E30 aftermarket wheel comparison article from 1988

[noid]

Found an interesting German article from 1988 comparing 11 different types of wheels for our cars and decided to have it translated to English.

Its an interesting read, enjoy.

http://www.rtsauto.com/bmw-e30-vintage-aftermarket-wheel-showdown-and-how-they-compare-ats-7058-bbs-cast-rz320-bbs-forged-rg003-oem-bmw-15-euroweaves-alumetall-dw-silver-line-and-turbo-line-fondmetal-2300-h/

[Mouse]

Cool article....thanks for sharing.

[Andrew325is]

Reposted below (due to website error)

[325e '87]

It’s all in German? I dont see any translation, or, I cant find the right link to select.

[Andrew325is]

Thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting there’s a difference between a BMW Euroweave made by Alumetall and the BBS RZ 320. Presumably one made by BBS would be the same as the RZ unless they’re manufactured differently for BMW. I know the ones made this year (last month) are BBS. It’s too bad they don’t make the RG 003 anymore.

From what I can tell searching online it looks like Alumetall went out of business a long time ago. Someone on this page says they have some made by Fundo, although they could have mistaken F.P.S. as Fundo, which is Fratelli Pedrini Sarezzo because I've never seen any made by Fundo. Fundo went out of business in 2009. It looks like FPS went out of business around 1992. So that must be the reason we only see them made by BBS now.

[noid]

It’s all in German? I dont see any translation, or, I cant find the right link to select.

There are two PDF's when you click the link, the first one is the original in German and the second one is the English translation.

Thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting there’s a difference between a BMW Euroweave made by Alumetall and the BBS RZ 320. Presumably one made by BBS would be the same as the RZ unless they’re manufactured differently for BMW. I know the ones made this year (last month) are BBS. It’s too bad they don’t make the RG 003 anymore.

From what I can tell searching online it looks like Alumetall went out of business a long time ago. Someone on this page says they have some made by Fundo, although they could have mistaken F.P.S. as Fundo, which is Fratelli Pedrini Sarezzo because I've never seen any made by Fundo. Fundo went out of business in 2009. It looks like FPS went out of business around 1992. So that must be the reason we only see them made by BBS now.

Most OEM's including BMW have their own specs that they force suppliers to adhere too. This is particularly evident when you buy a gasket from an OEM which is one level of quality and then you buy the gasket directly from the same supplier and its a completely different quality.

Do I think when they switched from Alumetall they made BBS switch from counter pressure casting to gravity casting? No, but there may be minor changes they were forced to make.

I have 2013 production Euroweaves directly from the dealer and they are in fact labeled BBS, so it does seem that is the new supplier. I had an older set of Euroweaves I sold a couple years back and they had only BMW stamped on them, so I would say those were probably Alumetall.

Unless someone has hard proof, I would be cautious to claim that BMW used any other supplier apart from those two.

From experience, I have found that Euroweaves made by Alumetall do seem to be softer and have a tendency to bend quite a bit, as it did in the article. It could have to do with the fact that they were just gravity casted or it may be a BMW spec for the wheel to bend instead of crack (softer annealing).

Re: RG003, they are one of the last truly forged wheels from BBS. Since the Mid 90's, all "forged" BBS wheels are face forged and then the barrels are "flow formed"; which is basically a roller under pressure that widens out the barrel after the initial forging stamp.

The RG line from the 80's was 100% forged, no flow forming.

Proof that all BBS Forged wheels now have flow formed barrels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYuoT5um1WE

[Andrew325is]

It would be interesting to hear from BBS what manufacture process they used for them, if they were willing to provide that info. It does say on their website they make cast flow-formed wheels for BMW. https://www.bbs-usa.com/expertise/processes/

I know for a fact FPS made Euroweaves in addition to Alumetall and BBS. I have not seen a Fundo marking on one, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

The Alumetall stamping is at about the 11 o'clock position.



The F.P.S. marking is at about the 10 o'clock position, inner. It has a date stamp of the 43rd week of 93, so it looks like they stayed in business a little after 92.

[noid]

It would be interesting to hear from BBS what manufacture process they used for them, if they were willing to provide that info. It does say on their website they make cast flow-formed wheels for BMW. https://www.bbs-usa.com/expertise/processes/

I know for a fact FPS made Euroweaves in addition to Alumetall and BBS. I have not seen a Fundo marking on one, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

The Alumetall stamping is at about the 11 o'clock position.

The F.P.S. marking is at about the 10 o'clock position, inner. It has a date stamp of the 43rd week of 93, so it looks like they stayed in business a little after 92.

Unlikely that the wheels would be flow formed without at least a slight redesign of the inner barrel lip profile. The original spec is before flow forming was even invented.

Based on the description in the link, it sounds like they probably supply flow formed wheels for "high performance" models.

BBS USA is pretty awesome in responding to most questions though, so doesn't hurt to send them an email.

[Andrew325is]

Is the "flow formed" process not the counter-pressure method described in the magazine article? Is that wrong then and the BBS RZ were gravity cast? I sent an email to BBS Europe last week and they haven't responded. I guess I could try sending one to BBS USA.

[noid]

Is the "flow formed" process not the counter-pressure method described in the magazine article? Is that wrong then and the BBS RZ were gravity cast? I sent an email to BBS Europe last week and they haven't responded. I guess I could try sending one to BBS USA.

No, flow forming is entirely different. Flow forming is when a hydraulic roller pushes against a metal puck to widen it out, in turn forming the barrel shape. This step is done after casting or forging.

Video of how it works here:

https://youtu.be/6wKsKdH43_U?t=22

Counter pressure casting on the other hand is a method of casting:

https://mtgbg.com/uploads/documents/page/2/Counter_pressure_die_casting.pdf

[Andrew325is]

Okay, thanks. It probably doesn't really matter then if the new Euroweaves are gravity or counter pressure cast since both the Alumetall version and BBS RZ fared very well in the tests.

[fronton]

Fun article, thanks for hassling with translating it. 10 years ago I began a quest for the best weaves for M3s and discovered BBS RGs. I was 'gersmitten' because despite being larger, they are 3lb lighter than stock weaves and those platinum centers are just the right amount of DTM flare without being blingingly gold like the RZ. I also think 16x7.5 is the perfect size for a street oriented e30 because it allows enough contact patch (8") to stick 300hp but enough sidewall to be comfortable. It also still fits in the spare wheel well. The only downsides are the they are extremely hard to find in excellent condition and caps are nearly if not unique to the RG so costly and different to source as well. I'd love to find RGs in 16x8 or 16x8.5 to have staggered sets rears since I have a enough power to warrant it but don't think they made them in 5x120.

If anyone has any 5x120 RG004s, please let me know as I'm always on the hunt for more of these little known masterpieces.