18" 360 Challenge BBS wheels easily bent/damaged?

he is right. super light but also super soft. the roads around houston will kill them quicker than you can blink. potholes will bend, crack or break them easily and theres a ton of them round this part of the world. BBS racing wheels arent magnesium anymore for this reason. the E88s changed some time ago as they could get the weight down but increase strength.
this challenge wheels are expensive too when you need to replace one. you can pick up a set easily for about 2-2.5k but will be that when you break one and need to replace it.

id avoid them altogether. look at the 19s used on the CS and the 430s or look into getting a set of BBS e88s or similar if you want racing wheels and to keep the 18" dia.

 

No disrespect towards your salesmen there (I'm sure he had good intentions), but he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to these rims. You would be well served to inquire directly with the engineers at BBS. When I did that (when I was considering running these rims on the street on my 360), here is what I discovered.

First, the 18" BBS challenge rims are mainly an aluminum alloy. If there is any magnesium involved in the mix, it's a very small percent. So, effectively the BBS challenge rims can be thought of as aluminum. They are made using what's known as a "flow forming" process, which produces near forged rim strength. During the flow forming, the metal is heated up as it's "formed" and this changes the properties (similar to forging) of the alloy. The result is a rim that is about 20% lighter than a normal cast aluminum rim, but has almost the strength of a forged aluminum rim.

Some people will tell you that the BBS challenge rims are not to be used on the street, but this is incorrect. They are just as strong as any other "street" rim made by BBS, if not stronger. They work fine on the track and street. If you hit a pot hole going 80 MPH, they are just as likely to sustain damage as any other rim you might find on a Ferrari or other car, etc.

Also, keep in mind, the 18" BBS challenge rims (for the 360 at least) are slightly wider than the stock rims (about 1/2 inch as I recall). This should have a slight benefit on handling, since the rims are a little bit wider.

Hope this information is helpful. I have a document from BBS about the flow forming process (I think) if you'd like to see it. I may have posted it previously on ferrarichat.com, but I'm not 100% sure.

Here is some additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_forming

"Flow forming is often used to manufacture automobile wheels and can be used to draw a wheel to net width from a machined blank. During flow forming, the workpiece is cold worked, changing its mechanical properties, so its strength becomes similar to that of forged metal."

So basically the BBS challenge rims can be thought of as being about as strong as any forged aluminum wheel. The myth floating around about them being "race only" and/or not strong enough for use on the street is just that: a myth.

Ray

 

I've been running the 18" challenge wheels on my 360 for about 2 years and 12,000 miles and several track days. They are as straight and strong as the day I put them on.

 

I also had these rims on my 360 for about 13k miles and had no problems.

 

What a relief to hear. The car I purchased came with it and many told me these will damage easily with the roads in CA so was considering to replace them with 430 rims.

Just went to take a quick look at the size, front is 8jx18 and rear is 10.5x18, not sure how that compares with the stock rims.

 

I have bent and or destroyed about 4 wheels from 4 seasons of hard racing. Damage was always from pretty hard hits.

On two occasions the spokes cracked, one time the rim was bent, and one time the rim tore clear off the hub courtesy Shanghai F1 circuit concrete wall in the rain.

Running over the track side rumble strips, occasional excursion into the kitty litter, or minor wheel to wheel racing bumps never posed any problems for me. So over all I'd say they are pretty robust.

Don't know about the size of pot holes in your city streets, but I doubt any high performance light weight wheels are designed to run over large pot holes with low profile tires.

 

I have the 18" BBS Challenge on my 360 and I can hold the four of them at the same time. The only heavy thing on these rims are the tires. They are pretty strong and the can be compare with any other rim of Ferrari. Remember a big hole on the street can break any rim you have. Where I live it is nothing compare of what you can find in the states. Here the streets are from the 60's and the infrastructure is in a really bad shape. In some parts of the highway you can’t run no more of 60 mph or you will find yourself out of the road on any moment. Like I said they are pretty strong and if the survive here they will survive any where in the states.

 

Yes, I have a few good parts sources to support my racing. I can check for you on Monday, but EUR to US$ exchange rate is over $1.47 right now, so I'm sure price will be a lot higher than what I paid before.

 

here's that PDF file on flow forming process, in case anyone is interested.

Ray
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You're most welcome. Try to find a set of titanium lug bolts while you are shopping for those rims. They would make a nice addition. I had the torx T70 head style titanium lug bolts on my 360 and loved them.

Ray