2000 BMW 750il M-Pars authentic or fake and best tire sizes and tires recommended

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Hi all,
I have a 2000 bmw 750il that I have been enjoying. Although, just had to have trannie rebuilt at $2900 and about 1k in other small things. Car has only 75k miles so happy to fix knowing won't have issue for a long time with proper maintenance with transmission anyways. Found a staggered set of M parallel wheels I am picking up today. Guy just had them re-powder coated and says they are genuine OEM rims. Just wanted to know what to look for to verify authenticity? Will be purchasing somewhere between 750 and 850 cash. Its a set of 5 rims. 3 of them being front rims. They are staggered being 18x8 in front and 18x9.5 in the rear. My other question is what is the best tire sizes for front and rear. I understand the stock set up is supposed to be 235/50/18 in the front and 255/45/18 in the rear. I was thinking a larger tire would probably look better. I was thinking of going with 245/45/18 in the front and either 275/40/18 or 285/40/18 in the rear. My concern is will the larger tires cause my DSC light to come on and any other problems? I currently have what I believe to be 16 inch style 32 rims. I will try to post pictures of what car looks like now and a cpl pictures of the M-pars I am supposed to pick up today. Will the car need to be lowered at all after changing the rims out or will it look as it should? These rims came off an e31 I believe which if I understand correctly is direct fitment for e38? Lastly, I was wondering what the best option for tires will be in these sizes? I was thinking of going with Michelin AS3's which I confirmed they have in the larger tire sizes. Pirelli P zeros are back ordered and about 500 a tire so that doesn't make sense to do. Micheline pilot super sports they didn't have in those sizes. The other option was the continental extreme contact sport (I think thats what it is called) at $180 for front tires and $269 for rears in the 285/40/18 size. All your help and input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Here is a photo of how the car looks now. Will the M-pars look correct without having to make changes to the suspension? The piece of white tape is no longer on the car btw - I removed that right after I took this photo. This was the day I bought it. Paid 4k in the car and now have about 8k so far .

[clarkitect]

Those look like reps. Will probably look fine, I have reps as my winter set and they look good. OEM Mpars have raised lettering and logo and are clear coated not silver powder coated.

^^MISINFORMATION.

You don’t need to make any suspension changes.

Also there’s a lot of debate about tire size. OEM is. 235/50 on front and 255/45 rear. 285/40 gives the exact same circumference as the 255/45 on the back and also the same amount of bulge as the 235/50’s on the front. Simple calculations prove this. But many are happy with their choices.

Honestly I went with 285s at the back but will probably go back to 255 next time. Fortunately it’s hard to screw up too badly because they wear out in a hurry.

Looks like a nice car!

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Thank you for the reply! What tires are you running and size? Maybe I had it backwards I thought the genuine forged OEM m-pars had stamped BMW lettering and serial numbers on the back and the Cast replicas or later produced M-pars had raised lettering. Just trying to learn as much as possible. Am I overpaying if they are replicas?

[clarkitect]

Actually I just went out to look at mine and they look just like yours so I have it backwards.



Running 285 rear, 235 front.

850 seems pricey! I have a set with tires I’d love to get $500 for. Mint.

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Well dang 500 seems really good compared to 850 he was asking 950. Planned on negotiating when I go look at them. They do look very similar to the ones you posted. Are those genuine or replicas? Should I stick with the 235's in the front compared to the 245 I was thinking of doing? I guess like you said they will wear out pretty fast and I can mess with them till I find the combo I like . Aren't a new set of genuine m pars like $2500?

[clarkitect]

The ones I posted are genuine. Powdercoating on the ones you posted doesn’t look too good. Some bubbling on the face and OEM wheels are definitely clear powdercoated aluminum, with some actually chrome I beleive.Those look silver coated.

Frankly I’d look around.

For tires the fronts will last much longer than the rears. You’ll get many opinions but 235/50 seems fine to me for front. They don’t look stretched. They look exactly like 285/40’s on the wider rear wheels. Basically if you stick to a few known quantities and shop for a good deal you’ll be fine.

[gaspump]

Keep looking.

[RIboater2]

For the record I like the current look. Those wheels are unique to the 750. "Turbo" wheels lol. I have one as my spare. My car came with a set of OEM Mpars and I also later bought an high quality rep wheel/tire package. They were Italian made IIRC with Kumhos. You will burn through tires faster and the ride quality will be worse than the 16" you have now. Now I always have a spare set to refinish when i need new tires for a totally fresh look. I just spray them silver with a high quality clear coat. Done. It was extremely difficult to strip the paint from the pockets on the OEM. it's some kind of plastic or something that even propane torch had trouble. You shouldn't pay a premium price for reps but beyond that it just doesn't matter which they are. They look the same and that's the point.

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Thank you all for the responses. Yes you were right after further inspection of photos something was not right with those wheels, especially after asking the guy and his response was he didn't know what he did to them. HAHAH. So I didn't even go look at them. Found another set of 5 no tires on them for 600. May go look at those if the guy gets back to me. Clarkitect where are you located? Ide be interested in purchasing yours depending where you are located. RIboater2 I agree with you and I like those wheels as well and plan on keeping them. The thing is I really like the m-pars too. I will probably do two different sets of tires on each depending on time of year, trip, etc.

