"Alpina" wheels on E32 - genuine?

[Jonny_]

Picked up a cheap E32 recently, and it's sat on some 19-spoke 17" wheels which the seller described as "Alpinas".

I have my doubts as to their provenance, given the meagre sale price of the car to which they're attached and the lack of any identifying marks, but would be nice to know for certain.

Either way I'll be rubbing them down and giving them a quick respray, but if they're the real thing I might consider finding some centre caps and flogging them!

These are the wheels in question, if anyone can confirm whether they're just cheapo lookalikes or not I'll be grateful


http://img24.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p3150709.j...


http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p3150710....

[Fox-]

Fake.

[MarkwG]

^what fox- says^ - 'fraid I agree - 19 spokes, genuine have 20 as far as I know.

[derin100]

Sorry Jonny,

But as others have said I'm afraid they're copies. In all probability they are BK 171s.

Alpina have an exclusive copyright on 20 spokes...and have previously sued on that basis!

Edited by derin100 on Sunday 15th March 22:34

[Jonny_]

Lol, thanks guys!

That's not unexpected, and now I know it's not worth trying to find centre caps for 'em!

Personally I prefer the 15" BMW/BBS ones anyway; these big wheels just don't suit the E32. Will look for a cheap set of these, then give these 17" ones a respray and pop them on ebay - hopefully they'll fetch enough to cover the cost of the BBS wheels!

[Slurms]

Think the Alpina wheels all have the valves in the centre as well not on the rim as with most tyres..

[MarkwG]

^valves^ = mostly - older ones, circa late '70's into early '80s had the valves on the outer rims. These look like clones of the early versions to me.