Question 9: Wheel Durability

[lupinsea]

Ah, just thought of something after running over a few potholes myself and reading about the same from others here:

Given the rough roads in the U.S., how durable are the 18" wheels that come on BMWs? Specifically, the ZHP 18"-ers?

Obviously, much depends on how careful a drivers is but invariably pothoes and other road hazards will sneak up and bite. Would potentially expensive repair / replacement costs dissuade anyone from going with a large diameter wheel and low profile tires? I've heard of people bending the rims but I don't know just how hard they whacked the potholes to do so.

One of the many things I like about the ZHP package are the wheels. Yeah, I know larger wheels typically weigh more and can have some negatives in the handling and unsprung weight department but for this package they look "just right." But would such large wheels just be inviting a string of headaches down the road?

[JST]

Ah, just thought of something after running over a few potholes myself and reading about the same from others here:

Given the rough roads in the U.S., how durable are the 18" wheels that come on BMWs? Specifically, the ZHP 18"-ers?

Obviously, much depends on how careful a drivers is but invariably pothoes and other road hazards will sneak up and bite. Would potentially expensive repair / replacement costs dissuade anyone from going with a large diameter wheel and low profile tires? I've heard of people bending the rims but I don't know just how hard they whacked the potholes to do so.

One of the many things I like about the ZHP package are the wheels. Yeah, I know larger wheels typically weigh more and can have some negatives in the handling and unsprung weight department but for this package they look "just right." But would such large wheels just be inviting a string of headaches down the road?


I haven't had a problem (knock wood), but the expensive part isn't so much the wheels--it's the tires, and the fact that they can't be rotated. At $800-$1000 per set, they ain't cheap. But it wouldn't dissuade me from getting 18" wheels again.

[lip277]

The more important thing in my mind (regarding damaging wheels) is curb rash. The older cars I've driven (with 65 series tires) were not too bad with this. But - The M-parallel wheels I have on the 740 - The wheels stick out to near the position of the tire sidewalls and sit much lower to the ground so they are closer to all sorts of fun things (not just potholes).

I know my Dad curbed a wheel on his 7 not that long after he got the car. He was going to get it fixed - but left it as something he'd see often and act as a reminder about "Ya gotta pay attention now, dummy!" or something like that.:lol:

[bren]

Would potentially expensive repair / replacement costs dissuade anyone from going with a large diameter wheel and low profile tires?
No. I figure that chances are, if you hit something hard enough to bend an 18" you would have bent a 17" too.

[equ]

Given the rough roads in the U.S., how durable are the 18" wheels that come on BMWs? Specifically, the ZHP 18"-ers?



I've been extremely careful but sometimes you hit something. After some nasty ones, all I can say is that they seem to be very strong. (unscientific)

[clyde]

I haven't had a problem (knock wood), but the expensive part isn't so much the wheels--it's the tires, and the fact that they can't be rotated. At $800-$1000 per set, they ain't cheap. But it wouldn't dissuade me from getting 18" wheels again.

Put the right tires on them and you can rotate the tires with a dismount/remount. Not ideal, obviously, but doable.

And the expensive part is that if you hit something hard enough to bend/break the wheel, there's a good chance that you bent some suspension pieces too...

[Plaz]

FWIW, both my OEM 68M 17"ers and my BBS RE 18"ers have held up to NYC commuting for almost a couple of years now.

They are however, as lip points out, almost all rashed in some way... due to no fault of my own. :(

[rumatt]

Last time I had tires mounted on my 17" M68's, the guy told me the inside rim of one rear wheel had a slight bend. :dunno:

Other than that, no problems.

[FC]

After 39K miles (25K on 18" wheels), my wheels and alignment are fine. My rear 18" tires are almost shot, the fronts may have another 5K left.

I've hit a few potholes hard enough to leave some rubber on the rim, but no bends. We also have pretty shitty roads here. Overall, I have been peasantly surprised at the strength of the wheels. My car is still doing great on the factory alignment.

No issues at all on my 17" M68 winter set.

[lupinsea]

Hm..... cool. Sounds like the rims are strong and I shouldn't worry about it. I keep thinking Seattle's roads are crap and need to be repaved but Roadstergal (Carrie) assures me they are very smooth compared to Chicago and other parts of the country. Get out of the city of Seattle itself and the roads improve dramatically in the neighboring cities and suburbs.

[Rob]

I always laugh when people complain about the roads on the west coast. My wife used to say that. Then I took her to Chicago.

The 17" wheels that came with the 330 stood up to the Chicago roads without problem. My first set of snow tire wheels did not. They bent right away (and were very cheap). I don't think you will have anything to worry about.

