wheels wheels wheels

"DrScientist" (DrScientist) 08/13/2017 at 23:35 • Filed to: None

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so...

i got this car with some very expensive yet not very “me” schnitzer 3 piece type 2 wheels. they’re 11 inches in the rear and go well beyond the fender lip. the 275 tires were stretched and tucked under the lip, with some rubbing under full travel.

so i started on the hunt for some new wheels for this heavy beast. the choice was first between 5 starts or a mesh-type wheel (turbine style dont do it for me). after lots of window shopping, i figured i wanted an alloy silver finish (no chrome or polished) and a dished wheel. and i decided on mesh, as i thought 5 stars were more suited to sports cars.

anyway... finding the right combination of style size and fitment (and everything that goes into fitment) without spending >1,000 isn’t the easiest task. but i decided on a set of Rondell 58's. but of course these have been out of manufacture for nearly 15 years. so finding a set required daily craigslist checks until a set popped out in idaho. ~$200 in shipping and they were on the car.

not bad... nice dish... nice mesh, no rubbing anywhere.

Except... now... i notice a distinct shimmy when decelerating between 50mph to 40mph. SO... upon close inspection of the wheels, i notice this:

a crack in one of the spokes, and what appears to be a pretty bad weld job underneath it, and a new crack appearing on the next spoke. i had these wheels shipped straight from the seller to my shop, so i never got a chance to inspect them. :-/ So here is you buyers beware advice for craigslist, which i’m sure you dont need to be told. ugh.

alright, so, in order to figure out the shimmy, the first thing i needed to get was some new wheels. i didn’t want to spend a million dollars on these things, but i wanted something brand new without any previous owner’s bodged welds, or who knows what. so off to the tuner market i went.

Now, please keep the flames to a minimum, as the brand i went with seems to have not so good a reputation for wheel strength. but, i went with a set of XXR 526s. they had a dish i liked, the bolt pattern, and offsets should be right on (i couldn’t believe the offsets would work)

and i was right: the offsets were off in the front. (bad calculation or assumption from the rondells). the tires were so tight up on the strut, the wheels wouldn’t even spin. [sorry for the crappy photo]

So, original wheels (with 18 year old tires) on temporarily. And as you may notice, the XXRs in the back, which are called “diamond black” is really just an grey-ish chrome. So... off to amazon for some spacers and...

“Hey guys, it’s fonzie from dipyourcar...”

I got 4 cans of the dark grey rather than standard black because (it was on sale) i was planning on covering it with the bright aluminum silver metalizer. and why pay 2x the price for something that isnt going to be seen?

anyway, when i was done, i kind of liked the dark grey.

and that’s where we are today.

so what say you oppo? stick with the dark grey? or take them off and put the silver over top?

it was getting dark by the time i got these all set up. so sorry for the crappy photos again.

fitment’s not bad huh?

now to figure out what to do with the center caps. :-/ and the schnitzers are for sale by the way.

a couple of notes if you ever buy these tuner wheels for a bmw:

- they’ve got 5x120 and 5x114 bolt holes available in the same wheel, but getting a guide bolt is really helpful, especially if youre using a spacer

- because bmw uses conical bolts, you can use the original bolts on tuner wheels (most oe’s dont have conical bolts or nuts)

- if youre using anything larger than a 5 mm spacer, i highly suggest you get longer bolts. i spent about 30 minutes trying to get the original bolts onto these wheels, unsuccessfully

- the center bore for these wheels is 76.1mm, the bmw hub is 75.6. that’s 0.25mm wiggle the wheels would have all around... too small for a ring. so i used some aluminum tape (you could use steel shim) to add that last bit of fill to the hub

- you can’t use a standard tire iron to get inside the bolt holes of these kinds of wheels. you need to use a socket. but be careful. i picked up a “no marr wheel socket” so i wouldnt ding these up. it has a plastic sheath around the metal socket to protect the wheels. not only is the plastic sheath too fat to fit in the hole, after i cut the plastic protector off, it was still too thick. impact sockets will be too thick also.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > DrScientist 08/13/2017 at 23:47

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It’s a shame that second set was cracked. They were perfect for the car.

