To Bottlecap, or not to Bottlecap, that is the question....

[iinca]

 Any wheel looks good on that super fabulous red tii..

 

 I've noticed many 2002 'flippers' go for Bottle Caps and love to brag about the classic BMW lightweight alloy wheels.

Obviously they don't hang out here on the FAQ with the 'cool crowd' or they'd be hip to just how un cool they are...............................................................

Edited January 23, 2020 by iinca

[dlhoovler]

I'll be contrarian and say that I kinda like bottlecaps, especially on a squaretail car. They're not THAT different from the soup-plate late factory '02 alloys... 

 

I suspect the hate bottlecaps get is about half due to their being the base wheel on most US E30s, so they inspire the same level of love as the M10 318i and the Eta. I genuinely loved my Eta-engined 325, but then my bottlecaps were still relegated to winter wheels, and I had basketweaves for summer!

 

And since they've been undesirable by the E30 crowd, bottlecaps are essentially worthless in the market, so they carry that "cheap" stigma. 

 

Plus we're now in a new part of the cycle of the 2002. At one point, it's desirable to "update" a car to look like the newer models and keep it from being seen as "old-fashioned." That was 2002s in the late 1970s through the 1990s, when E21 and then E30 wheels were seen as upgrades.

 

Then in the 2000s E30 wheels were especially popular as a cost-effective way to chase tire availability as decent 13" tires went away. But then even 14" performance tires became hard to find.

 

Their demise coincided with 2002s reaching the tipping point in their ages when original or "period-correct" starts to become more desirable, as it does with most cars of a certain age. So even with the reintroduction of some 13" performance tires like the CN36, you don't see many '02s with E21 turbines or basketweaves anymore, despite their extra width being a major draw over stock 2002 wheels in the 1980s and '90s. Those looking for maximum performance are going with 15" wheels, and those who look at 13" wheels want something from when '02s were new, if not factory wheels. 

 

TL;DR - Cheap stigma, changing tire tech and collector-car aesthetics combined to kill the desirability of bottle caps. 

 

-Dave

 

who's done pontificating for today

[tdskip]

That was some pretty good pontificating Dave (seriously, good stuff).

 

 

 

[theNomad]

Shaking my head... all the haters. This is all you have to do: 3 piece.

 

[SydneyTii]

2 hours ago, jgerock said:

My tii at time of purchase 

 

Switched to 14 x 6 Superlites in 2009

If only they still made those superlites 

[TobyB]

My favorite thing about bottle caps?

 

They fit.

You can steer the car.

No thinking involved,

no cash outlay needed.

You can paint them black, you can paint them

orange, you can't hurt the resale value!
Unfortunately, you also can't find decent tires for them 

any more, so they're not as sexy as they once were.

 

Now E21 turbines?  

Ugly AND they don't fit so well.

 

t

if it's round, it'll roll

[jgerock]

9 hours ago, theNomad said:

Shaking my head... all the haters. This is all you have to do: 3 piece.

 

You’ve taken a hard to clean wheel and made it even harder to clean?.  Those look fantastic!

[jgerock]

4 hours ago, TobyB said:

My favorite thing about bottle caps?

 

They fit.

You can steer the car.

No thinking involved,

no cash outlay needed.

You can paint them black, you can paint them

orange, you can't hurt the resale value!
Unfortunately, you also can't find decent tires for them 

any more, so they're not as sexy as they once were.

 

Now E21 turbines?  

Ugly AND they don't fit so well.

 

t

if it's round, it'll roll

Dunlop Direzza 185-60-14 tires are great!

[jim57759]

I agree with whoever said that wheels are like shoes in that pleasure resides in the eye of beholder.  I ran e21 turbines for years ( I still have them but switched to Ronal Panasport knockoffs because I wanted to upgrade to 15 inch wheels to improve my choice of tires).  Very happy with the Ronals-- I like the way they look and I like the added traction of 15' lower profile tires.

[tdskip]

Thanks for the on going discussion.

 

Any chance that someone in SoCal has a set of bottlecaps weighing down their garage?

