Forged or not?

As far as I know, only the Throwing Stars were forged (geschmiedet), and even those had a polished variant (poliert). This document shows the original wheel specification:

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e38/pdf/uk1_01.pdf

The link you have shown probably shows the two variants

The ugly ducklings sold as option S298 are forged wheels:

Same as the M-System II wheels (Styling 21)

Also the M parallels (Styling 37) are forged wheels, only this can be read in the parts catalogue just for the E34 and E39 varieties:

The M-parallels were made by that most famous of all wheels manufacturers here Otto Fuchs - maker of the classic Fuchs-wheel for the Porsche 911.

You still can find 3 of the 4 Styling 37 variants on their website:

Alpina 20 spoke wheels are manufactured by Ronal and are cast. Styling 5 split rim BBS wheels probably would not profit from being forged anyway, those are cast rims too.

The "stronger" in forged does not necessarily imply that they do not suffer from curb rash or will swallow everything
This is more likely measurable in terms of overall stability per pound of material.
I do remember one UK guy many years ago reporting a completely disintegrated forged Styling 21 wheel - likely damaged beforehand and reducing stability to the extent that all that was left was this:

Cheers
Reinhard

Interesting, thanks a lot guys.

Not 100% sure....

But...I seem to remember having a set of Alpinas that were not RONAL.

These would have been the earlier style for E31 spec.

I do believe ALL Softlines were RONAL however...

Ill have to dig for pics...

Nope. It was a set of Softlines I have currently. Clearly state BBS in the centers.





Maybe RONAL only made the 20"s?

Reinhard, THanks for the info on FUCHS. Ive been arguing that the Style 37s are FORGED for a while now, but they dont say forged in the ETK/RealOEM for the E38s.

Zitat von IcemanBHE;83363

Maybe RONAL only made the 20"s?

No, Ronal made 17's for the the E34 B10 and E32 B12 I have some on my 8 but they are not the softlines, thet have a hard return to the edge.. 8.5 x 17 and 10 x 17, the E39 B10 had Ronal made 18" softlines, I recently sold a set as the offset and dish is not the best for an E31.

Zitat von IcemanBHE;83363

It was a set of Softlines I have currently. Clearly state BBS in the centers.

Now this has made me curious and look myself

You omitted to tell us that the rim pictured by you is not made for the E31 but for the E39 AND that it is the split rim with the steel ring which is nice but not exactly the Classic Alpina rim

Lesson learned:
BBS did indeed manufacture for Alpina, namely this one:

I checked 18" and 19" Softlines (single part, E39) and they were both with castings marked RONAL.

18" Softline

19" Softline

None of those were available for the E31. Over here one would likely not receive permission to put those under an E31 due to the lack of a certificate for this purpose.

Cheers
Reinhard

Außerdem gibts noch gebürstete und gestrahlte Parallelspeiche Styling 37...
There are also forged Fuchs-Alloys in brushed or in glaspearl blasted finish:

Zitat von reinhard;83375

19" Softline

I think these are actually called "Classics" and are from the E39 B10 V8S, I have seen an E31 with these fitted (but might have been a copy) and I does not look right.... too modern IMHO.

Yes Reinhard, those indeed are 18" E39 spec Alpinas by BBS, but they ARE NOT THE SPLIT RIM.

I also have a set of the E31 spec 17" Alpinas and they do not say who made them...

Sorry for the confusion, but the RONAL thing made me look as I thought I had a BBS set.

Interesting to see them marked RONAL on the back.

The 19" set above are indeed the new "Classic" wheel type with the scalloped centercaps/spokes.

Again, thanks for the info on FUCHS.

Zitat von IcemanBHE;83406

Yes Reinhard, those indeed are 18" E39 spec Alpinas by BBS, but they ARE NOT THE SPLIT RIM.

Brian, please call me blind but I can even see the screws on the rim below in the picture that you put up

Also: the part number, if you compare my pictures with yours is identical to the one in my storage locker, of which I know for sure it is the 2-piece rim

Zitat

I also have a set of the E31 spec 17" Alpinas and they do not say who made them...

Then they might be forged, if you know what I mean

@Rob
All those were indeed called "Classic". The later ones did not have the "sharp edges" on the spokes but were rounded, hence to distinguish between the old style Classic and the new style the term "Softline" was coined.

Cheers
Reinhard

Sorry Reinhard....

Those pics were taken from a set in the UK I bought off ebay.

I never noticed that the pics were of 2 pc rims before.

But I assure you mine are not.

Now that begs the question, if those are not my wheels in the pics...

Then what the hell do mine say? lol

Ill pop the caps off tomorrow and look/report back with pics.

B