AestheticsInMotion > DrScientist 08/13/2017 at 23:50

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I’d go with silver. The car looks too classy for a matte finish wheel

DrScientist > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 08/13/2017 at 23:53

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no kidding. when i have half a minute, i’ll start checking with wheel repair guys to see if fixing it would be an option. i know a lot of guys say a broken spoke is the death certificate for a wheel. but i’m not sure if that refers to 5 spokes or also these with 20 spokes.

here’s a guy from bimmerforums that really convinced me the rondells were the way to go.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > DrScientist 08/13/2017 at 23:59

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Although the fitment in the top picture and the one from the forum are absolutely perfect.

slipperysallylikespenguins > DrScientist 08/14/2017 at 00:01

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I would be on the hunt on Ebay or the forums for a single Rondell wheel to match, should be easier to find one than a whole set

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > DrScientist 08/14/2017 at 00:21

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I’d say if you can get the Rondell fixed, go with those, they look right on that car. The XXRs have a reputation for flaws in manufacture and I agree with others that a matte wheel just doesn’t look right on there. If those stay, make them a semi-gloss silver.

sony1492 > DrScientist 08/14/2017 at 01:56

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I’d go with silver, or a gloss black. The way the wheels fit looks great

DrScientist > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 08/14/2017 at 10:43

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that’s the long term plan. but with them out of production, figuring out what they’re made of, then finding a repair shop that can do it is too much for me at the moment. it’s either that or a set of BBS RG-Rs. (but the BBS dont have the lip i’d like for this car.)

the XXRs are a temporary fix that i’ll likely sell on to a G37 owner. and the matte grey is a temporary temporary until i have another saturday to spend futzing around with this stuff. the silver plastidip looks good when i’ve test sprayed it.

thanks for the input.

DrScientist > slipperysallylikespenguins 08/14/2017 at 10:44

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i havent actually tried looking for a single rondell. it was such a pain to find this set. and i imagine i’d have to find my counterpart who also has a ruined wheel or two in his set.

DrScientist > sony1492 08/14/2017 at 10:45

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i think it’s going to be silver. gloss black (and even this matte dark grey) are not really my style.

that said, the plastidip is surprisingly straightforward for a weekend wrencher like me. has me thinking about what other things i can coat in rubber. good thing i dont have a cat. ;)

dannyzabolotny > DrScientist 08/15/2017 at 17:34

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I love that 850i. Is it an auto or a manual? Here are my two favorite types of wheels for the E31, first up are the classic M-Pars:

And the Alpina Softlines:

Man, I want an E31 real bad now. The craving comes up every few months...

DrScientist > dannyzabolotny 08/15/2017 at 17:46

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it’s a six-speed manual.

go for it. they’re not going down in asking prices any more. and some people are asking way more than they should for otherwise unremarkable cars. and your experience in the 750 would be very useful.

or wait for me to sell mine in a year ;)

BLCKSTRM > DrScientist 08/17/2017 at 02:08

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Is that a real CSI?

What do you think of Apex wheels? They’re pretty great wheels and not very expensive. You may not get the dish you want, but you can get decent concavity with offsets that would keep the spacers small. And they’ll have the right bore size, which should be the same as any BMW aside from the E39.

I know they’re kind of an M3 look, but I think it could work with your CSI (or at least the CSI look you’ve got going).

And by the way, if there’s a list of people you’re supposed to offer the car to when you decide to sell it, can I be on that list?

DrScientist > BLCKSTRM 08/17/2017 at 07:37

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i did actually look at apex. arc-8 i believe is the style i was thinking of. and yes, exactly yur point regarding concave vs dish. i may revisit apex when i start looking for a “permanent” set. thanks for the reminder. :)

its just an “i.” but it is a manual. outside of the CSi’s, e31s were only offered with manuals in 91 and 92 in the US . and i think they only imported 1200 or 1500 of them.

the first owner of the car fitted the csi front bumper and rear diffuser. i wouldnt have the heart to drive a csi the way i drive this car, unless it already had 100k miles on it. and still then, it’d have cost me over 2x what i paid for this one.

anyway, i’ll probably be selling this one next spring after ive sorted a few more things (nose needs a respray and i may need to replace a front suspension arm or two) and start to get that wandering eye again. and i’ll be happy to check back in on oppo, and almost definitely have an ad on bimmerforums. :)

BLCKSTRM > DrScientist 08/17/2017 at 10:49

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I’ll have to hope I have my ducks in a row by then!