Are these what ESM002s are supposed to look like?

[82eye]

ah crap. another wheel option gone. there is no way that wheel could be legally run here. if you got into an accident here on those you would have no coverage, even if the wheel had nothing to do with it.

i checked on the legality and was told there is nothing that targets the wheel bolt pattern specifically. it does fall under something they call altered safety equipment, which negates coverage in the event of an accident. hardly seems fair. in reality tho it would be up to an adjuster to note the change and follow up on it, which is rarely the case. another example of the same thing would be installing and using a racing seat harness on a street car instead of the oem belt, again it negates the insurance.

it appears to be mostly a technicality issue allowing our singular monolithic communist insurance provider a way out of paying.


the other hassel is tire shops here won't touch it.


tire shops won't mount a tire on a rim with over lapping pattern nor will they balance it. there's less than a snowball's chance they'd hang it on a car if the tire somehow found it's way on to an overlapping rim. makes zero difference if it's hub centric or not.

for them it's all about liability.


conversely they will mount a fill 'n drill wheel so long as there is only one bolt pattern present, again for whatever reason, being hub centric never enters the equation . they will also mount multiple patterns all day long so long as each hole is separate with no overlap.

learned a bunch about the law regarding car modding here because of this issue. looks like i'm allowed to do nothing over all here lol.

[glnr13]

I had a set of PIAA's in the 90's that had this same 4x100/5x100 overlapping pattern. This used to be pretty common back in the day.

[e30davie]

So many opinions. and how many of these opinions are backed by engineering calcs?

The wheel is supposed to be hubcentric for starters, which goes along way to holding it on and taking force through the hub and not the wheel nuts. Secondly the wheel is held on by the friction between the wheel the hub. this friction is generated by the tension in the wheel studs. The wheel nuts/studs should not be in any bending at all, pure tension to force the wheel to the hub.

So as long as there is enough meat in the wheel area where the wheel nuts bolt on so that the wheel does not crack in that area then there is nothing wrong with drilling multiple holes and even overlapping them. And unless you have done some FEA analysis on the wheel using some sort of force assumptions you can't comment if it is strong enough or not. Is a wheel with only 4 holes stronger than one with multi studd? yep cause there is more material. But is a multi studd strong enough to withstand the required forces? You don't know unless you do some analysis.

[z28]

I have some esm wheels with that shit dual pattern also, I don't really like it but I have been using them for a while no problem.

[TheWipprSnappr]

I was considering getting a set of these. Safe or not, that bolt pattern is a deal breaker for me.

[82eye]

ah crap. another wheel option gone. there is no way that wheel could be legally run here. if you got into an accident here on those you would have no coverage, even if the wheel had nothing to do with it.

[jb02]

It was nice to see ESM finally respond to this thread. However their response really does not address the original photo posted by Staszek on 4/30/17, which clearly shows two sets of holes compromised by overlapping each other. While the overlap didn't share the actual through holes they did share the conical seats, which I would think would be a structural and safety concern. So was Stasek's wheel an aberration?

It would be helpful if ESM (WideBodyE30) posted a picture of their current production 002R wheel, without center cover plate, so that the double drilled bolt pattern is clearly shown. This would clear up any confusion as to how their double bolt pattern is spaced.

Just out of curiosity why did ESM chose a 9 hole 4x100/5/100 bolt pattern rather than an 8 hole 4x100/4x114.3 bolt pattern....as the eight hole pattern is more evenly spaced and eliminates any hole overlap. And this would satisfy E30, VW, Miata, Accura and Honda enthusiasts.

[widebodye30]

Hello R3V Members,

We wanted to chime in here becasue there seems to be some questions/ concerns about our ESM-002R Wheels. We hope this clears up some things for anyone with questions.

ESM-002R design

Back in late year 2000 we introduced the ESM-002 model which was a huge hit for our company.

It was ONLY offered in 15x7, 16x7.5 and 16x9. It was also only available in 5x120 and 4x100 SINGLE Drilled for BMW fitments. This wheel also had a thread on type center cap and center hardware.

Many years later after expanding our company and having many wheel designs, we redesigned the wheel with new sizes and molds.
New sizes 15x7, 15x8, 15x9, 16x8,16x9,17x8.5,17x10,18x8,18x9.5. We also changed the center cap to design rather then having a threaded cap to a solid single piece center cap held by a 5mm Allen key.

