Alpina and Borrani (CMR) 13” Steel Rims

[BarrettN]

I realized that I hadn't looked at my spare tire rim - it looks like it is not in un-touched condition, but it's another data point as far as color. 

 

 

I think this rim is actually in the best shape - but to my eye it doesn't have the greenish hint of the other color, so it may be of little use. 

[skyking96w]

Forget the "greenish" or grey/beige color on the Alpina wheels with round holes.  Here is the Alpina catalog from about 1969/1970:

 

 

[Conserv]

Yes!!!

 

I believe the gray-beige was a ‘70’s CMR-Borrani thing — never a CMR-Alpina thing. And the CMR-Borrani’s seem to switch to black in the late 1970’s. I do suspect that 1960’s CMR-Borrani’s were silver.

 

But I also believe that no one was expected to maintain any of these rim colors, unless they wanted to! I own Polaris and Inka ‘02’s: and the gray-beige looks terrible on both! My CMR-Borrani’s are definitely going silver! And I’ve never considered anything other than silver for my CMR-Alpina’s.

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[BritshIron]

I had these 14" OEM Steelies for my 1967 2000CS done this year at El Dorado Sand Blasting Company, San Diego. They bead blasted and powder coated the wheels in thee color "Cardinal Silver Semi-Gloss Metallic" for about $35 a wheel. This is the same outfit that Carl Nelson of La Jolla BMW Independent Service uses. Other, slightly different variations of silver and gray are available at El Dorado. Call Kendra or Bob at El Dorado, 619-696-0700. Best, Robert

[BritshIron]

On more thing about El Dorado Sandblasting Company. If you send your wheels to them in nice boxes, they'll send them back using whatever shipper you prefer. You'll pay the outgoing shipping, but I don't think they charge for handling. Admittedly, this is one of many places that do steel wheel refinishing, but like ceramic coating of exhaust components, there's not too many that do this work correctly! I don't think they do repairs or truing, for that you'd need a wheel shop similar to Mike Rizenman at Valley Wire Wheels in Van Nuys, a true Borrani expert, 818-785-7237. Best. Robert

 

PS. Below is another wheel done for my friend Jeff in Chula Vista by El Dorado, same color: Cardinal silver semigloss metallic. RPS

[Conserv]

56 minutes ago, BritshIron said:

On more thing about El Dorado Sandblasting Company. If you send your wheels to them in nice boxes, they'll send them back using whatever shipper you prefer. You'll pay the outgoing shipping, but I don't think they charge for handling. Admittedly, this is one of many places that do steel wheel refinishing, but like ceramic coating of exhaust components, there's not too many that do this work correctly! I don't think they do repairs or truing, for that you'd need a wheel shop similar to Mike Rizenman at Valley Wire Wheels in Van Nuys, a true Borrani expert, 818-785-7237. Best. Robert

 

PS. Below is another wheel done for my friend Jeff in Chula Vista by El Dorado, same color: Cardinal silver semigloss metallic. RPS

The semi-gloss looks very close to original, Robert!

 

And I don’t know about other parts of the country, but $35 per wheel is a steal in Atlanta and NYC!
 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[markmac]

Wowzer, I thought I was retentive with the stuff on my car - way out of my league on this thread. I would have never guessed 33 pages and 4billion views on borrani/cmr Alpina steel wheels.  Pretty impressive......

[jb]

...are the lips on the Alpina holes stamped or welded on?    This is the detail that sets them off, to me.   I want to jb-weld  (pun intended) them to my e30 steelies, repaint with Wurth, and be done with it.   

 

jb

 

[skyking96w]

Stamped.

