DM993tt

I know this isnt the first time this has happened to anyone, but while at the Glen this weekend I had this happen to my BBS Mags. Yes they have some years on them, but while going thru T1 at speed, I felt a very discomforting wobble from the driver rear, backed off going into the bottom of the esses and felt it again. I after realizing I had some open track behind me I limped it up the hill took the back straight off line, coasted throught the outer loop and tucked in the nascar straight and got myself into the pits without incident. I parked it in the paddock and took a quick look and realized I was lucky it didnt fully separate. It could have been very ugly. I suppose I can now tell people I drove the wheels off my car.

Anyway - I'm hearing I should just replace with Aluminium e88 centers. I'm guessing I have no recourse with BBS on these. Any advice? Best placces to find e88 centers??
Thanks,
Dave

DanR

WOW

Veloce Raptor

and then some

No HTwo O

Dave, I think Matt still has these for sale. He's a great guy!:

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-turb...8-11-5x18.html

DanR

you dodged a bullet there, could have been REAL nasty if it let go in the esses

Scootin159

Saw a 911 last year that had a similar failure while exiting turn 4 - driver either didn't notice or didn't heed the vibration as he drove down the back straight at speed. I was at station 6 (the black flag station at the end of the back straight), and could visibly see his wheel wobbling as he drove by. Wheel ended up exploding right as he turned in for the inner loop, and the car drove straight across the runoff head-on into the wall by station 7 (station that flags you through the no-loop when you take it). No injuries, but car's definitely toast.

BIG 928

image wheels in the uk makes exact copies of this centre. they list them as bps in cast or billet aluminium. great quality and price. the only time they have cracked on my race car is when ive made heavy contact with another car. done about 5 years on the rest of the centres on 3 sets of these wheels you had a very lucky escape.

regards mark

DM993tt

Thanks Mark, will they work with the current outer rims? I am not opposed to going with the alum e88s, just don't know where best to find em.

Geoffrey

Yea, so, this is no big deal. BBS has discontinued the MAG wheels and replaced them with the spun aluminum versions. I've had a few centers cracked, and depending on how old your wheels are, how hard you hit the curbs, and more importantly, which centers they were they will eventually crack.

The wheel centers you have are the older style where the center fits on the outside of the wheel centers, so I'm guessing these are 8040 or 8041s which are very old, in the early 90s era on 964s. I don't know whether it is true or not, but I've heard the mounting of the wheels on the outside isn't as strong as the mounting on the inside like the later wheels.

They don't just crack all of a sudden like that, they probably had a fracture that could have been seen during an inspection of the wheel. They usually start cracking from the backside, so you really, really need to inspect the wheels closely every time you have them off (each morning of a track day and again at noon).

BBS has some centers such as the 8039 centers which look exactly the same as the 8040, 8041, 8051 which are specifically for the front of a 993 to clear the 380mm brembo brakes and the spokes are thinner. They will crack eventually if you run them on the rear.

The aluminum centers are not quite as light, but they are stronger and generally have replacements with the same offset as the mag centers. You can get them from BBS Atlanta.

Dan Jacobs

BBS motorsport will sell you e88 centers. 770 967 9574 ext 3028 Eric. I won't use e28 mag centers (what you have) on any track car for this reason

ngoldrich

I check my wheels after each event. On mine, I will notice the beginning of a small crack that looks like a little dirt mark if I look very closely and replace immediately.

I just replaced all my Mag centers with the new machined aluminum ones.

Normally its my rears that get the small cracks due to the torque.

Fortunately I have not had one crack as bad as yours since I have been lucky and caught them right when they start.

I clean my centers inside & out with brake clean to inspect....

Norm

gmgracing

Mag wheels have a life cycle.

These wheels have been discontinued for a few years now.

Its not uncommon for Mag wheels to break- BBS or any other brand for that matter.

Just like anything else in racing you need to maintain and inspect your equipment.

Just get some alu centers from BBS and you will be good to go..

APKhaos

Anyone know of alternative to mag centers for the 17" BBS mags? My local wheel specialist says the BBS aluminum centers are 18" only. I have one badly broken and one cracked [both fronts].

BIG 928

yes they fit original bbs wheel rims, they can be fitted inside or outside of the rims themselves. ill find out the prices tommorow for the centres alone and the contact number, when i get to work. the original mag centres are slightly thicker on the spokes so the difference in weight to these centres is grams really. i thought id give them a try as my mag centres did crack more often, especially if you attack the kerbs or bang wheels with someone else (they were 5-6 years old though). they will be considerably cheaper than the bbs ones and in my experience last longer. theres 4 drivers including me that i know too in the porsche open race series in england that have swapped to these centres.

regards mark

BIG 928

hi tony image wheels make centres for 17 inch as well. ill get the contact details tomorrow, i was sceptical about using 'copy' wheels but they are great. i sound like a salesman for them!

regards mark