Cupcar

Have those of you using BBS E88 3 piece wheels had issues with rim dings using them on the street?

The roads here in Socal are becoming moonscapes; friends with 19" wheels have lost tires just driving around.

Nurburger

Replacing a damaged hoop of a 3-piece wheel is better than replacing a whole wheel (unless your 1piece wheels are cheap to begin with). I've never had any issues with BBS wheels - they are strong. Other 3-piece wheels less so.

ttw18

I would avoid E88 with magnesium centers for street use. I have a friend that had an older set and the magnesium became brittle and he found cracks on many of his spokes. The safer bet would be e88 with aluminum centers.

FLYT993

i'm glad cupcar posted this question because i had the exact same question.

i don't think it's the centers that are in question, as the centers are forged. bbs itself issues a disclaimer that they are for "track use only" and i assume that is because they are made to be 'light' and hence the rim is more susceptible to dings. also if one is running 19's they are probably 30 or 35 series tires. not much rubber between the road and the rim with those profiles.

paging 'matt lane' who has some gold E88's on his silver beauty.

tropheus

I have them since years on our C4S. Had only once a problem where wife got of the street and hit the outside of the rim. But as others said - its much easier to repair a 3 piece rim. And it wasn't too expansive.
Important that you get the aluminum center as the magnesium should get checked each year for cracks. Also there is not much weight difference between aluminum and magnesium.
Cleaning is a mess but I truly love the style.

Jack

Juha G

BBS E28 = magnesium centers
BBS E88 = Aluminum centers

Both are RACING wheels, not street wheels. If for street use, stay away! Especially if buying a used set!!!

Cupcar

Yeah, my concern is not with center. The cast magnesium center is NLA, not that I would want it. I like forged aluminum. The BBS race rim halves are only 0.125" thick I believe while my Fikse are 0.2" thick for street use so it seems BBS marginal in this dimension for street.

FLYT993

E88 rim halves are available in different configurations, i.e., thicknesses (sp?)

Matt Lane

Running E88's for 4 years now, track and street (20,000 miles, I avoid bad roads like the plague if I can). They will be primarily relegated to track wheels this summer.

They are really stout - they used to offer them with thinner rim halves, but have standardized on heavier gauge - and mine remain true.

Had 1 leak (very slow), which you will get with any 3 piece wheel eventually.

Expensive, but hard to go wrong with 'em. If I did tons of street miles and no track, I would however choose something else instead.

Cheers

Matt