BMW Wheels

[Mars]

I have the opurtunity to get some late 80s bmw wheels (e30).
They ahve the same bolt paters, but im not sure if the offset is right. has anyone used these wheels in thier 3g? heh or do any of you know if these will work ok?
I beleive the only difference is that the bmw wheels have a 57mm wheel bore (i have no freaking idea what that means)

[mkymonkey]

are those 14"s? i think they will fit. i know another member on here had a coupe he was selling with these rims on it. so for that reason i think they will work. have to find the thread for it so i can post up a pic.

also, powdercoat them black and polish the lip! i know these wheels will look sick like that! i mean the other guy that had them had them rattle canned with flat black and they looked freaking awesome!

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

I've definitely seen these on a 3G before, so they will most likely fit. I believe the bore refers to the size of the hub opening on the wheels. BMWs are rather specific about their hub specifications, often requiring hubcentric rings for wheel installation.

[smufguy]

exactly. Hubcentric rims are a pain in the butt.

as long as the offset is not lower than 40, you should be able to clear the fenders, esp in the rear. if its 35mm or lower, u have to roll the fender no matter what.

[Mars]

cool. thanks.
And yeah man, black with a polished lip would look sweet.

[Hash_man_Se_i]

They also had pretty sick mesh wheels on some e30's... I wouldn't mind a set of those, but most bmw wheels are a fairly low offset.

[89AccordResto]

How would you polish the lip? By paying someone to do it?

[Mars]

haha yeah, no way i would do it myself. i hate botched spray can jobs.

and will a low offset hurt anything?

[89AccordResto]

Might put more stress on your wheel bearings.

[Mars]

hm, so best not to do on a high mileage car then?

[HondaBoy]

i seriously doubt you'd have to worry about bearing wear. i've never seen an offset this mild do that. anyway, those will fit fine. the offset is similar to most hondas, not too different. as for refinishing, if you dont know how to do a proper job, i guess you could pay someone and also save some time. if i was wanting them refinished i'd do it my damn self. but thats just me. powder coating isnt too hard, but you need to have the right things to do it. the spray can paint works great, that is if you take time and do it right. making sure your distance is enough away or close to the surface and consistancy of your distance when spraying the entire wheel will make the difference. i've got some project wheels i was working on polishing out. i'm probably going to start doing those again because i really want them done.

[mkymonkey]

so how would you polish wheels like this as a DIY. i mean the lip of course? would you polish the lip first? by that i mean do all the sanding and buffing, tape it off after youre done, and then paint the rest of the wheel?

[Mars]

Ill probably leave them silver for a while, seeing as im almost out of car budget XD

I would like to have them black. And i probably could spray paint them, ive spraypainted a ton of computer towers. What kind of pain should i use? something like high temp engine paint?
There are tons of these wheels sitting around at the junkyard i goto in excellent condition. (14 bucks a shot)
Maybe ill buy an extra and play with it.
and if you look at the wheel, it wouldnt be hard at all to make off the lip.
i bet it wouldnt be hard to mask around the bottom of the spokes either, so that only the "cap" is black.

[HondaBoy]

i dunno. i used some heavy paint stripper on the wheels i was working on. i think it was called "air craft remover". anyway, i used that and i did sand all the corrosion off the surface. mine also had polished like grooves, like you might see on a lot of honda wheels that are polished and clear coated aluminum. anyway, sanded those grooves down and then polished them out. lots of work but well worth it. i'm still debating on whether or not to just paint them or polish this set out. if i decide to paint them i'll be leaving the lip polished and painting the spokes. either way, they'll look nice. these are them below.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/dc070bcc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/70a6e5e5.jpg

[89AccordResto]

I've heard a kind of ghetto way to polish them is to jack your car up on JACK STANDS, and remove on of the wheels. Mount a rim. Then put it in first, and let it spin. Make sure you have the air stem removed, and hold up sandpaper to the spinning wheel. Get progressively finer sandpaper. Then use polish. It supposedly works, but BE CAREFUL

[Legend_master]

i dunno. i used some heavy paint stripper on the wheels i was working on. i think it was called "air craft remover". anyway, i used that and i did sand all the corrosion off the surface. mine also had polished like grooves, like you might see on a lot of honda wheels that are polished and clear coated aluminum. anyway, sanded those grooves down and then polished them out. lots of work but well worth it. i'm still debating on whether or not to just paint them or polish this set out. if i decide to paint them i'll be leaving the lip polished and painting the spokes. either way, they'll look nice. these are them below.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/dc070bcc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/70a6e5e5.jpg

Dude leave those wheels just like that. THey look sick I always liked those BMW wheels, but they only came in 14's

[speedpenguin]

Yea, those are REALLY nice!

[BITESIZE]

gunmetal with a polished lip yo!

[HondaBoy]

those rims i showed are 13 inch honda wheels. i havent had luck finding them anywhere in refinished condition. i got the set for $40 a while back, started polishing and then got tired and quit. so with all my spare time between school i should start working on them again so i can mount some tires on them. i always thought those wheels i got looked like mercedes wheels for some reason. i'll be showing more pix when i get around to finishing this project.

[speedpenguin]

Do you know what car they're from?

[HondaBoy]

if your talking about my 13's, they were an option for civics of all body styles, sedan, hatch, crx and also for accords. mainly starting from '82 or '83 i think. not sure on that, but i've seen them on a few 2nd gen accords. the BMW wheels came from a 3 series E30 body i guess. anyway, the BMW wheels there are commonly called "coke bottle wheels". they were offered on the 318, 323 and 325 models from something like '82 to possibly '91, i think that was the last year for that body.