neun sechs vier

Anyone out there had any experience with Image Wheels Ltd in the West Midlands?

I'm going get some prices for a 17" Billet 102 style 3 piece wheel. Looks similar enough to me to the more desirable proper BBS wheel, and I expect considerably cheaper. Just for UK potholed road use. I want to stick with the 17" tyres I've got rather than change to 18" wheels and tyres.





Any photos or advice welcome.

onceover

I find that generally wheels that have a lip like that will look much smaller than they really are. At 17" version will likely look very small on a 964

BHCfarkas

If you think Image wheels are going to be "considerably" cheaper than a genuine set of BBS motorsport wheels, you're going to find you're greatly mistaken. The quality of Image wheels is fantastic, however, it's often Image takes their sweet time with getting wheels to you, and a few of my friends have even had completely wrong offsets sent to them, and Image doesn't seem to care. A quick google search will reveal a lot of similar stories my friends experienced.

Would I order from Image? No.

neun sechs vier

I realise they would look different to the photo, it was the centre I was looking at.

Why would they look small as the current Cup wheels are 17".

Thanks for the advice BHCfarkas. I saw them at the Autosport show. The chap seemed helpful and suggested I email details of the car and current offsets. I have no idea whether the Cup wheel size is the right one to copy over to an Image wheel. The basic price list seemed to show something like £4-500 each.

DobermanDad

If they had a good side shot of that rim, I'd do a quick photoshop for you to show you how'd they'd look. Not seeing one though.

Wow, they have some great looking wheels though. That 81 classic is sweet. I'd love to see that with a black center.

dsan

I've owned a set of Image wheels (type 71, now discontinued) on a previous car. I found them to be of great quality. I did have to order a replacement lip (no fault of the wheel, just a huge pothole I couldn't see while raining) and wasn't thrilled with the time it took for a replacement. My wheel was discontinued at the time but it was just a standard common 40 hole lip, it shouldn't have taken the time it did to get it.

And I agree with Farkas, price wise, they really aren't that much cheaper then bbs (atleast here in the US after $$$ conversion) but quality wise, I'd put them right up there with hre, bbs, and the best. Just my .02

neun sechs vier

£2095 inc. for 17" Billet 102 style. That was standard 7 and 9 inch with ET55. Six weeks delivery.

I've got 7.5 and 9" replicas with 225/40r17 and 255/40r17 on a C2 with I think about RS+10 ride height. Might go lower.

Can anyone tell me what offsets I should order?

Shamstar

Image aren't bad but I've found quality hit and miss, ordered replacement bbs RS dishes and the finishing was very poor, when i complained i was basically told that that's how they come??? For me it's BBS or nothing!

neun sechs vier

BBS Motorsport had a stand at the Autosport show last Thursday and gave me a Motorsport brochure with the 17" E87 wheel and a UK contact, Karl Gos at www.pwmotorsport.com in Pembrokeshire.

http://www.bbs-racing.de/bbs87-15.html

I haven't found the 17" BBS mention on this forum.

I haven't been in touch with him yet, but will check out their prices before committing to Image.

BLACK-BETTY

I'd recommend 8J ET52 and 10J ET47 for your car/ application. Will be a straight swap and allow you to run wider tyres too.

Cheers,
Frank

neun sechs vier

Thanks Frank. I was hoping you would advise me.

When you say "run wider tyres"....will my current tyres look stretched to fit? I found a couple of tyre/rim size calculators which show the tyres will fit the rims. Willtheyfit com calculates that the rear inner rim will 7.7mm closer to the suspension strut. The outer rim will poke out 17.7mm more than before. The fronts will have an inner rim which is 11.4mm closer to the suspension strut. The outer rim will poke out 1.3mm more than before. I'm assuming from the reputation you have as the wheel guru that you know that and the rims will still be a straight swap.

The aim (budget) was to keep the current tyres and geo. Can I fit these wider wheels into my tyres and replace the tyres when worn with something wider without having to do another set-up do you think?

And what do you think about Onceover's comment on small appearance?

BLACK-BETTY

8J would ideally want a 225 running a 215 is no probs.
10J would ideally want a 265 running a 245 is no probs.

You can run narrower than that, but personally I wouldn't want to. What size are your tyres?

This will be a straight swap

Personally I'm an 18" wheel guy. I just prefer the way they handle and look. I think a 17" multi spoke, 3 piece wheel can look a crammed. But everyone has their own opinions and so really is up to you what you think looks fab!

neun sechs vier

Well I think yours looks fab. I keep looking at your photo at Goodwood!

My current tyre size is above, but from what you've said, they'll be fine on the wider wheels.

I haven't found a single photo of a 964 on 17" BBS type wheels so it is a bit of a gamble going that route. The 18" option is clearly best, I was trying to find a quick cheap fix to go gold centres.

As and when I rebuild the car, probably in annual stages, I'm more than likely going 18".

BLACK-BETTY

Yeah I think tyres are more consumable than wheels - so I wouldn't choose wheels based on tyres you already own.

Here's a pic of Grant's car. IMO the Cup 1s look fab in 17, but the rears look a bit crammed in 17 (HRE wheels) as they have many spokes and are three piece. But again just my humble opinion, it's much of a muchness anyhow.

And here's a clear shot of 18" BSS

neun sechs vier

Came across this....the caption said 17" BBS E26's.