different wheel carriers. Should I look for E90 LCI ones off a 330d or 335d to retain the 8mm per side track width increase?

Will I be able to find wheel carriers from an LCI 330 or 335 diesel with the correct type of wheel speed sensor so that I don't have to change the ABS module and do all sorts of recoding on my car to get everything to work?

Thank you!

Edit: Here's a photo of my car with the big brakes but the original rear wheel carriers.
Hi there!

I’m doing a swap from 325i to F8x brakes, and have the same issue with wheel carriers (and abs). Right now, I’m planning to upgrade my driveshafts to a beefier spec, I was thinking 335i spec, but I want to collect as much info on potential pitfalls before I actually start buying parts.
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      10-24-2024, 01:15 PM   #4
neilvan
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What size differential did your 320i come with? I know there is small, medium and large case.

North america had small case (323i in canada, large case for 335i manual and 335d and then everything else got medium case.

I did this with my brothers LCi 328i. rear sedan/hubs off an auto 335i so it came with the larger shaft diameter that manuals came with plus the smaller diff bolt pattern to it mates to the medium case diff.

E90/E91 lci hubs should all be the same, the bearing is different for the manual 323/325/328 rwd cars as they got a different abs and spline diameter for that end of the shaft. awd cars all got the larger bearing and larger parking brake set up
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