OE BBS wheels

[...]
But I digress ... in this thread someone asked about the wheels on Dave's car :

[...]
Dave responded by saying the wheels were OE 3 piece BBS wheels fitted as an option by the dealer. They were clearly a rare option, and supposedly lighter than the usual OE 5 spoke 16" one piece mag/aluminium wheels.

Whilst trawling through many hours of Youtube videos, I recently found this :



If you're adept with the settings on YT you can get subtitles up on screen AND have them translated (but the translation is somewhat poor ...) though I'm sure one of our German contributors can help if any further translation is needed

The lower ride height of Dave's car (and I suspect the car in the YT video ?) along with the deeper front spoiler and 3 piece 16" BBS wheels makes for a mighty fine looking 308

Hope you enjoy the video.[/QUOTE]

As far as I know (and not more), they were not OE, nor were these exactly what I would call "a dealer option"; a small number of cars here and there (I mean: a very small number) seems to have gotten these, such as the 308 tested by Bob Bondurant in 1977. But these were not listed in any factory catalogue, to the best of my knowledge. One dealer here or there might have offered these, that's all.

Rgds

 

My 1977 22641 came with a set, since sold to an Fchatter....

It let a person tailor tire selection to personal taste, back when 1" or 2" change was considered radical!
Amusing really seeing today's tire sizes.

I agree though that "fitted when new" is not really a Factory Option as the Factory five stars were in the market.

The BBS have racing heritage of course and I just did not care for the gold color.
Color matched to the car looks jazzy!

 

I think heavy damage to my car would be a deal breaker too.

They steal wheels, smash windows, al kinds of mayhem at my apartment, but my car (under only a fitted cover) with the windows open and radio blank off, has escaped harm for many years.

No idiots with air guns, we shoot Colt .45 cal. here!!
Great results.....

 

Thumbs up to Alan, I'm the lucky buyer of his BBS wheels back in 2014 or so!

My understanding at the time was that several US Ferrari dealers offered these BBS wheels as a dealer option. Of course, anyone could buy the same wheels from a BBS vendor as well, but the Ferrari dealer version ensured the offset and sizing were correct - and these are identical to stock 16", 7" wide front, 8" wide rear, same offsets. It's the E50 model.

nerofer mentioned the 308 tested by Bob Bondurant (1976), which was the first 308 GTB imported (unofficially) to the US, and as such was a test/demo car that was not permitted to be road registered.
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According to the December 1976 Road & Track cover story, Bondurant said "I think the BBS wheels really add a lot to it, although the stock wheels also look good on it", and noted "Our test car was shod with intermediate rain/dry 225/60VR 15Pirelli P7s with hand-cut tread mounted on 15x8.5-in. BBS wheels, supplied by Intermag".

Other quotes from Bondurant:

"This is so much better than a Daytona"
"Of course, the car looks sleek as hell; like it's already moving quickly. The 308 has a nice finish and is pretty well detailed."
"The 308 is probably the best sports car I've ever driven "
​

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That car was crashed when running in a hill climb shortly after the R&T article was published, then was rebuilt into a race car, and was raced by Paul Newman!

Forza magazine article - The Prancing Clydesdale; Paul Newman and Budweiser teamed up to turn the first Ferrari 308GTB in the US into an SCCA contender
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Anyway, back to the dealer option 16" BBS wheels - Back in 2015, I weighed my original Cromodora magnesium alloy 16" wheels, along with the set of same-size BBS E50 3 piece mesh wheels that I bought from Alan. The weighing was complicated a bit by having different tires on each set of wheels, but using the Ture Rack published tires weights :

So Ferrari Front 16x7 = 15.4 lbs, or 7 kg; rear 16x8 = 15.2 lbs, or 6.9 kg.
BBS Front 16x7 = 15.0 lbs, 6.8 kg; rear 16x8 = 15.0 lbs, 6.8 kg.

The BBS 16" wheels are very slightly lighter than the Ferrari 16" wheels. I really, really love the look of the BBS wheels though!


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My set. Together with a set of original 16" speedlines.

Both sets i considder art..
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The BBS must be a nightmare to clean...

