BBS 15" wheel refurb finished!

[jrhone]

Finished my wheel refurb project and I love the results. These wheels started out as Mazda RX7 convertible wheels. 15x6 et40. I had them redrilled to 4x100 and the lops polished. I repainted the centers mrdium metallic grey. Found a rare set of blue BBS center caps then repainted the lug cover nut in "chrome".   Cool thing is they are 11 pounds a wheel. Very light. Just need to put the longer rear studs on the car so I can use spacers for the perfect fit. 

 

Edited March 26, 2017 by jrhone

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Very nice looking! I've never tried refrubing wheels yet, but everyone generally seems to get great looking results from what I can tell.  How difficult was the prep work with all of those spokes before you started painting?

[Gordon]

Great job with your wheels. Did you do the repaint of the wheels yourself or have a wheel shop do it? I have a set of old school 15X7 ET26 MSW wheels that I need to paint silver. They are currently painted gunmetal gray. I'm thinking of taking a can of rattlecan silver wheel paint to them. If Keith Kreeger can get his wheels to go from gold to silver with a can of wheel spray paint, then I need to give it a try. Here's what the MSW wheels will look like on a 2002tii (Bo Black's 74tii). The MSW wheels will go on my E30, the bottlecaps have got to go.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Gordon

[zinz]

Gorgeous.. very well done.  A 15" wheel that's only 11 pounds is a wonderful thing; "add lightness" wherever you can, especially unsprung weight.  

[Gordon]

I like how you did the center caps in a "chrome" look.  When I restored my 15X7 ET25 Centra Type 11 wheels, this pic of BBS wheel on a E21 inspired me to do the center caps in silver instead of painting them the same color as the center area of the wheel. Having the center cap color as the same color as the outer lip makes the wheel stand out more.  What tire size are you going to run on these wheels?

 

G-Man

[jrhone]

I painted the centers myself. The tedious part was masking it. Then I shot it with white primer and then the duplicolor enamel paint then the duplicilor clear. Painting took lots of paint and a few coats to get the spokes and everything done adequately. It was almost a can a wheel. I plan on running 195/50/15 on them but 195/55/15 may be something to look at to give me a tad more sidewall but it may be too tall. Since they are ET 40 wheels I will run at least a 10mm spacer but maybe 10 in the front and 15 rear?  They are a 6.5" wheel so I have a little room to play with. A 10mm spacer should fit exactly lik the e30 14" wheels on the car now. Fronts are good and maybe a tad more on the rear. Then there is maybe stagger the rear tires to a 205/50/15 as well. Lol. Choices!  

[Tlambert]

I'm pondering tire sizes as well, my wheels are Rota 20, 15x 6. I have Ireland stage 1 Springs. 195/55/15's are exactly same diameter as 185/70/13's. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Tlambert

[Gordon]

2 hours ago, Tlambert said:

I'm pondering tire sizes as well, my wheels are Rota 20, 15x 6. I have Ireland stage 1 Springs. 195/55/15's are exactly same diameter as 185/70/13's. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Read this thread before you buy tires.

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/articles.html/technical-articles/engine-and-drivetrain/tires-and-wheels-fitment-guide-r116/

What's the offset on your Rota 20 wheels?  Most 02 owners with 15" wheels go with 195/50-15 tires, I have 15X7 ET25 wheels and I have no issues with 195/50-15 tires on my tii. . 185/70-13 was not the stock tire size on a 02, 165/80-13 is stock. Plug some tire sizes into this calculator for speedo error calculations. http://www.paspeedo.com/calculator.htm  Not much difference between stock 13" size and 195/50-15.

 

G-Man

[Tlambert]

Thanks Gordon, good info! The offset on my wheels is 29.

[Longdrawz]

jrhone...those wheels came out sharp!  

[Tommy]

3 hours ago, Gordon said:

Read this thread before you buy tires.

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/articles.html/technical-articles/engine-and-drivetrain/tires-and-wheels-fitment-guide-r116/

What's the offset on your Rota 20 wheels?  Most 02 owners with 15" wheels go with 195/50-15 tires, I have 15X7 ET25 wheels and I have no issues with 195/50-15 tires on my tii. . 185/70-13 was not the stock tire size on a 02, 165/80-13 is stock. Plug some tire sizes into this calculator for speedo error calculations. http://www.paspeedo.com/calculator.htm  Not much difference between stock 13" size and 195/50-15.

 

G-Man

Using Miata.net calculator, which I like best, nearest of the options is 195/55. It's only 2mm bigger in diameter while 195/50 is actually 18mm smaller comparing to stock.

195/55/15 is not common choice but I'm guessing it would be just perfect for an -02 that is not dropped too much. For my eye 195/50 is too small. 

 

Great looking wheels BTW, will be perfect with the 10mm spacers.

 

Tire Size Comparison

Specification  Sidewall  Radius  Diameter  Circumference    Revs/km  Difference
165/80-13         132mm   297mm     594mm         1867mm        536        0.0%
195/50-15          98mm   288mm     576mm         1810mm        553       -3.1%
195/55-15         107mm   298mm     596mm         1871mm        535        0.2%
205/50-15         102mm   293mm     586mm         1841mm        543       -1.4%