Re: Aftermarket wheels a no no?

[Jerry Chyo <jerryc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 08:48 PM 11/25/98 -0500, Paul wrote:
>I mentioned to a BMW specialist mechanic that I was putting on aftermarket
16*7 wheels.
>He said it would cause no end of problems. Says you should only ever put
BMW or Alpina wheels on a BMW.
>Has anyone heard this elsewhere (apart from from a BMW salesman) . BMW and
Alpina wheels are very expensive here (Sydney Australia) so I'm wondering
if it is just BMW propaganda or there is some truth to it.  According to
the manufacturer, the offset on his wheels are correct for the E30.  I
don't want to ruin the handling of the car, but equally I don't want to
spend $2500 for a set of wheels when I can get a set of 4 PCWs for $1400.

Paul,

Your BMW "specialist" is smoking crack.  What he probebly should have said
was that bad quality aftermarket wheels would cause no end of problems.
There are lots of folks on this digest who have aftermarket wheels and they
are all living happily ever after.

The thing you should make sure of is that the rims you are buying are
hubcentric.  All this is is the hole in the center needs to be the same
size as the protrusion (does that sound right) at the center of your hubs.
I think your's is 72.4mm or something like that (it's the same for almost
all Bimmers, the newer ones having slightly smaller hubs).  This lines up
the wheels and makes them perfectly centered.  Don't buy wheels that rely
on the lugs to center the wheels.  You'll be forever out of balance.

Hope this helps.

Jerry Chyo
'88 M5
'72 tii

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