BMW 2002 FAQ

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[quote="cj"][quote="zwoirle"]Cris: 
 
 
 
I live in Goleta,CA, 93117.  My primary interest is for my 1971 Colorado 2002 
and Inka 1972 tii; no flares and stock suspensions respectively, Bilsteins, 
suspension techniques springs, Metric mechanic sway bar and Konis excepted. No 
headlight/bumper raisers exist; the 71 is stock height, the 72 tii @ 18mm lower. 
 
 
 
I have driven various incarnations of the '02 (and other Neue Klasse) cars over 
a million miles, about half of the miles sideways.  I never get more than 10k 
miles out of a set of tires, even with adjustable camber plates; my brand new 
'69 Colorado went through three sets of XAS Michelins in the first year, before 
BMW and Michelin refused to honor the 40k warranty. I am very familiar with the 
common hysteresis (S pattern) wear pattern of tires mounted on the struts of the 
'02, associated with the camber angles involved with regular .4 g and higher 
side loads - blame it on the canyons. 
 
 
 
But my real concern is lightweight wheels that bend under such loads and heat, 
and become untrue and unbalanceable which is death upon the 45-55 mph harmonic 
resonance endemic to the 2002 McPherson suspensions, rubber, polyurethane and 
mystical bushings nothwithstanding.  I gave up  on "Metalmaster" brake pads 
years ago because they melted into calipers; similarly Cosmic, MSW and TSW 
wheels warped under such conditions; BBS do not. 
 
 
 
So tell me about the robustness of Rota wheels (are they really made in the 
Phillipines, that hotbed of automotive technology?)  I'm not concerned about 
curbs, but curves and trueness.  Panasports have generally passed the tests of 
track and time; I know not from Rota.  Please type from experience and be 
honest. 
 
 
 
Regards, 
 
 
 
Zwoirle[/quote]

Replied to via e-mail. For anyone to read:

The best way to answer this is to let you know the
type of buiness I'm in. My main wheel brands that I
sell are BBS, PIAA, Antera, Azev and the like. I carry
suspension products from Koni, Eibach, H&R and
Hotchkis.

I completely agree that BBS is without a doubt the
BEST wheel compant when it comes to R&D, mfg.
technology and quality. Panasports have always been a
great wheel as well and Mas has done a great job with
that company in the USA. Other Japanese brands like
Epsilon, CSI and the "real" Stern have faded away.

The reason that i picked ROTA to manufacture the wheel
is they manufacture wheels for the OEM. As you know
these wheels still have to meet impact and corrosion
tests to be equipped on vehicles in Japan. Second is
they were the only company to allow me to have a
specific center bore(57.1) and a specific offset(+25)
with realistic numbers for manufacturing.

This allowed me to market a quality product at a
reasoable price and fill a niche. As you know, there
are not that many '02 specific wheels that are
available. Companies like BBS and Panasport would not
even entertain the idea of manufacturing an '02
specific wheel.

Again, I'm not touting this product as the end all
solution to wheels for an '02.

As for meeting the required G load and strenth for
your street car application, I'm sure they'll more
than fill the bill. E30 spec racers are using the
ROTA's with great results. Their cars are equipped
with wide cross section "R" compound tires and the e30
chassis weighs a bit more than the e10.

Any other questions, please feel free to call me at
800.656.1118.

Thanks- Cris
Aftermarket Dist., Inc.[/quote]

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