I was after a set of 16" BBS E50 rims, you know, the ones that were under the RS500 BTCC....

So I contacted BBS motorsport some months ago. I was surprised they called me this afternoon to fully inform me about the BBS company/availability.

The "street legal" division obviously has trouble to survive but the motorsport division (I was talking to) not yet but might be sucked into the trouble also.

I asked whether they can manufacture the old E50 rims and I was told that if I can find some 40 people ("fanatics" like me ) they will be able to start the production of the 16" or 17" magnesium centers again.

I have posted a thread on the Dutch forum aswell and maybe there is some interest from the UK as well. So let's count... Who is interested?(approx €2500 per set)

 

When i spoke to them 12 months ago they were £2850 but of course we have to include 20% tax = £570

Touring car spares have had the centres remade - ask Paul from North yorkshire rs spares for the details

 

holly shit !!!

 

pretty high priced,
BBS offered me to be exact (16" e50, golden center) € 600 per rim. excl. 19%

 

Bbs told me at the auto sport show they would make me one centre if I wanted but it would be £450

 

First point is that you DO NOT want magnesium wheels for a road car

Second point , you can buy these wheels brand new through Tony Ryan @ touring car spares In alloy



Give Tony a ring or visit his website www.touringcarspares.com

Paul

 

Caltex car looks MUCH better on those rims! didnt like the ones you had on before. Look bit cheap and tacky and skinny at rear.

Those look much much better.

 

Ain't the porshe lm bbs split rim wheels mag as std as I had a set which were and the ones on my mates gt3 are ,i also have dymags on my bike you just have to miss pot hole cause mag is softer , but on the bbs split rims the rims aren't mag there just spun alloy so they should be ok I would have thought as they are abit harder

 

Good luck with your search Eric. Indeed you might try Tony @ Touringcarspares. Can't imagine why I hadn't thought about that, I knew he had some.


The wheels look great on Pauls car.

 

No you can't Paul, i PM'd him about them about a week ago and he has none and said he isn,t getting any...

 

Cheers

I wanted Them wheels right from the start of the build but couldnt find any anyewere

 

You cant use Mag as they have a shelf life , they corrode with salt in the air ( or somthing like that )

I know if an MOT inspector was to notice it would also fail its MOT

 

I know they go bad if left in bad condition but if there painted well then surely they won't turn to dust as they are sealed from air /road salt so on , but then again all try's to turn back to it's natural state in the end , which I think has got something to do with lime ( done it a college 17 years lol) , but Motorsport stuff normally has a shelf life cause they can ( they have a fair bit of cash to play with) but I am also sure my mates gt3 didn't come with a disclaim say after x amount of years your wheels are fit for the bin. Lol. Buying mag wheels have never bothered me as my mate works at a place where they test material and X-ray them so I would just get them checked there , peice of mind all round

 

Pete

thats a real shame mate as i spent many hours with the guy who was manufacturing these to get them to fit right on a road car

It was touch and go if these could be made at a reasonable price tho

It would seem the cost to make these makes them not worth it

 

hi would be easy enough to machine centre from billet

thanks mark

 

But it still costs alot for the rims as I got quotes on patterns to re cast the centres and the casting ain't cheap to , back to the other part of this thread about mags life span , it's all good saying msg is no good after a time period (lets say 10 years for example) but that means that most the mag uprights and rear arms on cars ( other that repro,s ) are also no good along with wrc sump pans and so on which high lights how they have been looked after ref, storage , for example I know you don't use your car much but are your wheels mag centre lockers and if so what's to say there still any good ??, it just that if I truely thought that after x amount of time that mag was no good I would not be putting it on my car unless it was going on a mantil piece

 

hi dan

there is a place that gets rims from germany me and martin have spoken to them about half the price of image ,the problem with mag is people dont treat it right ,what they tend to do is get it blasted and powder coated which is no good ,it should be sent back to the factory ,they strip it ,x ray it ,then chromate coat it which gets in every nook and cranny to make sure it is protected from the air ,than coat it ,like yo usay some ducati s etc come with mag wheels as standard and they must be road legal so pass mot etc

thanks mark

 

Get some done then Mark

I know now 2 people who have made copies but WILL NOT make anymore as they both say there is nothing left in them by the time you have built them up to complete wheels

If you can Mark , go for it

 

Well put Mark , the treatment sounds like one which a company i know uses but it was call ultra seal and I think ( but don't quoted on it ) that hipping is the same , I know you shouldn't have them dipped also , cause when they are painted and then used and get warm / hot it comes out the porious holes and through the paint ( aprillias mille factory r also come with oz mags as std ( just thought I'd ad that lol

 

this place will chromate mag wheels etc

http://www.mb-racingwheels.com/

the fella who bought my centre locks has also made a set from billet but for his own use, as he said the machine time makes them too expensive to sell.

