Cam Farey's BBS LMs

I received some BBS LMs to help refurbish for a fellow VAG owner, Cam, for his Mk4 R32.

These were staggered 18x8 and 18x9, ET40, 5x114.3, front-mounted, numbered LMP080 and LMP081 and built early 2001.  Original condition was still pretty tip-top; some of the edges of the lips were rashed but had very little oxidation (clearcoat has been kept well; most likely hasn't been used/stored close to the sea nor used in snow conditions).

Bolts were easy to unscrew and unlike BBS RS, these are 2-piece and don't require a sealant as the barrel is one piece, so it wasn't a messy affair taking everything apart.

Only some of the bolts showed minor fading but nothing bad that the camera could capture.

The centres and barrels showed only slight imperfections here and there from exposure to brake dust.  All four spun true on the balancing machine.

I sent the barrels off to Greg, the sole operator of Magman @ Punchbowl.  He was already working on some BBS LMs, but their condition were much worse.  Salt must've broke down and gotten past the clearcoat and even the paint of the centres, with heavy oxidation showing on the lips and particularly the centres, which were completely rotten and exhibited a shitload of tinworm under the paint.  That said, Greg had trouble stripping the paint off using his industrial grade paint stripping solution, proving that BBS are a quality wheel that provides a quality finish, but even that didn't protect them from the harsh nature of being stored/used close to the sea.

All I can say about Greg is he's a good-natured bloke that is not only good at what he does, but provides a service that is rarely matched by others in the industry.  I would not hesitate to recommend him to others looking at getting wheel repairs done.

I repolished the lips with a finishing polish liquid compound that I prefer using compared to other branded compounds; it's a local product that I found at Pep Boys.  It's a very fine polish and takes out imperfections that even some polishes leave behind.  Also bought one of those polishing cone pads by Mothers.  Soft and non-abrasive, and quite easy to use as it gets in between the bolts quite easily without you having to operate the drill close to the rim.  A bit expensive though.

Came out pretty nice.

Some of the deeper gutter rashes were left behind.  To try and get rid of them would mean the edge of the lip would need to be machined down a lot further.  Filling any resulting rash after machining can smooth the edge over nicely but polishing the area would be impossible as it would no longer be a metal surface.  If the lip was to be painted then that's OK, but to keep that polished finish, no filler can be used.

Bolts were cleaned with a soft nylon brush in soapy water.

Torque was set to 28 ft lbs as the bolts and nuts were to be reused.

An hour later, it was all back together again.

It was an easy rebuild due to the original condition of the wheels.  Though I'll need to get my own polishing setup soon so I can do my own polishing.

Hopefully Cam will be going to ILV in Melbourne during March so I can take photos of the car sitting pretty on these LMs.  If that happens, I'll be sure to post them up here.

Rest of the photos (not much more) in my Photobucket - http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/rayray086/RAWWorks/Cam%20BBS%20LM/

The Rookwood Renegades

Before the New Year, Justin of Justin Sung Photography mentioned the possibility of doing a RAW Works photoshoot, just a chance for us to have a look back at some of the wheel builds that went on during 2012.  It was a big year for RAW Works; I finally made a Facebook page and after completing stage 1 of Tony's RS001s, attention started gathering.  Then came Kennedy's big dish 17s followed by Josh's convexed 15s with spiked bolts and finally, Areis' gold 17s.  I did some smaller jobs here and there, replacing pairs of lips and resealing wheels, but they were the four major builds.  And so a few weeks back, we finally got together and did a photoshoot at Rookwood Cemetery (Tony's idea).

Michael Klimentos and Winson Louangkhoth of Street Cover came down with us too, sharing their expertise with their camerawork.

The day could've been better organised (my bad) but we all managed to meet together at North Strathfield IMO carwash and cruise down together to Rookwood.  It was an awesome sight though, seeing my builds rolling on four consecutive cars, all stanced the fuck out.  A lot of heads turned, some necks broken.  Unfortunately the rain didn't hold off, with patches of rain hitting us at the carwash (after some of the guys had dried off their cars) and some real heavies during the shoot.  But that didn't stop us, with Bunnings umbrellas being whipped out left, right and centre.

Anyway, on with the photos.  Only some of my favourites I've posted here, the rest can be found at my Photobucket - http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/rayray086/RAWWorks/Photoshoots/Rookwood/?start=all

I only took snaps at Rookwood, but some of the others took photos at the carwash and I'm pretty sure there were some rollers too.  I'll add them in as I find them.

Enjoy!

Thanks to the boys for coming out; Tony and Kennedy (fellow House of Stance members), Areis (of Stance Slutz) and Josh (of Team Break Even).  Also thanks to Justin (of Justin Sung Photography) for tagging along and doing what he does best, and Michael and Winson of Street Cover for taking time out of their Sunday to do this shoot for RAW Works.  It was great to see all the builds come together in one location.  And to those that say BBS RS are played out, you can go fuck yourselves!

PEACE!

Project EM1

First off, apologies to Joshua Nham, owner of this super clean EM1 that this BBS RS build was destined for, for such a late blog entry.  No excuses for my procrastination and tardiness when it comes to writing up articles.

Secondly, I didn't capture as many photos in this project as I usually do so I've been given permission by Allen Yie to share some of his talent.  Thanks Allen!

Josh approached me with his 15" BBS RSs in the hopes of getting some rebarrelling done.  Josh didn't mess around, knowing exactly what he wanted in terms of lip sizes and finish of the wheels, making my job of setting it all up super easy.

With my advice, Josh had his powdercoater masked up the contact sections of each piece, then done in a solid white.

Assembly was hassle free; if anything, the spikes made the install a tad painful, but it's nothing compared to what Josh has in store for him when he washes the wheels!

Like with all my previous builds, Josh helped out whenever he could throughout it all.

Aftermarket billet hex caps were sourced from the US (check out eBay, seller Aardvarc Racing) as well as red/gold centre caps.  Tied together with the white centres and gold bolts, it helped simulate a similar look to the rare "Primadonna" edition of the BBS RS.

Clean beads; let it sit for two days then we parted ways for Josh to have his tyre fitter wrap some 195/45s over them.

The next time I saw them was at JDMyard's EOYM at their new premises located close to home in Smithfield's industrial district.  I gotta say, it never gets hold seeing completed wheel builds that I've had a helping hand all fitted up.  Can't wait to see proper photos taken of this ;)

Final specs of the wheels were 15x8 ET13 and 15x8.5 ET6, with 2.5" and 3.0" lips respectively.

Thanks again goes to Allen Yie for letting me use his awesome photos!

All other photos can be found on my PBucket.