BBS Alloy Wheels Splitting

[danielr637]

Hi everyone,

Bought my first Z4 and one of my first jobs is splitting the rims on the BBS alloys that I have bought for it. (Please see pic)

I've been told this can be a bit of a challenging job and that bolts can shear. From my research the tool I need is an M8 spline to remove the bolts.

Any advice on best practice would be helpful?

Can anyone also tell me the original paint codes or options of olours that BMW provided for these from these wheels from new? The guy i bought them off said originally the outer part would have been diamond cut. Can anyone advice?

 

[Zedebee]

The original outer rim was polished, not diamond cut.

Why do you want to split them, they look in quite good nick?

Some people may advise you to soak all the bolt wells in plusgas or similar overnight, but I never did this. Place the M8 in each bolt head and striking firmly with a hammer will help “break” the threads. Then using a ratchet driver, carefully apply enough torque to loosen each bolt. Come back to any stuck ones. Then have an electric driver to hand to remove all the bolts. There are 80 altogether.

 

[raymond.harper]

The bolts will not shear off, they are indestructible but the spline will round off. Take your time. Get the right spline tool with the correct number of splines, and perhaps soak the inside of the star section with release oil. The biggest problem is rounding the splined head of the bolt. If this happens try to drive a spline with fewer splines into the bolt. If that fails then it's time to drill the head off the bolt. Use a 9mm cobalt drill and drill SLOWLY, almost hardly moving, using plenty of oil. If you try to increase the speed the drill will heat up. Take care not to touch the star section. Once all bolts are out a dead blow hammer should slip the star from the rim. Then it is a case of using heat to remove the broken studs. Tap all the holes and then clean the threads on the bolts before reassembly.