OEM wheels vs Replicas? Need support!

[troymi]

Hi all. As many of you have noted, I have tried several different wheel styles on my couple X5s. I have always used OEM wheels.

Now I have a set of ultra clean rep 214s I bought from a great member. They are near perfect and wrapped with Pirelli ice/snow runflats. They are clean as you can see. And really seem heavy compared to other 20s I've run.

Am I crazy for worrying about these for winter use? They are exact OE spec 20x10 et40 front and 20x11 et37 rear which is not all that common. It was even suggested they may be off OEM tools but not marked BMW of course.

Anything I should look out for or am I just nervous for no reason? The previous owner said they were nothing but perfect. Looking for some feedback from some other rep users that have had success or issues. Thank a lot.

[troymi]

Hmm. Pic said it timed out. Try again. And another timeout. I'll try from the ground when I land. Sorry!

[PAX5]

Originally Posted by troymi

... am I just nervous for no reason?

Yes!

You bought them, didn't you? Now you own them ... use them!

What is it you would you like to hear from us?

[troymi]

Originally Posted by PAX5

Yes!

You bought them, didn't you? Now you own them ... use them!

What is it you would you like to hear from us?

Uh, experiences good and bad like I wrote? That's what I was thinking would be good to share. Obviously I bought them but I've bought a lot of wheels that had pros and cons. Like do they tend to scratch easier or might need to be balanced more often? Point is I don't have experience with any rep wheels so just looking for points.

[blue dragon]

Reps are normally heavier, but I haven't seen too many issues with them at all.

[P1]

Don't worry mate. My dad has been running those wheels (style 214) in a smaller format for many winters. Never an issue...

[Poppyboy]

I bought the exact same setup (replica wheels, Scorpion tires w/ 95%+ tread remaining), used, about four months ago. They have some curb rash, which I attempted to clean up (with limited success). I just had them balanced and the sensors checked last week. All in, I paid $1000 for the set and $90 for the sensor check/balance/one reseal. I haven't actually used them yet, and the rear tires are a bit narrow for the offset (275, which explains the curb rash), but they should be fine to handle our horrible winters.

[Poppyboy]

BTW, they are indeed friggin' heavy! Loading them into my car repeatedly (purchase, back and forth to the tire place to get checked) was just brutal!

[denaliman]

You want the winter tires slightly tucked into the fender wells for winter driving. This will keep all the salt, sand and road crap from blasting the side of your car and damaging the paint. May not look so great, but outweighs having to repaint the rockers. One other tip...make sure to clean the snow off from between the spokes if not you may experience lots of vibration.

[windsailor]

+1 on the vibration, other than that, don't find them heavier than OEMs and do the job with no complaints. Pirelli Carving Winter studless performing up to specs, gettting ready for my first at home change, torque meter to be borrowed and jack greased and ready!

[Christopher06]

My brother bought a set and they been working fine for a few years now

[joyride]

Anyone have a link or any info on purchasing these? I see the ones on Ebay, from what I've seen they are from YSM, but they are the 20x9.5/20x10.5. Looking at running a 214 in the winter as well.

Thanks,