BBS RS001 White Edition. Do meet your heroes.

I should start off be saying thank you.

Thank you Dimitris or Zaosan, author of this seminal post back in 2009

But thank you as well Makukha who created a very handy website for BBS wheels.

Thank you as well Florian of 944racing who is a Porsche god send.

Those three and many more deserve praise for helping me get a culture of the community i am in.

It is not easy being wheel-krazy especially when growing up with not a lot of car people to begin with.

Those trailblazers above put out the resource and information out there for other like minded felgen fanatics to pick up; and i am extremely thankful they did.

But let us go back to Dimitris.

In his post, featured a high resolution (for 2009 that is as good as it gets) scan of a brochure from BBS’s heyday.

For the 20th anniversary of the Schiltach forging powerhouse, they released a limited edition of their most significant models in the most popular sizes :BBS RS, RM, RZ.

Of course the BBS RS001 had to figure in this list.

Back then i had never seen before a set of RS001 in any condition.

It was a very rare sight.

But learning that there was a hidden level of exclusivity on top of it ? that was wild.

Fast forward a couple of years and i find myself in Japan, a proper paradise for the rare parts hunter.

Sourcing a set of BBS RS 4 holes with flatbacks for easy redrills to 4×100 ? easy, plentiful.

Used to be cheap too, not anymore.

Genuine 4×100 wheel, bolt-on for BMW E30, VW Golk mk1 mk2 or mazda MX-5 ?

Yeah it is doable, condition can be hit or miss and it will cost you a pretty penny.

Genuine BBS RS001 ? That’s starting to get complicated, it will take as much time as it will take money.

Genuine BBS RS001 White edition ? Forget it.

This particular set was previously fitted on a BMW E30.

The white paintjob, though of dubious provenance, gave me an idea.

I had just met in person Komatsu-san, the wheel shop owner every carguy should know.

With him by your side, sky is the limit.

Since we are going to restore those wheels completely, why not make it interesting ?

Komatsu-san in his usual stoic style, just said yes and asked what kind and shade of white paint to use.

These days powder coating is reining supreme on the refurbishing game, and for good reasons.

It is cheaper and provides more resistance than urethane or liquid paint.

But in my view it is just too thick to replicate faithfully the finish on a basket weave design center.

It is a very intricate design with a lot of changes in depth and a very shallow surface.

So after giving it some though and upon Komatsu-san greenlight we decided to go the old fashion way : liquid paint.

I think it is a good time to stop and clarify something :

I only brought the vision and the support, all credits should go, of course, to Komatsu-san and his team. For more technical details, he actually featured these wheels on his blog (link in Japanese only unfortunately).

On his photos the caps are regular silver on black RS caps, i have now replaced them by genuine items with correct color scheme (gold on black).

I was really happy to receive these wheels (a week after Christmas, no less) and see the result.

This pearl white is a keeper, a truly complex color.

Depending on the lighting it can look yellowish but also deep creamy white.

Specs shots. It is unclear whether or not BBS RS white edition wheels had a special « RSE » stamp as the brochure suggests

I wanted to showcase the latter rather than the former, so i only used natural light; being winter in Tokyo i didn’t have much to play around with.

I take this opportunity to thank again Komatsu-san and his shop for his proverbial hard work.

Those wheels will soon be sold and on their way to a lucky buyer in Canada.

Let me close this post by recapping the specs

BBS RS 001

7″ x 15″ ET25

Centerbore 57.1mm

Weight 7 kilos.

Lips width 1 1/8″

barrels width 5 3/8″

Photos taken with SONY RX1, 1/160 shutter speed, f/5.6 aperture.