[Plaz]

Hm..... cool. Sounds like the rims are strong and I shouldn't worry about it. I keep thinking Seattle's roads are crap and need to be repaved but Roadstergal (Carrie) assures me they are very smooth compared to Chicago and other parts of the country. Get out of the city of Seattle itself and the roads improve dramatically in the neighboring cities and suburbs.

I've never seen roads in anywhere near as bad shape out west as I've seen in Eastern Seaboard cities.

It's the whole freeze/thaw/precipitate/freeze/precipitate/thaw/freeze thing that really chews up the roads. Add the kind of congestion and volume of traffic you only really see in the Northeast corridor, and you've got a good recipe for lunar landscapes.

[FC]

I've never seen roads in anywhere near as bad shape out west as I've seen in Eastern Seaboard cities.

It's the whole freeze/thaw/precipitate/freeze/precipitate/thaw/freeze thing that really chews up the roads. Add the kind of congestion and volume of traffic you only really see in the Northeast corridor, and you've got a good recipe for lunar landscapes.

Amen brother.

After driving the car in Germany and Switzerland, it took over a year for me to stop the daily bitching re: NE roads.

The REALLY scary part is that Montreal/PQ roads make Boston/New England roads look great. Hence my appreciation of SUV-like ground clearance and sidewalls. My friend went there (hockey turney for his kid - ranked tops in the US) in his F250 and came back bitching. And he drives all over New England all the time.

[ZBB]

Amen brother.

After driving the car in Germany and Switzerland, it took over a year for me to stop the daily bitching re: NE roads.

Then move :D


One of the C&D editors (Pat Bedard I think) did one of his monthly columns about the roads out here a year or so ago... He liked them -- and was amazed at the rubberized asphalt AZ is now putting on freeways. Still not as good as Germany, but pretty close.


But we don't have freeze-thaw cycles out here. The biggest issue we have is the roads melting slightly in the summer heat and getting oil/asphalt all over our clean cars :irate:

[FC]

Then move :D

It's not like it hasn't crossed my mind. I still love NE though. I like the seasons. We both have all our North American family members nearby.

[lupinsea]

We don't get much snow out here in Seattle, let alone freezing. I think this year we had a whopping 1/4" dusting of snow for about 7 hrs. That was our winter. We did get about 31 straight days or rain for a monthly total of about 11 inches in January. In fact, our average minmum temperatures drop to 36 deg in the dead of winter climbing to 54 deg in the hottest part of summer. During summers our high temps are around 75-80 deg.

All these pictres were taken within 1-2 hr drive of downtown Seattle:

http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-08-30%2011.34.28%20-0700/Image-A4FA3AF6FAB211D8.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-08-30%2011.34.28%20-0700/Image-A4FA3AF6FAB211D8.jpg) . http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-01-03%2013.21.14%20-0800/Image-322186695DCD11D9.jpg-thumb_105_140.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-01-03%2013.21.14%20-0800/Image-322186695DCD11D9.jpg)
clickly clicky

http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-07-04%2013.57.32%20-0700/Image-69760012ECCD11D9.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-07-04%2013.57.32%20-0700/Image-69760012ECCD11D9.jpg) . http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-09-08%2009.06.46%20-0700/Image-4B6B86EC01B011D9.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-09-08%2009.06.46%20-0700/Image-4B6B86EC01B011D9.jpg) . http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-10-04%2010.08.07%20-0700/Image-F0B149EA162611D9.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-10-04%2010.08.07%20-0700/Image-F0B149EA162611D9.jpg)

http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-07-14%2023.41.51%20-0700/Image-A447F254F4FA11D9.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-07-14%2023.41.51%20-0700/Image-A447F254F4FA11D9.jpg) . http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.cv/jgreening/Sites/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-07-16%2001.17.37%20-0700/Image-FFDEDE95D6FD11D8.jpg-thumb_140_105.jpg (http://homepage.mac.com/jgreening/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-07-16%2001.17.37%20-0700/Image-FFDEDE95D6FD11D8.jpg)


Life is tough here. :dunno:

[FC]

All these pictres were taken within 1-2 hr drive of downtown Seattle:

Beautiful!

[Plaz]

Beautiful!

:+1

[TD]

When we visited the area 2 summers ago, I was struck by how beautiful the city and the surrounding areas were.

[JST]

I've never seen roads in anywhere near as bad shape out west as I've seen in Eastern Seaboard cities.

It's the whole freeze/thaw/precipitate/freeze/precipitate/thaw/freeze thing that really chews up the roads. Add the kind of congestion and volume of traffic you only really see in the Northeast corridor, and you've got a good recipe for lunar landscapes.


You are forgetting salt/plow/salt/plow, too.

[Plaz]

You are forgetting salt/plow/salt/plow, too.

True, that.

[ZBB]

It's not like it hasn't crossed my mind. I still love NE though. I like the seasons. We both have all our North American family members nearby.

Yep -- having family nearby is key. One of the reasons we ended up hating Atlanta was being a 4 hour flight to the nearest family members.

