E34 Build Questions

[brody.w527]

Hey y’all, i’m currently in the process of purchasing a very nice e34 with some euro parts on it, and i had a certain direction i want to take the build in.

Now i’m 19 years old so i wasn’t around when this car released and was possibly being modified, so i wanted to ask what wheels people would put on cars in the mid to late 90s on bimmers. I’m wanting to make the e34 an authentic 90s build, so i wanted to ask what some of you guys have seen on some older cars.

;)

[circuit.heart]

Most modified E34's are still done in the 90's style anyways, the community at large isn't very adventurous. 20 year old MPars and BBS meshies everywhere. All your AC Schnitzer, Alpina, Hartge, Racing Dynamics, Zender kitted cars haven't changed at all since the 90's either. The community isn't very adventurous, simply copying a clean example is basically a 90s style E34 already.

May as well have more fun with it and figure out what YOUR style is.

[brody.w527]

Most modified E34's are still done in the 90's style anyways, the community at large isn't very adventurous. 20 year old MPars and BBS meshies everywhere. All your AC Schnitzer, Alpina, Hartge, Racing Dynamics, Zender kitted cars haven't changed at all since the 90's either. The community isn't very adventurous, simply copying a clean example is basically a 90s style E34 already.

May as well have more fun with it and figure out what YOUR style is.

gotcha, i’ll sit down and look at some options. I’d like to be more unique, but there’s only so much you can do. thanks for the tip

[DennisCooper]

Hi Brody,

I got my E34 in 1999 when it was 4 years old and really enjoyed the 4.5 years or so I had with it. There are more options for various modifications nowadays so it comes down to your preference and what you like. Specific online forums will have a certain general viewpoint and for me, I find bimmerforums has more members who will modify their cars compared to bimmerfest. There's perhaps other forums or more likely nowadays face book and instagram groups that have more of the modifying owners out there doing more levels of modifications.

The UK forum where I had some pictures and a writeup of my Audio install in the E34 is offline currently so I can't link to it. It was a 95 525i Sport manual in Cosmos Black and I quickly added a set of AC Schnitzer Type 3 non Racing's in 18" to it, H&R springs over the standard MTEC shocks, changed amber indicators to Clear all round, ACS Stubby leather gearknob, the Audio and cross drilled brakes and uprated pads.

There's more choices of wheels nowadays, and some of the 'modern' stuff is a bit too angular or, twisty design flairs for my liking, I do prefer the high quality Tuner wheels referenced above ! I have an E39 now, and love my wheels so currently have about 11 sets in the collection - Hartge, Racing Dynamics and Alpina, I don't have but will get some more ACS wheels as I re-jig the collection. Will be putting a good number of sets up to move on soon too and get other sets I want!

Here's some pics from my E34 pics collection























There's thousands more pictures online and pretty much every wheel made will be pictured somewhere on an E34 ! You just need to whittle down to perhaps a shortlist of 4/5 sets you'd really like and purchase a set when they come up !

Cheers, Dennis!

[Onizukachan]

Finding them these days is the issue!
but acs type 3 or type 2 are the best wheels on an e34 imo. Hartge is a distant second.

[brody.w527]

Hi Brody,

I got my E34 in 1999 when it was 4 years old and really enjoyed the 4.5 years or so I had with it. There are more options for various modifications nowadays so it comes down to your preference and what you like. Specific online forums will have a certain general viewpoint and for me, I find bimmerforums has more members who will modify their cars compared to bimmerfest. There's perhaps other forums or more likely nowadays face book and instagram groups that have more of the modifying owners out there doing more levels of modifications.

There's thousands more pictures online and pretty much every wheel made will be pictured somewhere on an E34 ! You just need to whittle down to perhaps a shortlist of 4/5 sets you'd really like and purchase a set when they come up !

Cheers, Dennis!

Thanks a ton! The pictures you posted gave me a great sense of what kind of styles to look for that aren’t “generic BBS Mesh” if you know what i mean (side note: the black touring is sick af!).

Also your take on some forums and groups having a better perspective is 100% agreeable. I’m gonna start asking around in some other specialized e34 groups once i get my hands on the bimmer, but i wanted to keep the question accessible to anyone who may not be in those groups anymore (if that makes sense).

Anywho, i kindly appreciated your reply it helped a ton!

Happy Driving!

- - - Updated - - -

After some quick looking around and based on some of y’all recommendations, those 2 are definitely on the list of potential choices for sure!

Thanks a ton for the reply!

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

Onizukachan - Yes, finding the right spec wheels from the likes of ACS, Hartge, Racing Dynamics, Alpina, Hamann and other excellent wheel brands can be a long waiting game! sometimes you get lucky and other times it takes years! Some of my wheel collection indeed took years to source, other's came along quite quickly ! Everyone does have their own take/opinion on what's 'best' and as such there's one set answer ! I love my Hartge products, I've had the same love for ACS when I had my E34 and I still have a couple ultra rare bits of ACS items on my E39 ! There again I've also got Dinan, Racing Dynamics items/wheels too !

