Italian Turbo Alloys Refinished

[Wza]

I just got my Italian market turbo alloys back from the refinisher and they look amazing! We straightened them, sanded all the small nicks, bead blasted them, and then sprayed the fronts with just a matte clear and the backs with a cast aluminum. What do y'all think?

[pureaudio]

I like em, what are the specs on them?

[dubois]

beautiful, stunning, very nice! I would imagine very rare too.

[eastsidebimmer]

.....and suspect that I should have bid higher for them on fleabay.

SuperCool.

Ben

[Wza]

Ha ha, sorry Ben. When I saw them on eBay I battled through a sleepless night trying to decide if I should battle it out auction style or just go for it and hit the buy it now. After refinishing they cost about double what a set of the regular alloys would be but hey, I have never seen a set before and I don't know that I will see another for a long time.

The wheels are 13 x5.5 ET +24. Here is the little bit of history I know about them. If anyone else can add to this or has any pictures I would be most greatful...

These wheels were made in very limited numbers by Fratelli Pedrini Sarezz (Pedrini brothers in the town of Sarezzo, Italy) or F.P.S. By 1970 F.P.S. had opened a dedicated wheel foundry in Dello (still within the province of Brescia) where these wheels would have originated. F.P.S. also produced aluminum alloys for the Porsche 914 and certain Alfa Giulia models and these are considered among the most desirable factory wheels for those cars. These wheels for the BMW 2002 are however much rarer –indeed very few sets are known to exist. It is speculated that these were made available by dealers only in the Italian market and only for a short period. I believe this set had belonged first to an Italian turbo but this cannot be documented.

[golf73]

those are really nice, man. what do you plan on using for center caps? you have the originals? someone posted some cool vintage momo wheels here recently, wish i could get my hands on a set of those. tried to get some rare BWA's on eBay Germany, but my bank had trouble with the bank transfer payment process. hard to deal with the person on the other end who didn't speak english very well either. oh well, i'm gonna go a different route on the Wheel Scene.

ryan

[74tiiGolf]

Well done, sir!

Matthew

[Wza]

Yeah, I don't know on the center caps. I was really hoping someone here would have a picture or two of these wheels so I could figure out what cap was used originally. I was told a steel wheel centercap might work, but they are a little too small. I was told the Alpina cap might also fit, but the ones I have seen are plastic and I would like a metal cap if possible. I was also told a BBS cap might work, but I would really want to stay stock. Any tips or recommendations would be much appreciated!

[Brandon]

Those a pretty nice...should look good once on the car!

[a54atii]

Here are some pics of the wheels with center caps. Not mine, no affiliation...

http://www.schusterphoto.com/silver%20sled.htm

I like the way your wheels turned out. I have a set of them sitting in my garage waiting for some attention. I think the matt clear finish really makes the most of the details on the front of the wheels. Please post some pics when you get them mounted on your car.

Karl

[Wza]

Thanks Karl. It is nice to see a set of these on a car. The matte clear does really allow all the detail to show. What is really cool is that you can see all the small imperfections that were present in the mold too.

I am not sure I like the blank metal caps, kind of look like wheel bearing dust caps to me.

[dirk2602]

I just got my Italian market turbo alloys back from ............

Very nice wheels. Congratulations. Why do you call them "turbo alloys"?

I have seen these on '71/'72 italian ti's and tii's but never on turbo's ('74/'75). What is the date stamp on the wheels ?

[Wza]

Thanks Dirk, good pictures. I called them Turbo Alloys because I was told by the previous owner that he thought they were originally on a turbo. He bought them from the guys at bmw2002turbo.nl in Holland who had imported them from Italy. I know that they were an option for the ti, tii, and way told turbo too. The wheels are not date coded anywhere that I could find. They are going to be installed on my '72tii so original turbo alloys or not I am excited to have them for the tii.

[NickVyse]

You see them on all sorts of Italian 02's, just a dealer option I guess.

Nice wheels

[twinturbo]

Those are non turbo 2002 option wheels . Turbo option wheels are all 6 inch wide besides the stock steelies being 5.5. Congrats they are nice and a rare find.