Where to look for a good 16" wheel for an E9x BMW?

IamFODI said:

dps214 said:

225/45/17 opens a world of options of both tires and wheels, is the same OD, and still has plenty massive sidewalls. Just about any half decent aftermarket 17" wheel is going to be the same or lighter than a boat anchor OE wheel even in a smaller diameter. Looking at dws06+, both sizes are listed at the same weight and the 225/17 is almost $10 cheaper per tire. I don't see any downside to 17s.

Yeah, I'm imagining tire selection will eventually drive me to 17s if I own this car long enough.

I had the same thought re. OE boat anchors vs. good aftermarket 17s, and I appreciate the poke on that.  The OE 16x7 for this car supposedly weighs 8.00 kg ≈ 17.6 lbs.  I couldn't find a 17x8" wheel with the build quality I'd want and substantially less weight, except at vastly higher prices.  I can't say my search was exhaustive, but once I noticed that even a CE28N in 17x8 would only save ~2 lbs per wheel, I figured it was time to throw in the towel.

If you think I'm missing something, I'd be glad to hear about it!

My 18x9.5 Advan RSIII's are just a touch over 18lbs each (flow formed). Something like 4 lbs lighter than the stock 18x7.5.

I'm glad you brought up the price part again, when you first mentioned flow formed or forged, I was curious if you knew what they cost. My Advan's were $640 each for flow formed. The Volks I was considering in the same size forged were around $920 each. 

Titan Motorsports are the only wheels I can think of that are fully forged that are "affordable" but they are vehicle specific fit. I don't think they do custom runs. 

Wow, I never realized the E39 M5 had the same wheel widths as the 740 but with wider tires. 

I had Pack racing make my wheels with the correct offset and correct PCD, 4x98.  They were the importer of Superlite wheels who offered them with the center not machined so they could give you what ever offset you wanted and bolt pattern.   That was quite a few years ago and the name has changed but the same guys are still there in Phoenix.  They are now VTO Wheels.  Their offerings on wheel design is limited but if they have a wheel design that you like they should be able to make it  in the size/offset you need.  I have the 8-spoke similar to Panasport/Minilite.

https://www.vtowheels.com/

Here are 13" Panasports.

16x7 Superlite

CyberEric said:

Wow, I never realized the E39 M5 had the same wheel widths as the 740 but with wider tires. 

Same as the 740 sport package cars.  The non-sport E38s usually had 16x8s or 17x8s all around. 

Nockenwelle said:

You might talk with Terry at Vorshlag. He carries Forgeline and is pretty savvy on wheel options overall, BMW or otherwise. Long-time racer and GRM contributor.

Printed GRM has many ads for wheel companies you could check as well.

Following up on this FTR.  Heard back from Vorshlag.  Apparently they now work with Jongbloed when they need custom wheels.

Also, it was Forgestar, not Forgeline (not that I care personally but evidently they did).

Turns out Gordon Murray Automotive uses Braid, at least for their spicy run-the-car-into/over-stuff-and-see-what-happens testing:

If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is!