Rubber footprints and the rights and wrongs of big, blingy wheels are a bit of an ongoing theme here on PH at the moment, from my ongoing deliberations about whether I've
over-tyred my Eunos
to the possibly hasty decision to dump the dowdy winter rims on our Golf GTI long-termer
for the blingy 18s.
Originality (and ride comfort) be damned
Without wishing to state the bleedin' obvious, wheels make a huge difference to a car. We can - and will continue to do so - argue the toss about whether bigger is better. But what I'm talking about here is purely aesthetics. And in particular the apparently magical effect of that very originator of the alloy trend - BBS.
This train of thought was triggered by the 964 RS parked outside PH towers yesterday running on some extremely large BBS split rims. Now, the purist in me would say an RS should be running its original mag wheels. But if you are going to sling a set of aftermarket rims on a car like this there is only one acceptable route and that's a set of BBS alloys.
Jap cars benefit from the BBS effect too
What is it about these wheels that lift a car and get the PH heart beating that little bit quicker? Maybe it's association with some of the most PH-worthy cars ever. Mk1 Golf GTI. E30 M3s. Racing 911s on gold-centred split rims. It's not confined to the Germans either. The Impreza 22B would be a mega cool car in isolation. But there's something about the finishing touch provided by the BBS alloys that elevates it further still above its regular gold-wheeled brethren.
Funny really. The BBS look is an odd one - fake wires anyone? Gold centred fake wires even? And yet it just works. Audis, especially, always look that bit cooler on BBS style wheels.
So. I open it to the floor - what other cars have been defined by their choice of alloy? And is there any other style that works across so many types of cars of so many different eras and backgrounds?