Bean Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 The 17's arrived and they're going to look AWESOME. The worst of the bad news is that UPS lost one of the wheels - no insurance since the seller bundled them instead of packaging them properly. The bad news that made the lost wheel sound better was that the backspacing difference is 27 mm from the stock wheel - so I'd have to run a gigantic adapter to make it work which would destroy the handling - so I can't/wouldn't use 2 of the rims anyway. Good news - I've found some NOS 16x7.5" RDP's that look similar (lug cover instead of exposed lugs) and they are on sale for a clearance price - only 2 available. They should fit with a 12mm spacer and should work beautifully. I'll have to spend more money I didn't want to - but I think I'll have the perfect wheel set up for the 505 Turbo possible - both visually and dynamically. Once I start doing the mods I'll definitely document the process for others to attempt. For the record - stock 16"x7" BMW wheels would likely be bolt on wheels if the hubs get re-drilled - no spacers needed. I have a couple sets of hubs - so if the price is right I'll likely get an additional set done up. (setting up the machine is the costly part - putting another into the chuck won't cost much more at all.) Now to think about tire sizes! 235-45-16 front 245-40-17 rear? Clearance will determine it - but I'd need to find the right compromise as I don't want it "over tired". 225-50-16's and 235-40-17's might do nicely too. Visulally I want honking big rubber tucked under those fenderwells! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 That sounds awesome! Take some pics if you can, i'd love to check them out. Sorry about the lost wheel but i'm glad it seems to be working out well anyway! Good stuff!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Rabin, you are the *MAN* at finding rims! I can't find any RDP's to save my life.. where are you looking? I've been talking to a guy in the UK who has the 4x140 PLS rims politecnic offers, but he wants more then politecnic! The alternative is Schmidt's, which area lot cheaper, and offer custom drilling for an extra $26 per rim.. the bummer is i haven't heard back from him since i told him they were for a peugeot 505.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I've tried calling the custom rim places and they baulk at doing the 4x140 - I usually get the line that their machine doesn't go that big... I think it's BS personally but I can't argue with them... My buddy could do custom 3pc wheels for me - built to my spec for about $450 CDN per wheel but that was just way too much. As for the RDP's - I found an ad on Racecars.com that was for 4 Racing Dynamics wheels. He was a Corvette guy and had no idea what they were off - they didn't work well on his Vette - wrong offset. GM bolt patter is 5x120.65 - BMW's is 5x120 so some people swap back and forth. Finding the replacements was through e-bay, I just kept e-mailing wheel warehouses asking if they had anything. Literally about 20 hours of seaching, google'ing, and trolling through BMW forum sites. www.bimmerforums.com is a good place to look for wheel potentials too - but I did not find a full set - just partials but that suits my taste. Here's a link for what they look like on a 7 series... http://www.homeofsbc.com/Gallery/Brown/brown.html Attached are the actual wheels and the 16" ones I found. 16's are going to need some filling and some work to look like the 17's - but it's pretty easy to do since it's just cosmetic - I'll just use a metalic filler or something similar that's nice and lite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
505T Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Rabin you ARE the man indeed....my searches for wheels always end in a lot of sobbing and profanity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 If the swap goes well - I'll likely look at offering drilled hubs ready for the BMW wheels on an exchange basis. I think I have a complete additional set - and I have access to the new style hubs off my 88 GLX, and another 85 turbo set should I decide to part it out. Not sure what the cost would be all told - but it would necesitate cores being sent in so that there was a fresh supply. With BMW bolt patterns - options for wheels get VERY nice indeed. I especially like some of the OEM BBS wheels that you can get for a steal - with tires for around $800 USD!!! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmaster Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Great job on the research Bean! I look forward to seeing what you end up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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