solomonschris

After my new to me 97 TT was vandalized in Las Vegas after only four days of ownership, I'm getting it back this week from the shop. This is four! months without spending any money on my new car. This is as traumatic as the assault on my prize was to begin with. I will post some pictures as soon as I get it back (and figure out how to do so). Since this is an Arena Red car I'm thinking gold center BBS E88's would be perfect. I've done some research and some say they leak and that they are race wheels and not suitable for the street. I'll put up with a lot to look pretty, but flat tires in the middle of nowhere are beyond the pale. Are we talking slow leak? Are there other problems I'm not aware of? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks as always.......Chris

Matt Lane

Good question. They are technically "track only" wheels, but extremely well-made. They switched to aluminium centers and 5mm aluminium rim halves at some point, both for robustness.

I would expect any 3 piece wheel will leak at some point. I would expect a slow leak, not a catastrophe. 2 years of use on mine, street and track, so far so good - I love them.

But I bought a backup set of 1 piece wheels just in case. I don't want to be waiting for a repair during summer/track season. Cheap insurance, especially weighed against the cost of the E88's.

Best,

Matt

bb993tt

I had a set on a dual use car for well over two years with no issues. Driven on UK roads (not too bad) and NY roads (absolute crap). Rick DeMan suggested rebuilding them when I had the car in there for other things, but there was no particularly pressing need to do so. If you did them every couple of years or so, you'd probably be fine. I too had a set of other wheels (996 TT) and used them to have rain tires mounted. Never needed them for anything else.

Carlos993

I liked them enough that I ended up with two sets, one for the 993 and one for the 997 GT3. Interestingly two of the 997 wheels initially had the "air leak" problem. I brought them to a wheel specialist who commented that the way the tire was initially installed had caused the leaks. No problems since, happy with the look and the build quality. Make sure you get the ones with the alu centers.

ETW

If you'd consider an alternative- These look similar (not quite as pretty as the BBS) but they are cheaper, probably more durable on the street and they'll make sizes exactly to your specs.

CCW LM20

solomonschris

Thanks all and what great looking cars!

ppressle

The track bbs wheels use a rubber O ring between the rim halves which sometimes leaks. You can apply a bead of the right kind of silicone to the joint as well if you really want to seal it up.

Other than that, these are similar to any other alloy wheel in how they might seal.

I have had a couple of BBS (e28) wheels that leaked, but that was since I was playing with rim halves and I did not replace the o ring with new when I did the swap. The silicone has worked perfectly for me.