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[surfcity335i]

Anyone here run these wheels on their E9x? I had a shop tell me they are a better wheel than some of the other much-talked-about wheels and they can get me them for ALMOST the same price. What is "rotary forged" anyway?


nurburgring_gunmetal_reg_normal_white by rzgkane, on Flickr

[MGT81]

I have them on my 335xi. They are a very good balance of value, light weight and performance. I'm running 18 inchers, 8 inches in front and 9.5 inches rear 225/255.

[Meeni]

Rotary forged is better than cast. Look for weight, it is important, if you care for something else than look.

[fun2drive]

This from the HRE Wheels web site to explain the difference in more detail...
Casting
Basically castings are made from molten aluminum that is poured into a mold. Lot’s of fire and heat. After it is cast and cooled, there is usually some final machining and finishing work to get it to fit the right application and to have a nice finish. Some cast wheels are heat-treated as well. This is how most wheels are made and a high quality pressure cast product that is well engineered can indeed result in a very nice quality wheel. What did I just say??!!! Think about it… if all cast wheels were terrible, we wouldn’t all have them on our cars from the factory. However, some poor quality aftermarket cast wheels that aren’t made to OE standards can definitely be of inferior quality. The major advantage to cast wheels is that they are relatively cheap and really easy to make in high volumes. The major disadvantage is that they tend to be heavier than forged wheels due to their relatively low material strength properties.

Forging
Forged wheels are different in that they start out as aluminum billet, typically 6-7 inch diameter bar stock. These are then cut into the right length (the volume needed), heated, and pressed into shape (using very accurate dies and successive steps) under about 6-12000 tons of pressure. The forging process imparts a lot of energy into the metal and changes the internal grain structure of the aluminum (metals have a crystalline structure) and this change in the grain structure is what gives a forging additional strength in comparison to the original billet rod. They are then heat treated to a T6 condition in the case of 6061-T6 to get the right mix of strength and ductility. A forged aluminum wheel has a higher specific strength as well as higher toughness (engineering term for its ability to absorb energy) in comparison to a casting. This allows an engineer to design a wheel that is lighter, stiffer and less susceptible to cracking under impact and with better fatigue properties than a casting.

[Kalidian]

I have those exact wheels on my E90 now. They're great wheels. Although the terminology is a bit of a misnomer. The entire wheel is not forged - only the outer lip/rim where the tire is mounted onto is. So it's not a true forged wheel, but definitely stronger and marginally lighter than the cheaper, gravity-cast ones.

[3000GT MR]

I have TSW's on my 3000GT which use to be a heavy tank. Love the wheels. They put up with A lot, more than most people will do to a car in a life time. Great choice, I love that style too

[J02 335i]

I put these exact wheels on a customers E92 last year, they look awesome and have held up great.

[derryck]

I have bronze Nurburgrings on my 335i coupe and gunmetal Nurburgrings on my 600+hp Z32....I love TSWs. I could really care less about wheel weight and they're well made and not pricey. If I were shopping for wheels for a lightweight car like a Miata, S2000, BRZ etc. I might go for something lighter but shaving another 5 lbs. on a 3500+ lb. car for 3 or 4x the price of the TSWs seems like a waste to me.

[OrangeInOhio]

I have those wheels as well. I think theyre a great value and I really like them. My only complaint is that the finish now has two chips in them from when those effin dingleberry's at Grismer Tire put my tires on. Other than that they've been great.

Here they are on my car.

[surfcity335i]

My only reservation is that they are not a very deep wheel visually. They look one dimensional.

Im thinking of these as well... would a ET of 15 be wrong for an E92 335i?


Mirabeau_Matte_Black_1 by rzgkane, on Flickr

[GLube YUP]

I love the look of these wheels, but does anyone have pictures of the machined face on their car?
I have a black e90 and would love to see the black rim and machined face before I buy them

[iwanna335]

I'd love to see more pics of these wheels, specifically silver, on an E90. I'm currently in the market for wheels and these were suggested at the low end of the price range, and they are much cheaper than the others I'm considering....LC818 and Morr VS8.2!
Thanks

[surfcity335i]

Originally Posted by iwanna335

I'd love to see more pics of these wheels, specifically silver, on an E90. I'm currently in the market for wheels and these were suggested at the low end of the price range, and they are much cheaper than the others I'm considering....LC818 and Morr VS8.2!
Thanks

Just picked her up from the wheel shop. I like them A LOT. Very clean and minimalist. I liked the many versions of the Avant Garde M310 (VMR and TSW also had similar) but wanted less metal and less busy. I love the OEM Style 313's but they are EXPENSIVE no matter how you try to acquire them, and I really wanted to try either a dark gunmetal or matte black finish and the 313's don't come that way.

I went with 19 x 8.0 in front (stock size) and 19 x 9.5 in the rear (.5" wider) and re-used my (almost new) stock tires of 225/35/19 and 255/30/19. Fronts remained the same and the rears stretched just ever so slightly and I lost a little bit of lip protection. But nothing super-aggressive in terms of stretch and that's something that was important to me. I hate the look of the wheel lip sticking way out beyond the tire. JMHO.

