In looking for a 15x7 wheel alternative, I came across Bassett wheels which (in silver) look similar to the stock steel wheels. Has anyone tried these on an E21? Searching here and the rest of the internet didn't yield anything except a grainy picture of a partially-disassembled E21 mocked-up with Bassetts and no tires. It would be good to see how closely they resemble the stock steelies.
The Bassetts are lug-centric, which is less-good than hub-centric, but probably most aftermarket wheels would not be hub-centric. Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem. If I am wrong about that, I'm sure someone will let me know!
Thanks!
If you don't care about weight, they will work. Extremely heavy in the 15" sizes compared to almost any aftermarket aluminum wheel. You will need the proper lug nuts and the type of machine or equipment needed to balance the rims properly as well.
91 318is
83 320is
Most aftermarket wheels that FIT properly are hubcentric by the way... Given e21's tendency to shimmy, I would not use anything that is not hubcentric. If you are unable to find e21 specific 15's, I'd get high quality hubcentric 15mm spacers and use the e30 wheels (with the offset in the 20's), as they are very common, new or used.
Max
Thanks for the info, everyone! There are too many strikes against these, plus seeing them on an E30 made me realize that these don't look enough like a stock steel wheel for my tastes. I will keep looking around while I slowly prepare my 13" wheels for refinishing in case I end up using those.
FYI I found a company called Corsa Steelies that have some nice looking wheels. I'm contemplating a 16" set for my e30 now for street wheels.
https://www.corsasteelies.com/wheels
Edit: WOW! Looks like a 16x8 is around 30 friggin pounds! As much as I love the look, I just can't justify double the weight of my euroweaves.
Last edited by captain awesome; 01-20-2019 at 11:53 PM.
91 318is
83 320is
The Corsa wheels look good, but 16x8 would be too radical for my car even if they didn't weigh so much. Someone should make a similar design in alloy - maybe someone already does.
So here is what I ended up doing - I bought a set of 15x7 Rota Grid Classics, gunmetal-painted centers with a polished lip. They look adequately non-descript. Once they are on the car (which will probably take me a few weeks because I still need to get tires, spacers, lugs, etc) I will post some pictures.
I think they had 15" wheels, especially for 2002 fitment as well.
What offset did you get on the Grids?
91 318is
83 320is
They have an offset of 20, so I will get spacers to push them out by 2 to 8 mm.
I have a question about lug bolt length: how far should the bolts extend past the inner face of the wheel?
-With the 13" BBS wheels that are on the car now, the associated 50mm bolts stick out about 25mm past the inside face.
-With the 13" turbine (OEM) wheels and 28mm bolts from my 1983 E21 parts car, the bolts only stick out about 18mm past the face.
Trying the 28mm bolts with the new wheels and the spacers, they stick out about 16mm past the inside face of the spacer.
Is 16mm past the inner face enough, or should I get the next-longer size of bolts?
Thanks in advance!
engineering states that a bolt needs to engage a fastener by the length of one bolt diameter.
a simpler answer may be; a bolt needs to engage 100% of it's fastener.
in some engineering fields a bolt should engage 100% it's fastener plus one pitch, but in reality any pitch extending pass it's fastener contributes no additional holding power.
an even simpler answer would be if the flange the wheel bolts to is 12.5 mm thick then the bolt needs to extend 12.5 mm past the wheel. Note: i don't know what the flange thickness is, that's up to you to discover.
Last edited by Tom D; 02-06-2019 at 05:18 PM.
Tom D
77 e21 - m42
88 e30m3
04 330 dinan3
84 r1000rt
02 r1150rs
all of them gray
14 f800gsa - red headed stepchild!
Engaging the fastener 100% plus one pitch is what I would expect, thanks for verifying! True that there is no additional holding power, but the exposed threads on the end will develop Nature's Loc-Tite after the first rain. I will measure the thickness of the hub flange, add it all up, and purchase bolts accordingly.
a longer bolt then needed does help facilitate wheel installation, but be aware that too long will cause interference, particularly with the rear brakes.
Tom D
77 e21 - m42
88 e30m3
04 330 dinan3
84 r1000rt
02 r1150rs
all of them gray
14 f800gsa - red headed stepchild!
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