Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandonw720
Quote:
Originally Posted by nachob
Sir, I have purchased two sets of Brand New BBS wheels from Johnston Research and Performance. They have an office in the Ontario and are a Canadian BBS reseller. I recommend them.
http://store.jrponline.com/webstore/
I am currently running a diamond silver BBS LM 19x9 ET 27 which is not that aggressive but I think works well with a stock M3 with no issues or whatsoever. In the rear, I run a 19x10 ET 25 which is bone stock but they make an 11 inch wide offset 25 and a 9.5 front offset 22 which is pretty gnarly. Personally I don't like the wheels sticking out past the fenders or the rubbing etc but that's what makes this "hobby" cool, you can do what you want.
If you want this for looks, then most people like the aggressive look. I personally have over-tired some of my previous N/A cars and yes the adhesion was better and I could carry more speed on some sweepers but ironically I found it less fun. Being able to break the rears loose when I wanted was fun, low speed drifts etc. Once you over-tire the speeds go up, the danger goes up and the fun goes down in my humble opinion.
The 1M uses the same hubs, wheels, tires and offsets as the E90 M3 in case you didn't know that but unlike the E90, thraction is a problem sometimes in the 1M.
Here are some pictures of my car with the BBS LMs. The come with gold caps but I like the silver on Carbon caps more, so I bought those extra.
PS. My 1M is Canadian also 
Finally I missed your question about buying from the forums. I have been on this and other forums for over 15 years and have purchased a lot of things. I am very picky and I am still shocked at what people call "mint" etc. I regularly see people say things like "normal curbage" ?? maybe normal for them, I have 4 cars and the only one with even a little curbage is my wife's car and the body shop did it when it went in for a bumper re-spray. So my advice to you as far as buying on the forums is if you are very picky, see the product in person or have a friend view them for you first. If you have low expectations then you will be pleasantly suprised sometimes. Of course there are dishonest people everywhere but even with honest people, they have different interpretations of mint, undamaged, new, etc. I bought a wheel once and asked if it had any damage and I was told it was not bent. I received it, mounted it and after a washing them, I see silver paint on the wash mitt and black coming through the wheel. I see a lot wheels that are freshly powdercoated. Personally, I would never buy them without knowing who did it. I would rather buy the wheel and have it repainted myself so I can pick the right place to do it and know exactly the extent of damage. Forged wheels especially are affected by high temperatures from powdercoating and I have seen the powdercoat flake off in chunks sometimes if not done correctly. Yes people do it all the time but you asked for opinions, and that is mine. I personally contacted BBS-USA and they firmly told me that they do not recommend powdercoating their forged wheels. Their advice was to treat them like a car and use regular paint processes.
So that's my advice, have low expecations, be pleasantly surprised and don't spend more than you are willing to lose. Some people on the forum have good reputations and that has worked out for me in the past but as I mentioned, people have wildly different definitions of "mint".
Paypal has been OK, but it costs money and usually the seller wants you to pay the difference. 3% on $3K is $90 USD. Some people have had issues with paypal, but I still think it's worth it to have some recourse if things go awry.
I have shipped items to Canada and despite NAFTA, I am shocked at how expensive it is and you have to fill out customs forms so that can complicate matters more so I would try to stay within Canada unless you get a crazy good deal somewhere.
Anwyay, I hope some of this info helps and hope you find your BBS wheels.
Best wishes. |
Thank you for this input, it is very well received. Your car is very nicely setup. Love the wheel choice and spec you went with. I appreciate the recommendation for the canadian vendor and will definetly check them out. Theres something to be said for spending a little more and going with brand new. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards BBS wheels. To my eye these cars look best with this type of wheel versus a Japanese looking wheel - I do like imports and if I had a GTR I'd be looking at Volks or advan closer.
I just need to put some though towards diameter. I like the meaty look of 18s along with the performance and ride benefits, the practicality of 19s (potential reuse my newish tires) and the looks of 20s. Hmmmmmm.
I'll certainly post what I end up doing.
Cheers,
Brandon |
Thank you. As a performance guy myself I also prefer 18s but they don't make the LM s for our cars in the offsets and width I wanted so went with 19s. Another reason for a lighter 18" wheel is the car rides better with sidewalls and if you don't go nuts on tires they are lighter overall which helps the m3 spool up quicker. BBS makes the RI-A in 18x10.5 et 25 and 18x9.5 in et 22. In the US they only carry the matte grey but you can special order them from Japan if you can wait a few months in Silver and Diamond silver. They also make an 18x9.5 et 27 which I feel is a better offset for the m3 than the et 22 everyone runs. It is closer to the geometrical centerline of our cars but again only special order. These would've been the wiser performance choice especially with terrible roads in San Diego and my previous experience with 18's where the car handled better on real world roads but you can see I still ended up with the LMs. I always loved the timeless beauty of these wheels as you mentioned, they belong on a German car.
These wheels are expensive but there is nothing like opening them out of the box when they are like perfect jewels. I waited 3 months for mine because I wanted the special order 9" wide front vs the common 8.5" one. I originally went that route because everyone says just use wheel spacers to make them look good but I found going half inch narrower and adding a 10mm spacer still looked great but it made the steering a bit lighter on center and then heavier on the sweepers. Since steering feel is one things that makes our cars special I sold those and went with the 9" front in et27 whereas the stock is 9" et31.
Yes it was a lot of money but now that I have them I'm glad o went new and got exactly what I want.
And after waiting 3 months....opening the box was worth it in the end. : )
Best of luck! I hope you get yours and if you have any other questions feel free to post or even PM.
Also here are pics from BBS Japan site since they don't carry these colors in North America but if you are willing to wait, you can special order these. The Matte Grey is stocked but personally I think the Silver is the best.
https://bbs-japan.co.jp/en/products/1135/