New Wheels for the 1-series

"for Michigan" (formichigan) 10/15/2020 at 10:18 • Filed to: BMW, 1-Series, 128i, Wheels, bbs

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One of my factory wheels has been bent for a while (honestly not sure if it was me or a previous owner) , so I finally used it as an excuse to pick up some new BBS SX wheels.

My initial goal was to drop some weight and step up to an 8" wheel that would let me run a 225 section width tire (stock is 205 on a 7" wheel ), but the 1-series appears to have an unusual stud pattern/offset combo that left my options a little limited. The one wheel that offered the combination of fitment, style, color, price, weight, and reputation I was looking for is on back order everywhere.

The compromise ended up being a 7.5" wheel that matches stock fitment pretty closely and and runs the stock tire size . Being a cast BBS wheel, the SX doesn’t save any weight over the factory wheels but should offer comparable durability.

A big bonus for these wheels in my book is that they look like they could have been an optional factory wheel for this car. I’m a fan of OEM+ modifications, and I think these fall into that category nicely. 

sony1492 > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:24

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You can go way wider then recommended on tire width, wouldnt think twice about a 225 on 7.5"

Look s good either way

dogisbadob > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:25

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Doesn’t BBS make at least some OEM wheels for BMW anyway?

Jb boin > sony1492 10/15/2020 at 10:27

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Yes, 7.5" is the right width for 225.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:27

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A 205 seems narrow for a BMW. That’s what I run on my 150 HP cars.

Jb boin > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:27

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I would replace the center caps with BMW ones (or black/gray models) though.

Tripper > dogisbadob 10/15/2020 at 10:29

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Def did previously . I don’t think they have since the 90's however.

Tripper > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:31

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Looks good! Is your 1er one of the fabled manuals? A friend really wanted a small manual BMW tried forever to find him a manual 128...found one but it was BEAT.

He ended up with an E46 330ci, loves it.

E90M3 > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:36

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Those look quite nice.

The 1er did come with some nice wheels from the factory, I quite like the style 370s, but then again, I might be slightly biased.

for Michigan > sony1492 10/15/2020 at 10:37

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Honestly, I’m not sure 225s would clear the front struts on these wheels. I need to get in there and verify how much clearance is left, but I know I already lost over 4mm with the added wid th and minimal change in offset.

Plus I like the square shoulder of the 205s on these wheels. 225s would be wide and I'm not crazy about that look.

for Michigan > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 10/15/2020 at 10:40

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Agreed. It’s actually the same tire size as my old Mazda3. I may still step up to a 225 in the future, but I have to verify I'm not going to run into any clearance issues first.

for Michigan > Jb boin 10/15/2020 at 10:42

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I’m still undecided on that.

From what I’ve heard, there are no center caps that fit these so the typical solution is to get metalized stickers and apply them to the BBS caps. 

for Michigan > Tripper 10/15/2020 at 10:45

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I wish. Seems as if those are as rare as a manual E91 . Honestly, if I were to replace this I would probably opt for a manual E91 before I bought another E82.

Milky > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:46

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Pretty OEM looking, nice but not looking like a tuner. Bump up 225s and it’ll look thick. Plus you cant curb your wheels that way, I'll never go back to stock wheel size just for that.  

for Michigan > E90M3 10/15/2020 at 10:46

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Thanks!

Honestly, the stock wheels on my car were the only factory 17" 1-series wheels I liked. But I still think my new wheels are a big improvement.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > sony1492 10/15/2020 at 10:47

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Yup, I'm running 205 on 6.5"

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Tripper 10/15/2020 at 10:47

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They made em for Mini till 2004 ish

for Michigan > Milky 10/15/2020 at 10:52

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I may next time I put new summers on. I already had a set of 205 winters, so I figured I would stick with that for now rather than buy a new set.

B_dol > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 10:58

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Gotta widen the search radius. 2 years into ownership of a manual E91, its fun but it certainly is not a 1 series in nimbleness.

Plan is to take it to the moon miles wise, it’ll probably find a new home in a few years knowing our wandering eyes. 

Milky > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 11:01

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I’ m not mentally prepared to put the winters on yet.

for Michigan > Milky 10/15/2020 at 11:28

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I probably could have waited another week or two, but I'm off work this week so the timing was convenient.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 11:29

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I’m still driving my Mazda3, that car still runs great. Sure the CD player broke 2 years ago and there are cracks in the plastic molding between the dash and windshield and a little bit of rust but at this point it’s not worth anything so a trade or sale would net me not much.

for Michigan > B_dol 10/15/2020 at 11:35

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The last time I looked, there were two for sale in the whole country.  I wanted to but Archduke’s when he sold his last year, but the timing just wasn’t good on my end.

I really don’t consider my 1-series a nimble car, but it is the heaviest car I’ve owned and ties my old Mazda3 for largest, so my perception may be skewed a bit.

for Michigan > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 10/15/2020 at 11:37

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I honestly regret getting rid of mine. But the engine blew up shortly afterward, so I kinda of dodged a bullet there. I still miss that hatchback so much.

Jb boin > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 11:53

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Y ou can also find black (and many other colors) BBS center caps, there are cheap reps one on Aliexpress and eBay (and don’t buy expensive ones if you are not sure they are genuine).

I don’t know about BMW but Audis come in 4 or 5 different size for classic round caps and i even had caps of a different size for a few years on my A3 that i reused from my original 15" wheels when i did switch to 16" (now i have S3 wheels in 17" that are 7.5" of width with 225/45/17 tires).

The 15" wheels that had the caps originally (it was also before it was lowered) :

The 16" with the wrong size of caps :

What the 16" wheels with their “normal” center caps are looking like :

And how it is now with the S3 wheels :

mhr555 > Milky 10/15/2020 at 12:36

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Same here although I did buy the a new set of 15" steelies/snows for the wife’s Fiesta ST. I got wheels/tires/TPMS sensors cheaper than I could get snows to fit the OEM tire size.

I’m hopefully picking up my Focus RS tomorrow and the seller has snows on the OEM 19's. I don’t really want to run 19's for winter but I guess it’s better than shelling out more money on a new or new to me set up.

Spanfeller is a twat > for Michigan 10/15/2020 at 13:22

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I’m so angry at you, you used to post pictures of your car all the time, and now I seldom see it. 

Milky > mhr555 10/15/2020 at 15:36

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Yea, if you already have them just use them. My snows are in the basement, im just not ready to call it quits on summer yet. This winter with COVID around,   is gonna be long.

for Michigan > Spanfeller is a twat 10/15/2020 at 18:30

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Noted. 

What can I say? If life would settle down a little, I'd have more time for Oppo and photography.