At some point in the next 2 years, either my wife or I will be asked to move to the NE as we continue our careers. Neither of us want to do that, but we'll figure out what to do when that happens.

[TD]

If we didn't have family here, we'd seriously consider going elsewhere. But the family is key, especially when you have kids.

[clyde]

Proximity to family is one of the many reasons that I hate this place.

[TD]

Not everyone hates their family.

[Sharp11]

Car and Driver did a story in the early 80's about how Honda modeled a portion, pothole by pothole, of NYC's FDR drive as part of their test track.

Didn't seem to help much as Hondas of that era never did feel quite right over the rough stuff (my 87 accord was the worst, with its pogo-stick rear suspension).

Ed

[clyde]

Not everyone hates their family.
not everyone hates bush either :p (not that I said that I hate any of them)

All I was saying is that family is as much as a reason to go somewhere else for some people as it is to stay somewhere you'd rather not.

[IndyMike]

Gorgeous pictures, lupinsea! :thumbup:

I have family that live just north of Seattle (Edmonds), and having been there several times it is easily my favorite region of the U.S for its breathtaking beauty. The bluest skies I've ever seen are in Seattle.

I spent one summer up there near Fort Lewis between my junior and senior year in college attending Cadet Leadership School. Just a basic GI Joe course instructing you in small unit tactics and the basic rudimentary skills necessary to be a good leader and follower depending upon the situation.

I don't really remember a lot of the particulars (other than after the course I knew no way was I going to be a gravel agitator infantryman), but one thing I do remember is that during exercises while groping around trying to locate the enemy in the forest it wasn't unusual to come across humongous anthills like the one below. There were hundreds of them scattered throughout the training area. So while one firefight (we used laser equipment and not bullets; I know, wusses) with the two-legged enemy was commencing it was quite possible to hit the dirt and find yourself either near or on top of one of these hills (hopefully not of the size in the pic), and suddenly be immersed in another firefight with dozens of giant red Fire Ants (at least I think they were). So naturally you would spring to your feet to beat the buggers off of you and get tagged by someone's laser (sometimes by friendly fire :eeps: I think). Better to die a quick death than a slow one from hungry stinging ants.

So to make a short story long, while I would love to live there I just remember those big freakin' ants and am immediately cured of the desire.

While off-roading do you ever come across these types of anthills, or have they been eradicated from the territory? Seems to me they are a big menace and unless they prey on the huge mosquitoes that are also present in that forest need to be croaked.

Oh, and I also am quite fond of the 135 wheel myself. Other than the annoyances of cleaning, which are particular to virtually all double spoke wheels, I wouldn't trade or replace them with any other rim, OEM or not.

http://www.objectif-suede.com/Images/grd_format/Tyresta/fourmiliere2.jpg

[Plaz]

As much as I miss the dramatic landscapes of the west, I do find myself happier in the familiar biome of the northeast. Seasons rock.

[lupinsea]

I've never seen an anthill that big before. My god that thing is humungous! Actually, I can't remember seeing an anthill of any kind in the last 10 years. In the woods around my house we'd occasionally find one but they were maybe 12" tall. Nothing like the photo. :eek:

Yeah, I like the change of seasons, too, Plaz. I was really looking forward for winter to roll around so I could take my Jeep up into the mountains and go drive around in the snow all day.

Right about the time summer is stretching too long it begins raining around here and we head into winter. Then, about the time you can't stand winter anymore it starts getting nicer. I find it a good balance. And yet neither the summers nor winters swing too far to the extremes. We have a very mild climate.

[zcasavant]

Seasons rock.

This winter has been absurdly easy. I think there have only been a few days when I've wondered why the fuck I live here.

[rumatt]

I think there have only been a few days when I've wondered why the fuck I live here.

:lol: True

[lemming]

seasons: luv 'em.

roads: crap.

ZHP 18" wheels: heavy suckers.

i'd do what is my SOP now: put them in the basement and buy lighter aftermarkets that i wouldn't worry about. that's a lot of unsprung weight just in the wheels and the bridgerocks that BMW likes to use as OEM fitment. combine that with the lousy roads and it's no wonder OEM struts die an early death.

[IndyMike]

This winter has been absurdly easy. I think there have only been a few days when I've wondered why the fuck I live here.
You had to know when you made this statement (especially when omitting the standard proviso 'knock on wood') that you sealed your fate and were going to take a big hit before the season is out.

Well, I just heard a humongous storm is going to hit the Northeast and dump up to a foot of snow in some regions this weekend.

Want to get away?

:D

[TD]

Yup. Snow on Saturday. Even down here.

It's been a very mild winter so far with a wonderfully small amount of snow. Hopefully this weekend will be all we'll get this season.

[clyde]

Seasons suck.

fixed your post