[TobyB]

Oh, does anyone remember-

 

about 10 years back, there was someone out there

who was offering the service of milling out every other

spoke on a bottlecap?  Cut THOSE for Nomad's rim halves

and you'd hardly recognize it!

 

Btw, the bottlecap was the 'sporty' E30 wheel- 6x14-

as the 'cheap' wheel was steel - 5.5x14, with a plastic cover.

The 'serious racer' wheel was the basketweave, at a 

MASSIVE 6.5x14, for that stretchy-pokey lookie...

 

hee

t

[golf73]

14 hours ago, dlhoovler said:

I'll be contrarian and say that I kinda like bottlecaps, especially on a squaretail car. They're not THAT different from the soup-plate late factory '02 alloys... 

 

I suspect the hate bottlecaps get is about half due to their being the base wheel on most US E30s, so they inspire the same level of love as the M10 318i and the Eta. I genuinely loved my Eta-engined 325, but then my bottlecaps were still relegated to winter wheels, and I had basketweaves for summer!

 

And since they've been undesirable by the E30 crowd, bottlecaps are essentially worthless in the market, so they carry that "cheap" stigma. 

 

Plus we're now in a new part of the cycle of the 2002. At one point, it's desirable to "update" a car to look like the newer models and keep it from being seen as "old-fashioned." That was 2002s in the late 1970s through the 1990s, when E21 and then E30 wheels were seen as upgrades.

 

Then in the 2000s E30 wheels were especially popular as a cost-effective way to chase tire availability as decent 13" tires went away. But then even 14" performance tires became hard to find.

 

Their demise coincided with 2002s reaching the tipping point in their ages when original or "period-correct" starts to become more desirable, as it does with most cars of a certain age. So even with the reintroduction of some 13" performance tires like the CN36, you don't see many '02s with E21 turbines or basketweaves anymore, despite their extra width being a major draw over stock 2002 wheels in the 1980s and '90s. Those looking for maximum performance are going with 15" wheels, and those who look at 13" wheels want something from when '02s were new, if not factory wheels. 

 

TL;DR - Cheap stigma, changing tire tech and collector-car aesthetics combined to kill the desirability of bottle caps. 

 

-Dave

 

who's done pontificating for today

 

Well said, Dave. I was thinking right along those same lines. Also, most of those searching to add some easily reversible uniqueness to their cars, don't want anything too ubiquitous, which is what the bottelschnitzels have become.

 

[02fanatic]

I'm of the opinion that whatever you like is all that matters.  At least bottlecaps are BMW wheels not some off-tangent wheel configuration with no sole!  I had BBS wheels on my '76 (License Plate "BMW CCA") for years and absolutely loved the way they drove.  I'm now running stock early factory alloys on my '76 (Oh no, you say?)...I love early factory alloy wheels, even though the wide tires I'm running make the ride a bit "spungy"!  Experiment for awhile, and use your least favorite wheels on the car when it goes to the body shop!

 

Good Luck,

 

John

Edited January 23, 2020 by 02fanatic

[NYNick]

I'm not a wheel guy, never have been. I don't see what all the fuss is all about.

I want a wheel that performs.

I want a wheel that doesn't break the bank.

I want a wheel that I can buy tires for.

I want a wheel that doesn't detract from the car itself.

 

Not a shoe guy either.

[golf73]

3 hours ago, 02fanatic said:

I'm of the opinion that whatever you like is all that matters.  At least bottlecaps are BMW wheels not some off-tangent wheel configuration with no sole!  I had BBS wheels on my '76 (License Plate "BMW CCA") for years and absolutely loved the way they drove.  I'm now running stock early factory alloys on my '76 (Oh no, you say?)...I love early factory alloy wheels, even though the wide tires I'm running make the ride a bit "spungy"!  Experiment for awhile, and use your least favorite wheels on the car when it goes to the body shop!

 

Good Luck,

 

John

 

What wheel configurations are off tangent with no sole? Please don't say Ronal Teddy Bear alloys! Anything not BMW? A "spungy" ride on a SpongeBob SquareTail sounds like a match made Under the Sea and Something You Wish! ?