E36 replica alloys - opinions

[sniff diesel]

I need a replacement front motorsport alloy for my 3.0l M3. Finding it hard to find a genuine alloy for sale on it's own, most seem to be replicas. What are people's thoughts on these?

[sniff diesel]

Do these look the real deal to you?:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/E36-M3-MOTORSPORT-ALLOYS-WID...

[clabcon]

real ones are embossed BMW MOTORSPORT, not just MOTORSPORT.

£200 for a replica set is too much when genuines can be had for not much more these days.

[sniff diesel]

clabcon said:

real ones are embossed BMW MOTORSPORT, not just MOTORSPORT.

£200 for a replica set is too much when genuines can be had for not much more these days.

Yeah I've noticed that. Some replicas don't even say MOTORSPORT on them.

Having a better look and my car has no spare, 2 narrow wheels on the back, and on the front there is one narrow one and one wide one, but all 4 tyres are matching 235/40's. There's got to be a reason for the wider wheel being on the front, one's propably been knocked out of balance so been put on the back to minimise vibrations. So I only need one new wider wheel then I can keep a narrow one as a spare.

[MarkwG]

sniff diesel said:

Yeah I've noticed that. Some replicas don't even say MOTORSPORT on them.

- some real ones don't either: mine are the real deal, & have nothing on them, except a small M sport badge between two of the bolt holes.

[sniff diesel]

This is a proper can of worms. I suppose the only way to make sure is to take them off and look at the markings.

[MarkwG]

If I ever get five minutes to do it, I'm swapping mine over to the Contours: I'll have a look through the crud & see if there's anything useful.

[BluePurpleRed]

As far as I remember the ones with the 'motorsport' embossed on them should be from the lightweight editions from the 3.0 and are the saem size all round. 235 I believe. I have the 3.2 Evo and these should NOT have the embossing and instead are wider on the rear and so carry 225 front 245 rear.

Hope this helps.

[sniff diesel]

Managed to get a wheel from this place, only a couple of miles out of Shrewsbury:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/CR-M-Tech-BMW-E36-an...

Specialist M3 breakers and very helpfull chap is Chris. He swapped my existing tyre onto a new (used) genuine BMW rim, balanced it and even let me use his 2 post lift to swap the wheels round front to rear and attend to my blowing exhaust. All for £50!

I will definately be going back next time I need bits.

[paoloh]

Shame, I've got a full set for £125 if anyone is interested.

[andygtt]

BluePurpleRed said:

As far as I remember the ones with the 'motorsport' embossed on them should be from the lightweight editions from the 3.0 and are the saem size all round. 235 I believe. I have the 3.2 Evo and these should NOT have the embossing and instead are wider on the rear and so carry 225 front 245 rear.

Hope this helps.

My Evo has wider rims at the back and no 'motorsport' embossed on them so may point to this being correct.

[htid]

andygtt said:

BluePurpleRed said:

As far as I remember the ones with the 'motorsport' embossed on them should be from the lightweight editions from the 3.0 and are the saem size all round. 235 I believe. I have the 3.2 Evo and these should NOT have the embossing and instead are wider on the rear and so carry 225 front 245 rear.

Hope this helps.

My Evo has wider rims at the back and no 'motorsport' embossed on them so may point to this being correct.

This is correct,

Edited by htid on Tuesday 28th July 10:34