3d rendering of steel rims on my car

[waters17]

I've got this cursed style 666 rim on my car. It's not on the car now, but it was. I hit a pothole and it bent. So I'm all 'hey, i'll just buy a new one'. Noooo. I got a set of 4 brand new about 2 years ago and they were $260/ea. I looked them up the other day, and now I'm seeing $370/ea. Then I go on to read that BMW rims are softer than your run of the mill rim.

Now I still have my old m-pars, but I got a quote on tires and they're wanting ~$850 for for the Mich Pilot Sports. ugh.. Then there's the fear potholes will destroy my m-pars.

Anyway, the roads are crap and my car is essentially a commuter, so why not steel? I found this place online Corsa, and they sell custom steelies, and the rims are fairly cheap.

So here's my rendering of 16x8 steel rims with 245/50 tires. I'm still tweaking the rendering, so the colors (or lack there of) are a little weird.
modified.jpg

I kinda like it.

So the goal now is to sell my m-pars and style 66 wheels so I can buy 4 new rims and tires without it being too painful.

[MotorMouth93]

Bent wheels can usually be repaired.

[waters17]

I know, I got a quote for $100, but I don't want to go that route, and I also wanted to go to 16" rims for more sidewall action.

[Mike WW]

There's been a bit of a movement lately towards steel wheels. Being different is worth something, although I'm not a fan of the trend. If it's just the 16s you want, style 29s came in 16 and while a little common and pedestrian aren't really a bad looking wheel. But it's your car, so if it's steelies you want, go for it!

[DennisG01]

I don't want to comment on the "looks" - that's a personal thing and my opinion on that doesn't/shouldn't matter to you. BUT, going to a heavier rim is going to increase your unsprung weight and will affect the handling/ride quality. By how much? Hard to say. Some will say a "huge" difference and others will say "not so much". It WILL affect it, but how noticeable it is? That's another personal thing. If you're just looking for a reliable daily driver, and not so concerned with ride quality, then it probably won't bother you much, if at all. Now, will it wear the suspension components faster? I suppose so - I mean, physics always work. But again, by how much is hard to say - at least by me.

[WBAD530i]

I think the 16 inch Style 33s are just what you need, can prob find them in a junkyard. They don't look half bad and you get a meaty tire. They are the ones that came on non-sport 540i

Style 29 is the other obvious choice as well.

[waters17]

I used to have style 29's but I got rid of them. That was a nice ride. Kinda regretting things now.

Good point on the weight. I looked up some numbers, but rim weight don't seem to be all that reliable. I'm going to weigh mine this weekend.
I got the rims weights from various places on the internet, and I got the tire weights from tiresize.com

Style 37's
Front Rim Weight: 21.6-23.6 lbs + 25 lbs tire = 46.6-48.6 lbs
Rear Rim Weight: 22.5-23.8 lbs + 28 lbs tire = 50.5-51.8 lbs

Style 65's
Front Rim Weight: 24.2 lbs + 26 lbs tire = 50.2 lbs
Rear Rim Weight: 25.18 lbs + 28 lbs tire = 53.18 lbs

Steelies, 8x16 with 245/50 tires
Corsa steelie rim ~30 lbs + 25 lbs = 55 lbs

Looks like I'm still over even compared to the style 65's. I'm curious about people who run 19+ size rims and their handling issues.


I'm not a huge fan of the style 33's.

[Jason5driver]

I like style 5's, 17" x 8".
I also really like style 66's as well, that came on the 540i's.
I will take your old style 66's ...
What program did you use for the rendering ?
Pretty cool !

[waters17]

Thanks. I'm kinda digging the style 5's. They came in 16x8 on the e38, but the offset is 23mm as opposed to 20 on the 17x8.

I'll PM you later regarding the style 66's when I get things figured out. It's a square set up, btw.

I'm using 3ds max and vray. The e39 model was a free sketchup model I found online. I made the wheels in solidworks and imported in max.

[Jason5driver]

Style 5's came in 16" as well...

[ULtm8drvnmchn]

I just pulled off a set of excellent condition wheels and nearly brand new all season tires with right at 1000 miles on them.

[edjack]

The early non-sport 540s came with 225/55-16s with a 7-inch rim.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Hey Waters, trade ya some perfect Style 29’s with sort of new Michelin’s and some loot for them possessed style 66’s. Really, I only need a nine inch rear, but it’s always good to have spares.

[waters17]

Hey Waters, trade ya some perfect Style 29’s with sort of new Michelin’s and some loot for them possessed style 66’s. Really, I only need a nine inch rear, but it’s always good to have spares.

Sorry, man, no 9's here. I'm running a 8x17 square setup. :/

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Awww crap!

[geargrinder]

Then I go on to read that BMW rims are softer than your run of the mill rim.

Hmmm. I would say thats bad information. Generally real OE rims are actually considered decently high quality "as OE rims go".
One problem you have is the prevalence of reps out there, so guys complain "man I had these M-pars that were like silly putty and always bent!" when they were actually some rep bullcrap.

Now model to model I'm sure there's differences and they're made by different contractors (BBS makes a lot of them for instance) but if I had to have a rule it would not be "OE BMW Rims are Crap".

Crap rims are more like reps, or, base-car VAG wheels. Indeed I had some genuine Audi wheels off base-models that were pretty bendy shi77y.

[waters17]

I hate bad information. Thanks for clearing it up.

**warning** The info below may be bad.

As a side note, I looked more into weights and then looked into hubs/bearings. Supposedly, 540i and M5 use the same front bearings, but the hub is different. So there shouldn't be any more stress on the bearings.

Rear bearings between the M5 and the 540i are the same part number.

I got my weights from bmw-etk.info (the info below may differ from above info, and I really have no idea if it's accurate or not.) -for tires I used Michelin Pilot Sports

M5
Front Rotors: 26.5 lbs
Front Rims: 24.2 lbs
Front Tires: 26 lbs
Total Weight: 76.7 lbs

Rear Rotors: 16.4 lbs
Rear Rims: 25.2 lbs
Rear Tires: 28 lbs
Total Weight: 69.6 lbs

540i
Front Rotors: 23.1 lbs
Rear Rotors: 12.6 lbs

Corsa Steelies
Front -for tires I used some cooper zeons 245/50)
540i rotors: 23.1 lbs
Steel Rims: 30 lbs
Tire: 25 lbs
Total: 78.1 lbs

Rear
540i rotors: 12.6 lbs
Steel Rims: 30 lbs
Tire: 25 lbs
Total: 67.6 lbs



**edit** 2/22/19 12:36PM
I don't trust those weights on the rims, so I changed the values using info from an M5 forum post.

[computiNATEor]

Adding 6 lbs of rotating unsprung mass per corner seems like a bad idea to me. Rotating unsprung weight is the worst type of weight to have in a car. And while I kinda dig the rendering, I suspect as soon as those steelies see some BMW brake dust and the paint is damaged, the rust on the rims is gonna be ugly.

[waters17]

I really think it looks awesome, but decided against it. I'm getting style 29's instead.

You know, this is the first car I've ever had where I had zero brake dust issues. I'm running Akebono pads if that means anything.

[computiNATEor]

I really think it looks awesome, but decided against it. I'm getting style 29's instead.

You know, this is the first car I've ever had where I had zero brake dust issues. I'm running Akebono pads if that means anything.

Ah, yes, the Ake's are dustless. Good street pads.