$1250 installed and out the door.


TSW Maribeau in matte black by rzgkane, on Flickr

[iwanna335]

Surf,
Thanks for the reply and pics I was actually referring to your OP about the TSW Nurburgring wheels. Glad your happy with your purchase...looks good!
Cheers

[surfcity335i]

Originally Posted by iwanna335

Surf,
Thanks for the reply and pics I was actually referring to your OP about the TSW Nurburgring wheels. Glad your happy with your purchase...looks good!
Cheers

The Nurburgring wheels are basically the same as the Avant Garde M310, M359 and the VMR 710 with subtle differences. There are plenty of pics out there of E90 and E92 cars with them fitted. What I didn't like about the Nurburgring as opposed to the AG and VMR's is that they appear to be less concaved in profile, more of a flat face, whereas the AG's and VMR's have some depth. Might just be the different offsets, though. Based on my rudimentary understanding of offset, the lower the offset number the deeper the outside of the wheel appears.

I really like the Avant Garde M510's because they are much less busy than the above-mentioned wheels, but they cost at least a couple hundred more.

[iwanna335]

Originally Posted by surfcity335i

The Nurburgring wheels are basically the same as the Avant Garde M310, M359 and the VMR 710 with subtle differences. There are plenty of pics out there of E90 and E92 cars with them fitted. What I didn't like about the Nurburgring as opposed to the AG and VMR's is that they appear to be less concaved in profile, more of a flat face, whereas the AG's and VMR's have some depth. Might just be the different offsets, though. Based on my rudimentary understanding of offset, the lower the offset number the deeper the outside of the wheel appears.

I really like the Avant Garde M510's because they are much less busy than the above-mentioned wheels, but they cost at least a couple hundred more.

I'm a total newbie with wheels which in turns is making this process very difficult! When I think I've narrowed my search down another pic pops up of another style I like.
All those you mentioned are the styles/wheels I keep coming back to. The TSW Nurburgring didn't appeal as much bc of exactly what you stated, lack of concavity. The VMR710's and LC 818's seem to be the most concave in that style wheel so I am trying to narrow search there.
Thanks for the offset lesson, I had no idea what that meant! Now I need to figure out the best size for my car to fill the wheel well out and get a little more rubber on the road.
Thanks again
Cheers

[surfcity335i]

Originally Posted by iwanna335

I'm a total newbie with wheels which in turns is making this process very difficult! When I think I've narrowed my search down another pic pops up of another style I like.
All those you mentioned are the styles/wheels I keep coming back to. The TSW Nurburgring didn't appeal as much bc of exactly what you stated, lack of concavity. The VMR710's and LC 818's seem to be the most concave in that style wheel so I am trying to narrow search there.
Thanks for the offset lesson, I had no idea what that meant! Now I need to figure out the best size for my car to fill the wheel well out and get a little more rubber on the road.
Thanks again
Cheers

Oh, I forgot to also mention that when you lower the offset, you also push the outer edge of the wheel/tire closer to the fender and then you start having to consider rubbing issues if you go too aggressive with offset, suspension lowering and/or larger tires. I chose these TSW Mirabeau's because they were far less busy in pattern and appear the most concaved of the bunch without changing offset or going much bigger in wheel size (I went from a 9.0" rear wheel to a 9.5", so not much change there at all).

[Kalidian]

Originally Posted by surfcity335i

Based on my rudimentary understanding of offset, the lower the offset number the deeper the outside of the wheel appears.
.

Not sure what you mean by the outside wheel depth, but just to clarify to avoid confusion, the lower the offset, the more pushed out the wheel will be towards the outside or fender. The higher the offset, the more sunken in it is towards the hub, away from the fender.

[surfcity335i]

Originally Posted by Kalidian

Not sure what you mean by the outside wheel depth, but just to clarify to avoid confusion, the lower the offset, the more pushed out the wheel will be towards the outside or fender. The higher the offset, the more sunken in it is towards the hub, away from the fender.

Sorry, I mistyped that comment about the outside of the wheel appearing deeper the less offset you have. What I meant is that when you lower the offset, you increase the distance between the outer lip of the wheel and the hub mating surface of the wheel. This gives the wheel a deeper, more concaved appearance (and what most folks are shooting for). A higher offset (or a very high offset) brings the outer lip of the wheel closer to the differential, makes the wheel look shallow and more one dimensional, and also increases the chance that the brake components will interfere with the wheel.

[Kalidian]

Originally Posted by surfcity335i

Sorry, I mistyped that comment about the outside wheel appearing deeper the less offset you have. What I meant is that when you lower the offset, you increase the distance between the outer lip of the wheel and the hub mating surface of the wheel. This gives the wheel a deeper, more concaved appearance (and what most folks are shooting for). A higher offset (or a very high offset) brings the outer lip of the wheel closer to the differential, makes the wheel look shallow and more one dimensional, and also increases the chance that the brake components will interfere with the wheel.