Purchasing Wheels and Tires

[mrbmwx5]

Originally Posted by richirich

ahhhh ha! I see!

you did go with Toyo Proxes for your 20's ...correct??!

Rich

correct. and i very very hated those tires. the toyo s/t they get very loud. i mean very loud its sound like i am have worn out wheel bearing. LOL

[EKS PYB]

I too made the trek from Los Angeles to San Diego for my rims purchased at Eurotech. I got it this past January and the owner is pretty cool. Hardworking guy and at that time he wasn't being sued yet so my 168 rims came with caps.

Everything CC said is true. I even had to help him load my rims to my X5 when I went there since he met me at his shop on a rainy saturday when he's supposed to be closed.

The price are definitely a steal. I am not after performance, I am after the look and tiny imperfections don't bother me. What bothers me is someone spending $4000 for OEM rims that get scuffed and bent just like the $500 rims. To each his own and I am happy with mine.

I did the trek after having the worst experience buying from another seller on ebay from Florida (OE Rims or something like that) When I got my rims for my '03 X5 one of them was bent and they gave me the run around and didn't want to send me a new rim. So I bit the bullet and had to fix it myself. That X5 is long gone and lesson learned so this time around, I made sure I bought locally that I can pick up and inspect before paying.

[BMWLOVER]

Post pics for sure I was thinking of getting that exact setup.

[bigfish]

Hey guys,

I'm interested in checking out Eurotech in SD, but when I pulled up the website it would would not load. Do you have a contact name and phone number??

Thanks

bf

[MauiKat]

Here ya go, bf...

EuroTech Luxury Wheels
Phone: 858-245-1802
6350 Nancy Ridge #104
San Diego, CA 92121

[CaliColin]

He offered to sell me the lug kit for $59 as well. He did not push them on me, rather said "It is recommended that you change the lugs with every wheel change, but it's up to you." I opted to buy them since I already drove all the way to SD, and did not want to take a chance. But then when I went to install the new wheels, I compared them to the OEM bolts, and realized that the quality was not nearly the same. The kit has a cheap "Made in China" feel to it and comes with equally cheap looking chrome-plated valve stems. The OEM black BMW bolts appear to be made of a very hard, heavy steel. The bolts in the kit did not. The bolts in the kit look like they might start to round the corners after repeated use. Which made me doubt that the threads would stand up to repeated torque as well. I did not break out a hardness meter and do a scientific measurement, but upon observation, the light colored metal looks to be softer than the black OEM bolts. Think about the difference between the black impact wrench sockets vs. standard Craftsman chrome sockets. If you handle them, you can tell that the black ones are heavier duty, more durable. Such is the case between the OEM bolts vs. Eurotech's. Also, the OEM bolts come with a free-spinning conical washer that makes contact with the wheel. When you torque the bolts down, the washer allows the bolt to do the least damage to the wheel because it spins freely and reduces the friction between the bolt and the wheel. The reduced friction also allows you to get a better torque reading on your torque wrench. There's a reason BMW included the washer on the lug bolt. Lastly, I have a set of black OEM lug locks. It would look silly to have 4 chrome Eurotech bolts and one black OEM lug lock. As for the chrome valve stems, they are purely aesthetic. I opted for the free rubber ones that my tire shop gave me when they mounted the tires. I will be shipping the lug kit back to Eurotech for a refund. Unless anyone here wants a brand new in box Eurotech lug kit!!

[RichiRich]

Originally Posted by CaliColin

He offered to sell me the lug kit for $59 as well. He did not push them on me, rather said "It is recommended that you change the lugs with every wheel change, but it's up to you." I opted to buy them since I already drove all the way to SD, and did not want to take a chance. But then when I went to install the new wheels, I compared them to the OEM bolts, and realized that the quality was not nearly the same. The kit has a cheap "Made in China" feel to it and comes with equally cheap looking chrome-plated valve stems. The OEM black BMW bolts appear to be made of a very hard, heavy steel. The bolts in the kit did not. The bolts in the kit look like they might start to round the corners after repeated use. Which made me doubt that the threads would stand up to repeated torque as well. I did not break out a hardness meter and do a scientific measurement, but upon observation, the light colored metal looks to be softer than the black OEM bolts. Think about the difference between the black impact wrench sockets vs. standard Craftsman chrome sockets. If you handle them, you can tell that the black ones are heavier duty, more durable. Such is the case between the OEM bolts vs. Eurotech's. Also, the OEM bolts come with a free-spinning conical washer that makes contact with the wheel. When you torque the bolts down, the washer allows the bolt to do the least damage to the wheel because it spins freely and reduces the friction between the bolt and the wheel. The reduced friction also allows you to get a better torque reading on your torque wrench. There's a reason BMW included the washer on the lug bolt. Lastly, I have a set of black OEM lug locks. It would look silly to have 4 chrome Eurotech bolts and one black OEM lug lock. As for the chrome valve stems, they are purely aesthetic. I opted for the free rubber ones that my tire shop gave me when they mounted the tires. I will be shipping the lug kit back to Eurotech for a refund. Unless anyone here wants a brand new in box Eurotech lug kit!!

CC - I'm in the tire hunt mode right now....just out of curiosoty ....what kind of tires did you go with and how much did they cost you?? .if you don't mind me asking of course.

THX

Rich

[CaliColin]

Don't mind at all.. I went with Toyo S/T. $806 shipped for a staggered set of 275/40/20 and 315/35/20. Problem is, Toyo replaced the S/T line with STII. But they do not have the STII's in a 315 yet. So the only ones left were what were on peoples' shelves.

[RichiRich]

Originally Posted by CaliColin

Don't mind at all.. I went with Toyo S/T. $806 shipped for a staggered set of 275/40/20 and 315/35/20. Problem is, Toyo replaced the S/T line with STII. But they do not have the STII's in a 315 yet. So the only ones left were what were on peoples' shelves.

Wow! That is a good deal....any idea if the people you bought them from still have any??? or were yours the last of them??

Rich

[CaliColin]

I bought from www.td4l.com. Last I checked, they still had the 275's but are all out of the 315's. On the other hand, www.tires-easy.com had them in stock, but are a little more expensive. Go to their site and get a quick online quote. It's too bad you live in Conn, b/c my local tire shop said, "You should have checked with us, we could have matched that price." Perhaps you could get a quote online and ask some local tire shops to match it. Either way, they will have a hard time getting Toyo's as the size has been discontinued. Maybe that's why they were so cheap! But consider alternative brands, as a replacement tire will be difficult if not impossible to get if you need one.