tires and wheels Bottle caps or Steelies?

[Simeon]

Okay, looking for some inspiration here. I am getting to the pointy end of my restoration and I have been considering my options for wheels. My car currently has E21 steel wheels with the square cut outs. These have the wrong offset and due to the lack of choice here in Australia I am considering 14" E30 wheels with 195/60/14 tyres. I have a line on a set of bottle caps and steel wheels. I have even bought some hubcaps from the UK that I might be able to jury rig into position on the steel wheels.

I like both types of wheels but I am looking for a nudge either way. Help a fellah out here.

[Simeon]

These are the hubcaps by the way. Any ideas as to how I can make them fit would be good. If not everyone is getting a BMW themed wall clock for Christmas this year.

http://www.minedzone.com/ebay/p1-v53/c-291468659649.htm

[peterschop]

Check the availability of tires for both the 13" and 14" wheels. I put bottle caps on mine until I stumble across something better. They look right on the car.

 

[tzei]

I'm with peterschop - bottle caps. But steelies are not bad either.

[jimk]

On the bottlecaps, you probably will be better off with no rubs using 185/65 than the 195/60. 

[skylund]

I actually vote steelies.  I had chrome bottlecaps for a while which looked good, but its hard for me to shake the ubiquity of bottlecaps on e30s and not equate bottlecaps with "base model"

 

I suppose steelies are even more "base," but it feels more deliberate. 

 

[dlhoovler]

FWIW, I would also vote steelies on a roundie. To my eyes, the bottlecaps work best on a square-tail, probably because they're so similar to the later 2002 factory alloys.

 

-Dave

[arminyack]

E30 Steelies.

[Grover]

Personally I'm a big fan of the E30 steelies. My car, when I bought it 10 years ago, had bottle caps. At least to me, they just never looked quite right, a little too 80's or something. Now running the E30 steelies which I think have the right period look and are dirt cheap. The Alpina stickers are just for grins.

[jscaptura1]

I like the steelies from the E30. I have the old style steel wheels from '74-'76 and am not crazy about them. They look good and are period correct (mostly) but I think the other steel wheels look better. If anyone has a set hanging around, I am looking to change to the E30 steelies!

[Stu]

I like the steelies over bottlecaps. And they make car washing so much easier!

Edited May 29, 2015 by Stu

[TobyB]

The only shortcoming of the steelies is that they're half an inch narrower than the bottlecaps.

They certainly aren't any heavier.

 

I wish widening wheels was still done- a set of 7" steel rims would be very nice...

 

t

['76mintgrün'02]

I wish widening wheels was still done-

 

 

It is still done, according to this thread  http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/166683-federal-20560-13-still-available/

 

 

I'm taking them to Stockton Wheel. I've heard really good things about them and my father has used them in the past for wheel work on his old cars. The way it was explained to me is that they remove the center of the wheel then split the wheels barrel in the center. Add in whatever width you want and then reinstall the centers and set them at whatever offset you ask for. I'm either doing 6" or 6.5" wide.

[arminyack]

I thought banded wheels were illegal? Am I wrong, or can I have my own set of TISA created wheels now?! =)

[dlhoovler]

I thought banded wheels were illegal? Am I wrong, or can I have my own set of TISA created wheels now?! =)

 

Looking at Stockton's site, I think they actually cut out the centers, then use entirely new barrels--so they're not banded. They can also convert 14" to 15" wheels by making up the difference with a special barrel. I think that's the tack nbristow01 took with his setup.

 

-Dave