We also changed over the name of the wheel from ESM-002 to ESM-002R to distinguish the newer model and changes.

When we did the new molds we also decided to make all of the solid 4x100 PCD dual drilled from FACTORY 5x100. Almost all of our wheels nowadays come in dual drilled only when there is a center cap used to cover the PCD.

4x100/5x100 PCD is a very commonly used PCD drill dated all the way to the early 80's and has been done many times before in Europe. The key is having no overlapping PCD and 100% hub centric center bore.

People ask why use the dual drill is it safe? We get this questions often, especially from the BMW E30 crowd, becasue most know previously we used to make the single drilled 4x100.We want to ensure that any wheel that is made from our company is 100% safe to use for road and track use. Our factory has been manufacturing and designing wheels for OEM and many other companies worldwide. To keep things simple if something is not safe, factory and our company would not put it out for sale on the market. This wheel and PCD drill has been tested VIA and JWl Certified and sold worldwide since the 80's.

I'm afraid the PCD Drill 4x100/5x100 looks unsafe? With BMW E30 fitments in mind we keep our ESM-002R wheel center bore 57.1 which is a DIRECT FIT for the BMW E30.What is VERY important to the wheel fitting properly without shaking is the hub is being 100% hub centric to the vehicle. In this case it is 57.1 so no issues there. In regards to the 5x100/4x100 drill, yes the wheel will have 9 hole. This means that only one hole will be very close to the other but not overlapping or sharing any holes.When the wheel is 100% hub centric and the lugs are 100% 4x100 bolted up to the car you will have ZERO issue.That mean no shaking or vibrating.

[jb02]

I spoke with ESM about this issue. Evidently 5 years ago they changed the bolt hole design of their wheels such that if you want a 4x100 pattern, they now only offer a combination 4x100 / 5x100. This combination of 9 bolt holes requires that several of the bolt holes overlay eachother.

By contrast, the XXR wheels are also double drilled but as 4x100 / 4x114.3. By having 8 bolt holes they are able to space the holes evenly apart with no overlap. Unfortunately the XXR wheels do not utilize a bolt hole cover plate which the ESM has. However the lack of center cap is simply cosmetic issue that I can accept.

I really wanted to buy the ESM wheels, but the overlayed bolt holes just seem a poor design that weakens the mounting point of the wheel. I'm not a structural engineer but I would avoid this bolt pattern design.

[Staszek]

Thanks, I actually dont even have it anymore.

[Steve Corbett]

Several of the ESM wheels are like that now, They have a slew of 5X100's, if you want 4X100 they are redrilling as the orders come in. ESM-001's are the same BS pattern.

[lgb240]

I'd return the wheel. No way I would run that wheel, yet alone a set of wheels drilled like that. Two holes are severly compromised for stregth. They basically took an already drilled wheel and drilled another holt pattern on it. That's NFG given how little meat of the wheel hub is left at the 2 bolt holes. Multi holed wheels are fine if done correctly. That is not.

Even as a spare, it's a safety issue.

[Staszek]

Is it okay to run a bolt pattern like that? I would say yes, especially when you compare it to a donut spare which isn't supposed to be driven faster than 40mph, supposed to be changed asap etc. But I dunno if I'd track the car or or submit the wheels to any kind of heavy stress

Yea its only a spare, but honestly wow it looks thin. I may send to someone to get the other holes filled. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a cheaper spare though lol.

[Das Delfin]

Is it okay to run a bolt pattern like that? I would say yes, especially when you compare it to a donut spare which isn't supposed to be driven faster than 40mph, supposed to be changed asap etc. But I dunno if I'd track the car or or submit the wheels to any kind of heavy stress

[Das Delfin]

esm's are a cheap chinese wheel made in a warehouse and often rebranded as ESM or privat or whatever. The bolt pattern changes depending on what they think the market demands and what is cheap for them to make. Go on their website and look around at all the wheels and you'll notice no rhyme or reason as to why each one has a certain bolt pattern or offset. Sometimes you'll find an older set on ebay from another company reselling ESM's with the older, dedicated 4x100 bolt pattern.

I was thinking of picking up a set of Borbet A knock offs a while back and noticed their website used to list two options: a 4x100 and a 5x100. A few months went by and I checked in again and saw they had switched to the style like in your picture. I emailed them and asked if I could get the older kind and the guy said they have what they get sent, and didn't seem to know more than that. Either that or he sucked at writing emails.