I hear people saying that you can find anything searching the internet. This is true as long as someone has posted the info you are looking for…
Having been BBS honored importer for 16 years –mid ’80’s till 2000, I have the technical info that may be helpful to somebody.
As BBS emerged from racing, I will start with the BBS Racing wheels and will slowly add more categories. If you are anxious to find something in particular like RA, RD, RG, RJ, RL, RO, RS, RZ, etc wheels, just let me know and I’ll do my best.
In our days, the BBS motorsport wheels differ between EUROPE, EUROPE2 (independent companies. I could not find official BBS Europe racing link) & AMERICA. (click on the area to view the wheels)
BBS Motorsport official site 2017
ROAD WHEELS
A few days ago I noticed somebody arrived at my blog looking for BBS RO wheels. RO was a non characteristic BBS design, not a cross spoke, but a flat disc and to my opinion it’s sole attractive characteristic was the ease of cleaning.
In 1984 a catalog of the BBS road wheels was published including the Auto Motor und Sport test of light alloy wheels where BBS excelled. Here is this catalog, covering the top of the line forged center 3pieces modular RS wheels, the popular monobloc RA wheels and the monobloc RO wheels.
RS Wheels TUNERLIST 1991
20th Anniversary Edition White wheels
In 1990, in order to celebrate it’s 20th anniversary, BBS produced a limited series of RS, RM & RZ wheels in pearl-white color. Although they were more difficult to keep them clean, they made an impact, because at that time this color was a very exclusive one for some sporty car models.
BBS RS wheels complete list -2000
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This is the best RS photo I found on the web. Thanks EUROTUNER
BBS RS II
BBS RG wheels
The best one-piece wheels produced by BBS, were the RG. They were contructed by forging, becoming much lighter & stronger, just like the competition wheels.
G stands for the German word Geschmieded, which means forged. They were introduced in 1987 and followed the cross-spoke design evolution with a 1992 reintroduction.
They had a distinctive bronze color – not gold, neither silver. All the wheels we imported were marked “made in Germany”, but the forging may have taken place in Japan – just like the F1 wheels and then further treatment/finishing was done in Germany
Commercially, I think they sold less than the modular wheels, because their price was high enough for customers to either hop-up to the multipiece level, or compromise with the similar design of the cast RZ.
BBS RZ wheels
The quality cast wheel of BBS in the early ’90s, was the RZ cross spoke, that offered the RS design in one -piece construction. The RZ built a solid racy profile being the standard fitment on the BMW M3 . BBS, realizing the sportier appeal of wide outside rims, extended the RZ range with some very attractive wheels called exactly this – Breitbett.
BBS RJ wheels
RJs were a very popular model of BBS, both as aftermarket and as original equipment of specific models of various car makers and were available either in silver or in polished/anthracite finish. The polished/anthracite version was introduced with the plain anthracite circle center cap, while later changed to a polished silver/anthracite dots like the one shown in the RM-RJ photo.
BBS RJ wheels range data
BBS RM wheels
In the same way RJ was the economical cross-spoke BBS wheel, the RM, was the economical proposition of modular wheels, not with forged centers & 3 pieces like the top of the range RS, but in this case cast and 2 pieces. RM were available like the monoblock RJs, both in silver and in polished/anthracite finish.
BBS Design 5000 – RD & RF wheels
The first & maybe the most successful star shaped BBS wheels, were the Design 5000 (’80s – early ’90s), RD(monoblock) & RF (3 pieces modular) wheels, produced in silver/polisher & anthracite/polished, which offered the advantage of much easier cleaning compared to the cross-spoke designs.
RF wheels list
RD wheels list
BBS BUGATTI wheels
BBS BUGATTI wheels pps click to view brochure
BBS PININFARINA wheels
BBS PININFARINA wheels pps click to view brochure
BBS 1995 Product line brochure click to view pages
BBS RY wheels
RY, were the high-end 2 pieces modular wheels of the Sports Line, and were introduced in 1992. There were the only BBS modular wheels, that instead of nuts & bolts, titanium rivets were used to join the wheel center to the rim.
19 types of RY were initially planned as you can see from the relative list, but from the RY parts list that follows, we end up with 23 confirmed types produced.
The description of the Sports Line – including the RYs, can be read from the 1995 Product line brochure extract, just below those 2 lists.
BBS RN wheels
I consider RN as the cross spoke evolution of the classic RA monobloc wheels. Although not a long-lived model, they were of high quality and made in Germany as far as I remember. You can see the design in the above 1995 brochure.
BBS Wheels Range 1999 ilustrated catalog – Cross spoke designs click to view pages
BBS Wheels Range 1999 ilustrated catalog – non cross spoke designs click to view pages
2007 VIDEO: PRODUCTION OF BBS WHEELS
BBS 2012-2013 Wheels Catalog – by N.T.P
Googling I spotted this BBS catalog available by the Italian automotive accessories house NTP, providing much more information than the BBS site : BBS 2012-2013 wheels catalog
BBS Wheels Washi
BBS Individual combines the outstanding qualities of two leading aluminum manufacturer – the legendary German BBS forged wheels and the company Washi Beam (Washi_Beam_Brochure), inventor of magnesium forged wheel and wheel-largest supplier to the Formula 1
Accordingly, the newly created company BBS Wheels Washi stands for decades of tradition and experience for unique innovative power and absolute perfection. With the know-how and even more heart and soul we put ourselves daily to make our products even better and to offer our customers even more driving pleasure.
Result: forged wheels of the top class – a leader in design and function.
perfection from motorsport. Created for the world’s streets.
Authenticity hologram on all German produced wheels 2019-on
BBS OFFICIAL SITE 2024 update
BBS USA OFFICIAL SITE 2024
BBS Japan_catalog_stylebook_english_0606 2023
Hitthewave 