I have a spare centre if anyone needs one for measuring up for cnc

this place sells the inners and outer for a reasonable price

http://www.titanium-touch.com/felgen...sterne_uk.html

 

I was talking to that fella the other day Paul , he rang me regards 500 parts and he said there was no way he would make anymore wheels as they are far to expensive to make

 

My responce from BBS when I enquired about a week ago was this...

Hallo Mr Diamond,
thanks for your mail and interest in BBS Racing Wheels.

Usually E50/E48 are available, but we regret, not at the moment.

Price for one set 17" is ca. 2800 EUR;
BBS racing wheels always are single produced to customers order. So we need further informations about the wheel dimensions you need (widths, offsets and caliper space in axial direction).

Regards
Klaus Morhammer

 

If a few people put there money where there month is ( lol) then I would get a pattern made and have castings made in mag or just plain lm25 but I won't put up the cash just to end up being stuck with the lot , and I would make it so the pattern does for stud and centre lockers

 

i ment mouth lol , anyway for those that would consider getting there cash out i am having these priced up to be made with either cast or billet and centre lockers or std 4 stud , the cast ones would be done in lm25 heat treated as less of a pain and no one will be saying there mag and there over a day old so there no good lol but if you want them in mag it can be done but it cost ,if it dont work out worth doing then you can buy mine lol

 

they must be road legal so pass mot etc

Not the case at all, mot has NOTHING to do with whether it is legal or not.
The official after market rear lights for the mini for example are a classic case, passed the DOT approval but FAIL the mot due to the color
tabetha

 

HI DAN i think you should be able to do 4 for £2000 with billet centres

mark

 

I want to try and do them for less if poss but the rims are the real killer but if you use second hand rims it could make them alot cheaper but we will see

 

i think material for centres is about £130 /£150 for 18 inch ,then i think about £250 for rims a pair new ,if you do them for less from billet with bolts etc that would be a very good price

mark

 

To be honest it's only the centres that people can't buy so if they were put on the Market then people could source there own rims this would make it cheaper and casting is the long term way of making it cheap but unless people commit then I won't be forking out shed loads of cash as I have a car to finish ( I am still interested in them bits just trying to work it so I'm not broke lol)

 

The problem you will find is most folk dont want to mess about trying to find rims etc and then seals and sort bolting them together etc , i would think most want to buy and fit

I realy think if you can supply full wheels ( at the right price ) you will do ok

Problem is in this climate who wants to buy wheels at 2k

 

if i had 2k i would lol

 

That's the prob lol if I had a couple of grand I prob buy more car bits lol, as for buy and bolt on your right and this could be something to look at but if I do just centers as well 4 stud and centre lockers then then some people who are in the know may be able to source there own rims for less than me then a set of rims would cost even less , I better sell mine first lol as I would still be interested in a set of those oz centre lockers you had , missing them was mentally scaring lol

 

the Mille OZ wheels are forged aluminium. the only magnesium you will find on one are the cylinder head covers and clutch cover.

 

Have the quote on the pattern and it ain't as bad as first thought, if there is good interest and cash then I may cast them I want to be able to supply these centre for £800 or less for 4 in centre lock or 4 stud and they would be made from lm25 heat treated or something along them lines so they are less maintenance and they would have there very small differences to the genuine ones just to keep the powers to be happy , but if they have more interest then they may be a little cheaper

 

You know I would be interested Dan, would want the same spec's as your old ones

 

The centres would all be like them , but I would have the pattern done so it could also do centre lockers aswell, 2 birds one stone

 

Good news then

Can you also have the adaptors made ?

 

damm i need some more overtime

 

I can but to be honest when I spoke to mk a while ago he quoted me a good price for adaptors and proper ones that run through the bearing , which I will get in time as my montes are centre lockers, the only way I would entertain them is if there was a good order for a few as I ain't doing this to make money , I'm doing it to help the people that want proper parts at a aforderable price and if I can change less for the centres then I will but that will be due to the amount cast and if people want they can buy just the raw castings if they can machine them there selfs for cheaper.I don't feel this will devalue the genuine ones as that's not my intension as they are what they are so people with proper ones don't worrie it just means you can replace a damaged one if need be

 

Out of interest what sort of price was it for the adaptors that run through the bearings, I'm guessing they will be made of steel due to the bearing forces etc acting directly on them, but what about the nuts, pegs, and socket? were they included in the price? I would defineatly be interested in this type of set up as the offset of the wheel could stay correct where as with a bolt on adaptor its around 10mm thick so pushes the wheel out 10mm.