Evolution Racewerks FE (Front End) Widebody Kit (BMW 1 Series) for 135i/128i

We are proud to introduce our new Front End (FE) Widebody Kit for the 2008+ BMW 1 Series Coupe (135i and 128i). The aggressive wide stance yet subtle lines will definitely turn heads!  It's functional purpose will increase the handling potential of your car exponentially.  This is how the 1 series should have came from the factory!

Key Features:

• 1) Developed directly through our Time Attack (Time Trials) racing program.
  
• 2) Completely bolt on kit.  No body modifications required.  Only basic hand tools required for installation.
  
• 3) 100% reversible.  You can remove the wide body kit and reinstall factory body panels.
  
• 4) Fits all 1 Series coupes (135i & 128i)
  
• 5) Fenders are 2.5" wider than factory fenders giving you a total of 5" of increased track (width).  Easily accommodates a 10" wide wheel (10.5" max).
  
• 6) 5 piece kit (front bumper, 2x fenders, 2x side skirts).
  
• 7) Available in economic fiberglass (FRP), traditional wet carbon fiber and ultra lightweight dry vacuum carbon fiber.
  
• 8) Compression type plug molds used in production.  Better fitment than traditional molds.  Smooth finish on exterior as well as interior faces of each part.
  
• 9) Includes all hardware needed for installation.
  

Technical Definitions:

Understeer: When the front end of the car loses grip.  This causes the car to want to travel straight on through a corner (when the car pushes towards the outside of the turn instead of inwards into the turn).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understeer

Oversteer: When the rear end of the car loses grip.  This causes the car to want to spin around through a corner (when the rear end slides out, forcing the front end to turn into the into the turn).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversteer

Neutral: The condition in which the car exhibits neither understeer or oversteer.

Our FE Widebody Kit is a direct development from our 135i Time Attack Race Program.  We found out very early in testing and development of the 135i that it had an understeer problem at the limit.  This was odd considering that the car is RWD which typically exhibits an oversteer characteristic.  Even with suspension upgrades like springs/shocks and sway bar upgrades, the problem still persisted.  After further inspection and testing, we found out that the main problem lies in traction, namely front wheel traction.  The 1 series, being small and lightweight compared to other BMW series like a 3 series make it an ideal choice as a track car.  However, one of the compromises of being smaller is that it features a smaller track (width).  The front track on the 135i is 58.4" versus the 335's 59.1".  The 135i's small chassis  and subsequent short track (width) along with small front fenders dictated BMW to use a narrow 7.5" front wheel and tiny 215/40/18.  On the rears however, a 8.5" wheel and 245/35/18 tires were used.  A wider wheel/tire will offer more contact patch with the ground thus offering more traction.  With the front tires being so small compared to the rears, the rear end would have more traction than the front, promoting an understeer condition.  Also, for the weight and power of the car, the front 215/40/18 tires are far too undersized.  In hard turns, the front tires would lose traction at the limit.  This caused the front end to slide towards the outside of the turn, in effect causing an understeer condition.  Even though the rear end would rotate in the corner like a RWD car should, with the front end understeering, the car would not rotate and "pushes" to the outside of the corner instead of rotating into the turn.

Now, some of you will say that your car does not understeer and that you can induce oversteer on your car easily.  That may be true as with enough power and/or rapid weight transfer on any RWD car, you can overcome rear traction and slide the rear end out in a spectacular cloud of smoke.  However by losing rear traction to rotate the car, you are "scrubbing" off valuable speed in the turn.  You will also be countersteering (turning the steering wheel the opposite direction of the turn) to keep your car in line.  This process slows you down considerably and when in a race, ever millisecond counts.  The fastest way around a corner is to have enough front traction so that the front wheels "steer" or rotate you through the turn instead of using the rear wheels to accomplish this.  This will exhibit neither understeer nor oversteer, the ideal neutral handling condition.

On the rear end of the 1 series, traction is not an issue.  There is more room in the rear wheel well compared to the front wheel well.  With the correct offset (ET59-62), we were able to fit a 10" wide wheel in the rear.  With a 10" wide rear wheel, we were able to run the maximum tire width we can run in our racing class which is a 285 wide tire which increased our rear traction considerably.  The front end, which was the original side with traction problems, was still limited to a maximum of a 8.5" wide wheel and a 245 wide tire.  Even though now we should have more traction all around, the original problem of the front tires not having enough traction versus the rear tires is still present so the understeer condition is still not solved.

