I left off the last post with a test fit of the Rial wheels in which I discovered that I would need spacers to mount them, as they were lightly touching the brake caliper. Enter my new wheels. A few days prior I had bought a set of 3pcs BBS RF measuring 8.5×17 ET13 and 9.5×17 ET13. The fronts had the same sizes as the Rials, but due to the different center design, they fit without a spacer. I decided to sell the Rials and refurb the BBS.

A first test fit just after I received the wheels.The front wheels fit fine, but the rear wheels would need some heavy fender work – but I knew that before hand.

So, I dropped the wheels off for refinishing at Felgenretter (www.felgenretter.de) in Oberhausen. Two of the lips were slightly bent so he repaired those with an impressive result. They are now the best balanced set of wheels I ever owned. Additionally, the lips were mirror polished. I wrapped the 8.5x17s in 205/40/17 Falken FK452s and the 9.5x17s in 225/35/17 Falken FK452s.

Here you can see how much the rear wheels poked. I wanted to fit them with NO rubbing in every driving situation, so heavy fenderwork was needed.

So I started the fender work. Additionally to pulling the fenders, I also adjusted the rear camber as negative as it got.

Here you can see the pulled passenger side fender – bumper was NOT adjusted yet.

And here’s the driver side with the bumper tab adjusted outwards so the bumper sits flush against the pulled fender.

More than enough room for the BBS!

Nearly perfect. Zero thread left in the rear, 5mm left in the front but in these pic the car was sitting on the bump stops. Once I removed those, the car came down a bit in front and now sits just about perfect!