Brody.w527,

You're welcome! For me it goes way back to around 1989, all the local boys were running around in their E30/E21/E28 etc and going on and on about their 'BBS Cross Spokes' ! when I passed my driving test and modified my mums E30, I rocked up with some Racing Dynamics and their signature design is 5 spokes, and I remember all those boys with the 'same mesh wheels' jaw dropping and looking at my car ! it's stayed with me ever since! I prefer getting as rare/sought after/hard to find wheels and other modifications so that my car stays different from the crowd

What's your anticipated budget ? I can keep an eye out for a set, I semi regularly send wheel sets to the USA and shipping isn't as much as you may imagine. Over on the E39 section, i've sent perhaps 40+ wheel sets to owners in the US and Canada. Depending on what you'd ideally like I may have another option for you that I'm working on currently

Cheers, Dennis!

[brody.w527]

What's your anticipated budget ? I can keep an eye out for a set, I semi regularly send wheel sets to the USA and shipping isn't as much as you may imagine. Over on the E39 section, i've sent perhaps 40+ wheel sets to owners in the US and Canada. Depending on what you'd ideally like I may have another option for you that I'm working on currently

It’s looking like i’ll have about 2k+ to play with once the summer ends, should be enough for a decent set of wheels

the e34 i’m most likely gonna buy is below, has some really nice wheels on it already, just the fitment isn’t to my liking, and it’d need some spacers to get there (not a huge fan of spacers not black wheels anyways).
E5F7D836-E2C7-43F1-A476-F4CCA67FE377.jpeg2E86FF6F-D328-46CB-94F3-8CAB8C9D09A3.jpg

edited for typos

[moroza]

You want period-correct E34 wheels? And you presumably want it to function as good as it looks?

For the first... Forget about spacers. The stretch-n-poke thing wasn't in the 90's, but a decade or two later. Also, forget about 18" or bigger wheels; yes, they existed in the 90's, but they don't ride any better now than then, and were used on the E34 only for marketing reasons, over the objections of the engineers and test drivers. Those Nakedstars (M-System "Throwing Stars" minus the covers) aren't merely "nice", they're -the- wheel around which the E34, particularly in its Motorsport variant, was designed. Those look like the forged version, too.

For the second... take that money and put most or all of it towards a full suspension rebuild (unless you know that major work was done recently and correctly). It'll run right around 2k for quality parts, and is worth every penny. There's the general adage of Maintenance Before Mods. There's also a lot to be said for Form Follows Function, and an E34 happens to function exceptionally well, specifically when it comes to suspension. Perfect wheels don't mean a damn thing if the car shakes and won't track straight, and anyway your proposed specimen already has the perfect wheels.

Follow up in the E34 board; there's a few folks well-versed in what to do with one.

[brody.w527]

Follow up in the E34 board; there's a few folks well-versed in what to do with one.

Gotcha, the e34 i’m getting has been pretty meticulously maintained. it’s also coming with some 1000 mile BCs. But i’ll definitely check the other suspension bits to see if those need replacement soon.

About the wheels as well, that’s pretty much exactly what i was thinking as well. Since M-pars/Shooting stars can be a bit expensive, i was looking for some alternatives. Obviously you can’t go wrong with other BMW wheels (ie: a style 66), but i was looking for aftermarket as well. The plan for the build is trying to make it as like authentic as possible. Unlike what other kids my age are g
doing (tilty wheels and suspension dropped on it’s nuts).

edit: forgot to mention that the car won’t come with those wheels at the price that he and i agreed on. It’ll basically be stock with suspension and some other small goodies (here’s hoping i can buy the euro bumpers and wheels off of him at the end of the summer ��)

Thanks for the advice!

[WERDNA1975]

Currently, I'm still running my winter setup (from Colorado) ,but I already have a new to me set of OZ racing wheels from the 90s ready to go for good weather. Most older BMWs look best on period correct aftermarket or OEM+ wheels from newer or other models to me plus you can't fault the quality of OEM wheels. I like some expensive wheels ,but refuse to pay stupid money ( aka BBS splits or forged multipiece HRE etc ) for wheels on my older cars. I like the Brotiform wheels on the Driftworks site a lot ,but not for 5K , Damn https://www.driftworks.com/rotiform-...ce-wheels.html , They are a new version of the OE BMW M1 wheel. Here are all the BMW wheels to choose from https://www.bmwoemwheels.com/en/

If you did get that car and don't want those black wheels that are currently on it , I do want them and I'm in north Alabama close to where you are.