[clarkitect]

My wheels are in VT. Shipping is somewhat of an issue.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...n-Pilot-Sports

[Narlift]

850 just for the rims? All 5 rims should have new tires for that price.
Thief.

[acspecialists]

The reps will be 74 center bore the real thing are 72.6. There were two versions, cast and machined. The cast wheels have raised letters and the machined wheels have engraved letters. I just went through this myself, I have reps that were free but I had to pay to straighten them. They look just fine at 100mph!

I have been running conti's at the track and on the street. The all season DWS have been great, the extreme sport contacts on the track have also been great. They are a tad behind michelin in the rating but unless you take your car to the track you will never notice. As you already know they are cheaper. Unless they are slicks those are the most common brands I see at the track. As for the size it's personal, I run the widest tire I can and adjust the profile to keep the diameter close. Timm's has a great spreadsheet,

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E31/Timms_b..._tyre_page.htm

[jclausen]

All BMW's have a partial part number on the wheel some where, the wheels pictured are not BMW wheels. The number would look like 1 234 756, the the size of the wheel also like 8jx17. M cars will have the last three of the part number near the valve stem

[Bimmerboatmd25]

Clarkitect I'm on the west coast so that would not have worked. I ended up finding a set of 5 without tires that appear to be genuine forged. They are stamped not raised lettering. They aren't perfect but in pretty good shape overall(good enough for me) and paid 400 for them all. I am going with the continental extreme contact sport tires with 285/40/18 in the rear and 245/45/18 on the fronts. acsspecialists really appreciate all that information! Extremely useful reading through the link provided as well! Thanks for that! jclausen my understanding is that the genuine forged m parallels have part numbers ending in 631 or 633 if I am correct? Those wheels I originally posted looked really crappy as you all helped point out so I never went and looked at them and kept looking. Ill post some pics of them here shortly

[Qsilver7]

Ditto some of the comments above. OE MPars will have the BMW logo and wheel specs ENGRAVED into the rear side of the spokes...and the spokes will be smooth. If they are cast replicas...then the wheel spec info will be raised lettering from the alloy being poured into the "cast" of the wheel.

Examples of BMW info and specs on the rear of the spokes of oe MPars:

{rear wheel specs for the e38 MPar}


{rear BMW part nbr for e38 MPar}


{front BMW part nbr for e38 MPar}


{front wheel specs for e38 MPar}

[clarkitect]

Yeah shipping would have been difficult.

Here’s info on mpars with part numbers:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=36_0189

[jclausen]

I've never seen factory wheels marked like that, I have never seen them with the complete part number. Usually they are cast in not stamped in.

[CPHES]

For a forged wheel, they can’t be cast in. The pics above are real e38 Mpar part #’s

[Qsilver7]

I've never seen factory wheels marked like that, I have never seen them with the complete part number. Usually they are cast in not stamped in.

For a forged wheel, they can’t be cast in. The pics above are real e38 Mpar part #’s

Ditto CPHES...how the wheel specs appear on the wheel...reveals if the wheel is cast or forged.

If it is a cast alloy wheel...then the specs are "raised letters" because the info is designed into the "cast mold" that the liquified alloy is poured into...then the cast mold is removed after the alloy has cooled. Thus the name "cast alloy".

A forged wheel is cut from a solid piece of alloy...thus the specs are engraved into the wheel.

This also goes back to an old debate (if you pull MPar threads from the past)...where it was thought that the e39 MPars were forged (because the part database plainly states so)...but the description for the e38 & e31 (8 series) at the time only stated "light alloy"...so most assumed that they were "cast alloy"...I was one of them.

But then after realizing/considering this simple identification of forged wheels...why would BMW pay the extra money to engrave this info on e38 & e31 MPars if they were "cast"? If they were cast it would be easier & cheaper to add this info to the cast's mold (just like they do the other cast wheels) and be done with it. Also, cast wheels have dips and crevices...high spots and low spots...again he to liquid alloy being poured into the mold...forged wheels are solid pieces because its cut from a solid block...and the oe BMW e38/e31 MPars have solid spokes...no dips and crevices etc.

Example of a replica cast alloy MPar (indentations give-away that it is cast):

Example of a forged alloy Mpar (no indentations):

[jimmypall]

Are Mpars still available new from BMW?

[rslifkin]

Are Mpars still available new from BMW?

Yes they are. Not cheap, but at the same time, no worse that you'd expect for buying forged wheels.

[Ruskii]

Another way to tell if wheels are replicas: REAL wheels have drainage slots on the back of those (alignment?) holes so water doesn't sit against the rotor; REPLICA wheels do not have those!

I had replica wheels on my e39 and currently have real ones on e38.

[740iSport303]

Another way to tell if wheels are replicas: REAL wheels have drainage slots on the back of those (alignment?) holes so water doesn't sit against the rotor; REPLICA wheels do not have those!

Not necessarily true, had a set of replica's that had the drainage slots too. They looked nearly perfect, but they were still replica's.

[Ruskii]

^ good to know!