To solve these handling issues with the 1 series, we built our FE Widebody Kit.  We wanted the FE Widebody Kit to be aggressive yet subtle by following the styling lines laid out by BMW designers yet would allow us to run a 10" wheel in the front and therefore a 285 wide tires as well.  Since the factory wheels were 7.5" and we wanted to run a 10" wheel, we increased the front fenders 2.5" (for a total of 5" increased width or track).  This allowed us to comfortably fit the 10" wheel and not have clearance problems.  With the front and rear wheels squared up, running both 10" wide wheels front and rear with 285/30/18 Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 tires all around, the car exhibits a neutral handling characteristics in turns, the idea situation!  Understeer has been virtually eliminated and rapid oversteer not an issue.  With the basic traction issues resolved, we can now focus on suspension tuning.  Suspension (shock/spring stiffness), alignment and sway bar changes are now more responsive and predictable.  Now, efforts in improving handling show their true potential.  With the changes in the wheel/tires that the FE Widebody Kit allows us to do, the car has completely transformed into a beast!

Many will ask, why was the rear quarter panels not widened?  The main reason, function over form.  The rear wide body was not needed.  We were able to fit the right size wheel and tire we wanted in the rear of the car without modification. Now, the style these days seems to be with widebody all around and staggered big wheels in the rear, but this actual hurts performance in this particular case. With a widebody rear end, you would either run a wider wheel/tire combo which would increase rear traction, again putting us back to the original problem of having too much rear traction versus the front.  If not widen the rear wheels but kept the same 10" wheel, the rear track (width) of the rear wheels would be increased so that it sits at the edge of the widened rear quarter panel.  With a wider track, again you would increase rear traction, falling back to original problem we were trying to fix.  At the current moment, the car handles beautifully.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Changing either the rear tire size or increasing the track (width) would invoke understeer.  At the moment with over 400hp, we have enough rear traction to handle the power.  In the future, the car will make considerably more power and therefore a need to increase rear traction.  When that time comes, the rear wide body would be made available.

Another thing considered was installation.  The FE Widebody Kit is 100% bolt on.  The FE Widebody Kit is 5 pieces and replaces the front bumper cover, front 2 fenders, and 2 side skirts.  All of which is held in place by bolts or brackets.  It can be installed with basic hand tools at home.  You do not require a body shop to install this kit.  It does not require modification to the chassis and therefore 100% reversible.  In a rear widebody kit, this is not possible.  The rear quarter panel on the 135i is welded to the chassis and therefore is not removeable.  It would require a body shop to cut the rear quarter panel's wheel well and weld it back together.  The body shop would then need to mold the widebody to the existing rear quarter panel and then repaint.  This procress would cost thousands of dollars at the body shop just for installation!  All of which is not reversible as the actual chassis has been modified and cut.  With our FE Widebody Kit, you can install easily at home and uninstall it if you need to and make your car PERFORM like a beast.

Many steps were taken to ensure that fitment on our FE Widebody Kit is top notch.  After the prototype FE Widebody was built, we built a fixture behind each part while they were on the car.  This fixture became the skeleton of the prototype FE Widebody Kit while it was off the car.  This prevented the prototype body panels from twisting or shifting while the molds were made.  This ensures that the mold is an exact inprint of the prototype parts as they sit on the car and that all duplicate parts thereafter are exactly like the prototype.  We utilize a compression type plug mold when building the FE Widebody Kit.  The compression plug mold helps improve duplication as it prevents warpage or lifting in the mold.  Another added benefit is a smooth finish on both the inside and outside of the part.

The FE Widebody Kit is available in 3 different composites.  The Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) is the most economical of all the versions.  It has a gel coated and then preprimered for paint.  Next up is the wet carbon fiber which traditionally is the process which all carbon fiber hoods and body kits are built.  It is produced the same way as FRP except with carbon fiber sheets instead of fiberglass sheets.  It is slightly lighter than the FRP.  It comes gloss clear coated to show off the exposed carbon fiber weaves.  Last, is our dry vacuum carbon fiber, which is lighter and stronger than the traditional wet carbon fiber.  Resin is used to glue the layers of composite together and is heavy and brittle.  The part is put into vacuum which pulls all the excess resin from the part.  This allows the bare minimum of resin needed, make thing part super lightweight and strong.  Below are the weight of all the composite parts versus the prototype part (which is modified OEM parts).

Weight of Parts:

*Approximate weight.  Weights may vary from body kit to body kit due to construction.

Fitments: