Problem with BBS LM. Need advice

[mike164s]

Hey guys, have an issue here.
I'm in the process of refinishing my LM's and I am also reverse mounting them. I am afraid that these wheels wont balance out right because it looks as thought the faces cannot sit perfectly center within the lip when reverse mounted. The back side of the face sits snug against the lip, where as the front side looks as though it has a smaller diameter, allowing some leeway to be off center when the bolts are tightened down (I have put up a pic to better explain myself).

Any advice? I am thinking about sending the faces to a machine shop and maching the front of the faces down to the same diameter as the back side (the orignal side that is mounted to the lip). I would be losing a few mm of offset this way, but at least it would be safe and everything would balance out correctly.

The wheels are 17x8/9. Anyone ever run into this issue?
The pic below has a line showing the difference of diameter between the back and front side.

[KarlSpackler]

Mount tire and go see if it balances

[kenny]

I've reverse-mounted a set of LMs before with the same concerns. I just checked the clearance to make sure it was as uniform as it could be using a folded index card. It balanced fine and actually required less weights albeit with brand new tires.

[SAVETHEWHEELS]

You'll be alright Been done hundreds of times with no issue.

[mike164s]

yea no biggie I put them together a couple weeks ago. Used feeler gauges to make sure everything was even

[Rally]

We met with BBS USA at SEMA this past year and they brought up the recent trend of reverse mounting LMs. They strongly advise against it isn't structurally sound.

Take that for what it's worth. I'm sure plenty will chime in saying that they've seen it done without any problems, I'm just sharing what I've learned. I personally wouldn't run them reverse mounted.

[SAVETHEWHEELS]

We met with BBS USA at SEMA this past year and they brought up the recent trend of reverse mounting LMs. They strongly advise against it isn't structurally sound.

Take that for what it's worth. I'm sure plenty will chime in saying that they've seen it done without any problems, I'm just sharing what I've learned. I personally wouldn't run them reverse mounted.

Interesting -- my BBS Impul's are nearly identical to LM's and they're reverse mounted.

[Rally]

Interesting -- my BBS Impul's are nearly identical to LM's and they're reverse mounted.

It all comes down to the taper and mounting surfaces that the faces are machined to. The taper would hardly be noticable without really comparing them up close. If the impuls were intended to be run as reverse, the engineers would have factored that in and done the correct machining to meet strength requirements. BBS LMs were never manufactured as reverse mount and as such, the flange was not machined to carry load as a reverse mounted piece....just face mounted.

[.Mad Hatter.]

It's not that they never came that way; it's that if they didn't, they should stay that way. I've seen some 19x11s come reverse mounted from factory, but as stated; they were engineered that way. I have thought about reverse mounting mine, but the potential risk isn't worth it IMO.

[j_up]

I was skeptic myself when i first did it with my first set of LMs. The more I thought about it, there's no way it would not be centered, since there are so many bolts through the entire wheel, there is not much play for it to be off centered.

just my 2 cents.

[electricalbox]

It all comes down to the taper and mounting surfaces that the faces are machined to. The taper would hardly be noticable without really comparing them up close. If the impuls were intended to be run as reverse, the engineers would have factored that in and done the correct machining to meet strength requirements. BBS LMs were never manufactured as reverse mount and as such, the flange was not machined to carry load as a reverse mounted piece....just face mounted.

QFT, same thing with sandwich mounting, one side is not designed for it...

Sure tons of people have done it with no problems, but it is something people who are hopefully smarter than most of us (engineers) advise against and thats enough for me to stay away.