Rgds

 

I have nothing against the BBS wheels, which, contrary to many other aftermarket wheels options, do not spoil the look of the car; perhaps it comes from familiarity with the Bob Bondurant's test car pictures?
I never liked the deep front spoiler, and I still don't like it; to my eye, it does not match the lines of the car; the shallow spoiler is much prettier. But that's just me.

Rgds

 

+1 -- my ex-308 had a slightly different style of BBS wheels on it when I bought it that had the added cleaning nightmare of the proud exposed bolt heads:

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Never again! At least the bolt heads on the BBS wheels in this thread are down in counterbores, but the spokes are still a lot of work. (I bought a set of 16" 308QV wheels shortly after this picture was taken.)

 

Just to be clear, just like the dog, it isn't the Harley's fault, it's the owner's. A stock Harley isn't unusually loud. You can be forgiven for not knowing this because it's a very, very rare owner who doesn't pull the stock mufflers off as soon as he gets it home from the dealer.

 

What’s the ‘birdcage Maserati saloon’ that is referred to on the cover of the article?

 

I will have to say, the BBS barely look good on an old BMW lol they dont add to the 308 , they take away from it , the stock 308 / 328 rims are far and above the BBs, its that simple, if you want your 308 to have different rims, take a look at Mike Tuasons 308, the 17 inch Compomotive rims are the best. I have them on my 89 328 , im stoked for sure. Just my opinion.

Thank you

 

I did some weighing too just now.. Rims only without any tires.so the actual weight..

original speedline front 7.6 kg
rear 8.1 kg

BBS E50 front 7.3kg
rear 7.3 kg

 

Being a succer for split rims Im always looking for more although i do have the original ones for all my cars, they almost all run on split rims.

Prices for these BBS wheels are currently through the roof in Euro. A nice set of E50 for ANY type of car is pretty much not available. And if, than only for 4000-5000 Euro. RS type are slightly cheaper but bring depending condition up to 3500-4000.also.

But pretty much all split rim prices went up considderably in the last few year. Similar as the Gotti's but in 15" as on my qv were offered here just a few weeks age for euro 2500. I bough mine in 2009 for only 400

 

Yes, BBS RS -- had no trouble selling them.

 

Great information. I have a set of Cromodora's from 83 that I glass blasted, treated with PreKote and primed that are waiting for warmer weather to be finished as well as a set of BBS RS's. Holding one of each I'd swear the BBS are slightly heavier, but I'm sure the weight of adding glaze putty and paint shifts the balance the other way.
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i have fiddled with these wheels so much I, I will happily accept the self titled of F-Chat 3X8 BBS E50 expert - Internets Certified*

I have an nearly original set of these on my GT4. They were put on in '77 just after my dad bought the car in 16". I recently restored these and changed the new barrels out to mess with the offset a bit.

• BBS still makes this wheel and sell all the parts! they are not cheap and they are sold as a race wheel only.
  
• They are pretty fragile. The original centers are magnesium alloy and they can get brittle or deteriorate with age. When I restored mine, I had them liquid dye crack checked by a local small airplane motor repair shop. Mine were good. However, I have had friends and mechanics share they commonly broke on cars. These are pretty common amongst the 911 crowd that will share common stories.
• This was a dealer option
• You can change the barrel size . The only reason I would ever change from the 16" is tire availability. I fear one day there will not be any good performance options. it will all be 15" for the vintage Porsche crowd (many more of them than us) and 17" for the rest of the world.
  
• You can change the offset of the wheel as the lips and barrels come in various widths.
  
• The wheels require maintenance. It is a good practice to check the bolts round the rim with a torque wrench, a small one for inch-lbs! Only 13ft-lbs! Or, you will crack the wheel center.
  
• There is a seal that can go bad! Yes, you could technically call them four piece rims. There is an aluminum O-ring with a rubber seal. if this goes bad air will leak out the center. BBS does not recommend removing this and putting a sealant on the rim split, as many do. The reason being is the wheels are designed to expand and contract with heat generated from tires and brakes getting warm on the track.

I think they are so sexy but they can be a hassle. I consider replacing with another one piece wheel sometimes because they are a PITA and I have gotten flat tires. I have had people make fun of my wheels saying I stole them from a fiero... They just don't know...


* - Internets Certified carries absolutely no real world certification or scientific standards. I'm really an idiot.


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i have a set of oz racing wheels from 86