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Hot Wheels!

13 Oct 2006, 9:45am
Well, as I'm waiting for the funds to come available for the chassis (Looks like November now...), I thought I'd sort out the wheels.

As you probably know, I bought 5 15" second hand original fit BMW / BBS cross spoke alloys that I found on eBay.

They looked a bit grotty, to say the least:




I stripped down the central cover plates. They're made up of a metal outer piece which covers the wheel bolts and continues the cross spoke pattern to the center of the wheel, and a plastic inner 'nut'. I've painted them (fittingly, I suppose) in BMW Black:



They still need the clear coat putting on them, but I'm leaving them for another couple of days before I try that, to give them a least a weeks worth of curing time.

Anyway, the wheels themselves need a good seeing to. As they're going to be a major factor to the look of the car, they needed doing properly - so I took them to a firm in Birmingham called Lap-tab. These guys chemically strip the wheels, sand blast and dress them before powder coating them and baking them.

I dunno about you, but I think they've done and absolutely frigging awesome job! (I couldn't help myself, I needed to see what they'd look like complete, hence the nut and BBS cap ;))






The colour is called black chrome, and looks very nice in the metal. Not bad for what are 20 year old wheels! :D
13 Oct 2006, 10:03am
:icon_cool: That a dam fine job you have done on those wheels :amen:
16 Oct 2006, 9:17am
:cool: they look really good :)
16 Oct 2006, 11:16am
Thanks. I still can't get over how good a job the guys at lap tab did - I didn't think it would be that good a finish on such old, worn wheels. At at £45 a wheel, it wasn't expensive (IMHO). I highly recommend them!

I thought I'd only keep these on the car until I could splurge on some nice Image wheels, but I don't think I'll bother now. :D
17 Oct 2006, 9:03am
Quick question to you guys who've got the wheels bolted on - what rubber did you put on? The wheels came with 205/55 R15 88V Tyres, of differing makes.

I know it's a bit sad, but I'd like a tyre that has an interesting tread pattern, as the wheels are out in the open. I'm sure one of you has some that look a little like wet wether F1 tyres - they look pretty cool. :D
17 Oct 2006, 9:25am
205/65/R15 91V for me (Bridgestone RE720). The tyres are from an E36. I figured with a 3.91 diff ratio having bigger tyres wouldnt hurt it too much :) I think it looks better with the larger wheels too.
17 Oct 2006, 1:08pm
Not used Toyo but I do keep hearing good things.

A site worth checkout out for reviews: [url]www.mytyres.co.uk[/url] - pick the one you want and there's a set of reviews & rating for each.