Style 24?

[zoner]

I picked up a 1995 318i sedan today, couldn't pass up the deal- two-owner car, never been wrecked, not even a door ding!, clean interior, but doesn't run. Current owner wasn't sure what happened- said he drove it home one day and it died- but the engine won't turn at all (solenoid engages, but that's as far as it goes). The dipstick was dry as a bone, so I'm thinking maybe the engine is seized, but I still have the complete drive train from Bodo (my '95 ti that was wrecked last year) so this will be a perfect recipient car for the donor drive train.

Anyway, the car has Style 24 wheels with nearly new tires but I'm uncertain if these Style 24's are OEM or repro's. I took one of the wheels off to check for a BMW casting but did not see one, only the wheel specs. (size; offset) cast (or stamped, in this case) into the back of the wheel. They're not staggered, which is unfortunate, but I always though the repro. Style 24's just had 'Motorsport' stamped into the front and not 'BMW Motorsport'. Do all BMW wheels have 'BMW' cast into the back of the wheel somewhere? Is there another way to tell if these are OEM or repro's? Thanks for any help.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by zoner

I always though the repro. Style 24's just had 'Motorsport' stamped into the front and not 'BMW Motorsport'.

Me too. I've never seen a set of LTW reps with "BMW" cast onto the front. Usually reps only say "MOTORSPORT". Those look like OEM forged LTW's to me. The forged style 24's have BMW MOTORSPORT stamped on them and as far as I know they only came staggered. However in your case, perhaps someone pieced together a square(non-staggered) set. BMW did offer non-forged non-staggered style 24's, but those didn't have anything stamped on the front.

Hit up member M-System, he's selling two sets of style 24's. One is a stamped/staggered set, the other is a staggered/non-stamped set. He claims the non-stamped set is forged as well, but I didn't think they forged the non-stamped versions. I could be wrong though. Check out his threads and ask him to verify if his have any markings on the back:

stamped set:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36827

non-stamped:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=37211

[zoner]

Thanks for the insight, Jess. If these were staggered, I'd probably put them on my ti but I still think I like the look of Style 22's over 24's on our cars. I've seen both of M-system's FS posts, maybe I'll shoot him an email to see if he can tell me or send me a pic. of what the backsides look like. Either way, I think I got a decent deal on this car and now I get to spend a few weekends transplanting drivetrains! I need to start putting together a list of all the stuff to replace while I have the motor/trans. out (motor mounts, trans. mounts, oil pan gasket, water elbow, giubo, etc.)

[cooljess76]

Staggered wheels are over rated. They create understeer. They also suck for rotating tires. Since the rear tire sizes differ from the front and most performance tires are directional these days, you can only swap fronts with fronts and rears with rears, but to even be able to do that, you have to completely dismount the tires then have them re-mounted and balanced. Be glad you got a square setup

[teen ti]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Staggered wheels are over rated. They create understeer. They also suck for rotating tires. Since the rear tire sizes differ from the front and most performance tires are directional these days, you can only swap fronts with fronts and rears with rears, but to even be able to do that, you have to completely dismount the tires then have them re-mounted and balanced. Be glad you got a square setup

+1000