It’s taken an unusually long time but we finally have a set of 19” aftermarket wheels on our BMW 135i. And while it’s not been without its challenges, we’re very happy with the results.

As we told you in our previous blog, DCR Wheels built us a custom set of three-piece wheels just in time for North America’s biggest BMW show, Bimmerfest in Santa Barbara, CA this weekend.

The wheels were finished late on friday and delivered to The Wheel Supply in Walnut, CA to have the Continental SportContact 3 tires fitted. As it turns, out, we’re glad we entrusted the job to the experts at TWS because the wheel offset wasn’t quite right – one of the risks you take being among the first to modify with a new car.

When TWS went to fit the wheels to the car, they discovered that the wide 255/30-19 rear Conti tires were too wide and fouled the rear fender. As a temporary measure, TWS fitted a pair of skinny 225/35-19 Conti 3s on the rear to avoid problems with the tires rubbing on the bodywork. And while this did resolve it to an extent, the stretched tires still rubbed a little.
Getting the car back at around 10pm Friday night, there was no other choice but to grit our teeth and drive up to Bimmerfest on Saturday morning. However, we’ll return the car to The Wheel Supply this week to have the rear wheels machined. This should reduce the offset slightly, pulling the wheels under the bodywork, allowing us to fit a wider tire again.

The wheels are 19x8” front and 19x9” rear. The centers are forged and immensely strong, while the lips are chromed for a very high polish.
As you can see, we decided to go with old school gold centers for the wheels. This is reminiscent of the original BBS three-piece wheels from the ’70s and ’80s, when the company pioneered much of the technology we now take for granted.
Since our car is silver, we didn’t really want to go with silver wheels and have them look slightly bland. Nor did we want to go with black wheels, which are notoriously difficult to photograph. So we felt that powdercoating DCR’s Nurburgring wheel centers in a flat gold would be the best solution. And as it turns out, we’re really happy with the results. Let us know what you think.
For more information about DCR Wheels, visit ww.dcrwheels.com
Or you can phone The Wheel Supply on 909/468-1311.
Look out for an updated blog and more photos of the car once the offset issues are resolved.