# E46 M3 alloys



## youdsym3 (Aug 4, 2009)

Hi all,

looking to buy a set of 19's for my newly purchased m3. I have always loved the diamond-cut finished 19" m3 alloy wheel and i am fully aware of all of the problems associated with such a wheel type finish. Is it impossible to fully prevent the finish from breaking down if washed regularly and sealed as the last thing i want to do is spend time and money re-furbing them after every winter?

If so i am looking into buy genuine CSL or CS alloys which are painted and thus will not give me such problems as stated above.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Many thanks


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## never ready (Dec 12, 2007)

don't bother with the diamond cut, I had them on my old e46 m3 and they were a PITA.
My mate has just put some BBS alloys on his CSL, I'll find out what he is doing with the originals


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## megaboost (Feb 4, 2007)

I have diamond cut TTE wheels on my Supra, had them refurbed about 3 years ago and apart from a small scuff that I caused they still look as good as they did back then. Depends who does them and how much care they take I suppose but if looked after they should last. 

I love the diamond finish, especially at night, I really like the CS / CSL style wheels too though.


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## MattOz (May 15, 2007)

It's not so much the finish itself, it's how the finish reacts to small stone chips and if you're unlucky, the odd kerb. The polished and lacquered finish on mine gets cleaned weekly with Bilberry and an EZ Detail brush. So far, they're fine, but the rears have a couple of small stone chip marks on them that I'm keeping my eye on. 

During the winter months, when salt is down, I use my CSL alloys, as they're painted and therefore less prone to corrode from stone chips. 

My polished 19's are sealed with Wheel wax and taken off every 6 months for a thorough clean and machine polish. I've used my PTG on them and the lacquer thickness is up to 1000+ microns in places!  No wonder they chip occasionally!

Matt


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## Culainn (Sep 2, 2009)

While were on the topic, can anyone suggest any good sites where i can pick up alloys for an E46 bmw? 

Thanks


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## MattOz (May 15, 2007)

Culainn said:


> While were on the topic, can anyone suggest any good sites where i can pick up alloys for an E46 bmw?
> 
> Thanks


Pistonheads is pretty good. You could try e46zone, e46fanatics and even ebay. Depends which e46 you want the wheels for.

Matt


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## megaboost (Feb 4, 2007)

MattOz said:


> It's not so much the finish itself, it's how the finish reacts to small stone chips and if you're unlucky, the odd kerb. The polished and lacquered finish on mine gets cleaned weekly with Bilberry and an EZ Detail brush. So far, they're fine, but the rears have a couple of small stone chip marks on them that I'm keeping my eye on.


A small dab of clear nail varnish applied with a ****tail stick seems to work wonders on small chips like that.


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## MattOz (May 15, 2007)

megaboost said:


> A small dab of clear nail varnish applied with a ****tail stick seems to work wonders on small chips like that.


Already done it! I warm the lacquer up and hairdryer the alloy so that the surfaces are warm. This helps the lacquer self-level and seal at the edges :thumb:


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## Alex1984 (Jan 15, 2009)

problem with the diamond cut wheels it that the laquer doesn't stick as well to the diamond cut finish as normal finished wheels, when i got my wheels refurbed they said that they were always doing e46 alloys due to this problem. For me the nicest wheels on an e46 m3 are either the csl wheels that you mentioned or BBS LM, you can buy very good reps of the BBS for about one third of the price of genuine.


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## youdsym3 (Aug 4, 2009)

never ready said:


> don't bother with the diamond cut, I had them on my old e46 m3 and they were a PITA.
> My mate has just put some BBS alloys on his CSL, I'll find out what he is doing with the originals


yeh if you could find out about the CSL alloys that would be good thanks! Really like the finish of the diamond cut but i cant be bothered with the hassle of refurbing them as the finish is bound to break down from one thing or another.


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