[Alpina-A0]

15 hours ago, skyking96w said:

Forget the "greenish" or grey/beige color on the Alpina wheels with round holes.  Here is the Alpina catalog from about 1969/1970:

 

 

Hi everybody!
First of all: the Brochure showen by skyking96w can be dated 68! Aside to the steelies, it shows the Minilite wheels on a 66 car. Those wheels first appeared on an Alpina 02 in March 67 and were replaced by the Borrani Bimetall wheels in 69 (My Alpina / Borrani Bimetall wheels are dated 02/69, the first Magazine showing those wheels is dated june 1969). On the other side of the paper, the brochure shows the Porsche 911S aluminium calipers that were available at Alpina from July 1968 on. Therefore the brouchure can be definititely dated around mid 68!

But to come back to skyking96w's quote saying "Forget the "greenish" or grey/beige color on the Alpina wheels with round holes" I can definitly confirm this: I have Alpina brochures and pricelists from the late 60s to the early 70s and most of them say exactly one word refering to the CMR Wheels and that is: "silberlackiert" wich means "painted silver"!
I had a set of five wheels for my car, one of them a never used spare that was faded a little yellowish on the outside but still was original on the inside! After taking a sample of the original paint I came to the conclusion that it's prette sure "RAL 9006 white aluminium" in a semi glossy finish!

This is how the wheels look after beeing resprayed that way and im pretty satisfied with how the came out!

best, from Munich Germany,

Michael

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Alpina-A0

[Blue 02]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:28 PM, JohnP_02 said:

@Blue 02 you could have one scanned to reproduce the color and do us all a favor and share it here! Very cool, congrats

Hi

 

Shop I'm using can't get a scan to match for powder color.  They will match for wet spray and I'll try to get the mix if they'll share.  Will post photos when they are done.

[JohnP_02]

6 hours ago, Blue 02 said:

Hi

 

Shop I'm using can't get a scan to match for powder color.  They will match for wet spray and I'll try to get the mix if they'll share.  Will post photos when they are done.

I am more than satisfied with Michael’s information on color, but I am sure there is a paint shop / automotive shop that would scan your wheels somewhere if you’re interested. 

[Conserv]

On 12/29/2022 at 4:14 AM, Alpina-A0 said:

Hi everybody!
First of all: the Brochure showen by skyking96w can be dated 68! Aside to the steelies, it shows the Minilite wheels on a 66 car. Those wheels first appeared on an Alpina 02 in March 67 and were replaced by the Borrani Bimetall wheels in 69 (My Alpina / Borrani Bimetall wheels are dated 02/69, the first Magazine showing those wheels is dated june 1969). On the other side of the paper, the brochure shows the Porsche 911S aluminium calipers that were available at Alpina from July 1968 on. Therefore the brouchure can be definititely dated around mid 68!

But to come back to skyking96w's quote saying "Forget the "greenish" or grey/beige color on the Alpina wheels with round holes" I can definitly confirm this: I have Alpina brochures and pricelists from the late 60s to the early 70s and most of them say exactly one word refering to the CMR Wheels and that is: "silberlackiert" wich means "painted silver"!
I had a set of five wheels for my car, one of them a never used spare that was faded a little yellowish on the outside but still was original on the inside! After taking a sample of the original paint I came to the conclusion that it's prette sure "RAL 9006 white aluminium" in a semi glossy finish!

This is how the wheels look after beeing resprayed that way and im pretty satisfied with how the came out!

best, from Munich Germany,

Michael

 

I just want to say, Michael, that your ti looks okay by me… 😉

 

(Love it!)

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[Blue 02]

57 minutes ago, JohnP_02 said:

I am more than satisfied with Michael’s information on color, but I am sure there is a paint shop / automotive shop that would scan your wheels somewhere if you’re interested. 

Unfortunately my wheels were chemically stripped Friday!

[BarrettN]

3 hours ago, Conserv said:

I just want to say, Michael, that your ti looks okay by me… 😉

 

(Love it!)

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

I don't remember if it was photos that Michael shared directly with me, or if they're in a post here I couldn't find, but the level of his car is jaw dropping to me. @Alpina-A0, we need a full photo shoot shared here for reference 🙂!

 

Barrett