Which wheels do you like better?

slo town

slo town

Joined
Mar 3, 2011
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Location
The Willow Creek District AVA
Y'all:

I'm looking to lighten my load a bit. I have two premium sets of wheels and tires for my BMW E46. I'm going to sell one set.

BBS CH 19x8.5 ET 35 with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 235/35-15s. A "square" setup. Wheels are BNIB flawless. Tires have less than 1,000 miles on them. Note these wheels are the the original CH versions without that silly looking chrome ring on the rim edge.

BMW OEM Style 225M 19x8 ET 37 front with Michelin Pilot Sport P4S 235/35-19s, 19x9 ET 39 rear with 245/35-19s. A "staggered" setup. Wheels are BNIB flawless. Tires have less than 2,000 miles on them.

I'm having a hard time making a decision. What do y'all think?

Scott

BBS CH
IMG_2052.jpg


BMW Style 225M
IMG_3172.jpeg
 
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Man. The BBS wheels have a beefier/heavier look while the OEM wheels are just classic. Does square vs staggered mean anything to you? Will it make a big difference some day when you sell this car at this obsessive level of perfection if it has OEM or aftermarket? Some guys change wheels/tires first thing just because stock sucks, in this case maybe not. If the car is stock otherwise I lean OEM.
 
I like the BMW wheels slightly better. It is a close call and the tires are part of it, but the way the front CH's look around the wheel well arch seals the deal for me.

If the CH were the same sizes with the same tires as the BMW wheels its highly likely I would like them better.
 
Objective - have less stuff lying around.
Okay, selling either does that.
For me, what would go into the decision is which are lighter. Which has the better set of tires mounted. I might lean to the square setup as I could do a 4 tire rotation.

With the BBS 8.5" wide wheel, can you still go with staggered tires if you wanted to? The different width BMW wheels preclude this, but the uniform BBS wheels may give you more options.

I'd probably lean towards the BBS wheels. Some say dated, and yet the car is older as an E46, so it might be consistent with the car.
 
javacontour said:
The E46 was late 90s to early 2000's, so they fit in.
Click to expand...
They do. i think those 225M wheels were used on the 1 series, and something like them was used on the older E36 M3, I think….

This is a hard decision, usually I dislike aftermarket wheels, but could go either way on this one…
 
slo town said:
Y'all:

I'm looking to lighten my load a bit. I have two premium sets of wheels and tires for my BMW E46. I'm going to sell one set.

BBS CH 19x8.5 ET 35 with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 235/35-15s. A "square" setup. Wheels are BNIB flawless. Tires have less than 1,000 miles on them. Note these wheels are the the original CH versions without that silly looking chrome ring on the rim edge.

BMW OEM Style 225M 19x8 ET 37 front with Michelin Pilot Sport P4S 235/35-19s, 19x9 ET 39 rear with 245/35-19s. A "staggered" setup. Wheels are BNIB flawless. Tires have less than 2,000 miles on them.

I'm having a hard time making a decision. What do y'all think?

Scott

BBS CH
View attachment 132073

BMW Style 225M
View attachment 132074
Click to expand...
Both are classy/classic BMW - would go by condition …
 
Kira said:
While I'm no fan of staggered wheels setups, I'd say keep the BMW 225M wheels and unload the BBS.

Are the 225M's original?
Click to expand...
Yes, they are original. Not knock offs or refinished. They are literally in BNIB condition.

AZjeff said:
Man. The BBS wheels have a beefier/heavier look while the OEM wheels are just classic. Does square vs staggered mean anything to you? Will it make a big difference some day when you sell this car at this obsessive level of perfection if it has OEM or aftermarket? Some guys change wheels/tires first thing just because stock sucks, in this case maybe not. If the car is stock otherwise I lean OEM.
Click to expand...
Yes. The problem is I vacillate back and forth on whether I like the the square or staggered setup best. There are advantages to a square setup because you can rotate the tires. But, I never do that because I keep the tires at the same location so that scrub into the particular alignment settings for that corner. Increasing tire life is not a priority for me because at this point the care is driven less than 1,000 miles per year. It's kind of turned into a museum piece. But let me assure it still gets out and gets driven in a respectful but very sporting manner.

javacontour said:
Objective - have less stuff lying around.
Okay, selling either does that.
For me, what would go into the decision is which are lighter. Which has the better set of tires mounted. I might lean to the square setup as I could do a 4 tire rotation.

With the BBS 8.5" wide wheel, can you still go with staggered tires if you wanted to? The different width BMW wheels preclude this, but the uniform BBS wheels may give you more options.

I'd probably lean towards the BBS wheels. Some say dated, and yet the car is older as an E46, so it might be consistent with the car.
Click to expand...
The BBS wheels have a roll forged inner barrel. They are about 5 pounds lighter each than the 225M wheel, which is fully cast, and made in Italy.

I could go staggered with tires on the BBS wheels. A 245/35 would fit the rears without any clearance problems.

The BBS wheels have the better tires - Cup 2s. Once warm the grip levels are INSANE. But there is a downside. They pick up every little stone and rock chunk. If I drive over a "dirty" road surface with hot tires it makes me cringe. I can hear stuff peppering the underside of the car. But I sure like the grip the Cup 2s offer...

JHZR2 said:
They do. i think those 225M wheels were used on the 1 series, and something like them was used on the older E36 M3, I think….

This is a hard decision, usually I dislike aftermarket wheels, but could go either way on this one…
Click to expand...
The 225M wheels were a factory option on the E92s. There are aftermarket wheels and there are aftermarket wheels. I am 100% confident the BBS CHs are equal to - or superior to the 225Ms. In fact, one thing I do NOT like about the 225Ms is the wheel finish. The CHs have a brilliant glossy shine. The 225Ms, not so much.

At any rate, based on all your replies, you can see my dilemma.

Scott
 
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