BBS has reinvented the wheel. At least that’s what the legendary and OEM-approved German manufacturer would like you to believe. First seen at Tuning World Bodensee in May this year, the wheel maker, back from the brink of extinction and under ownership of suspension giant KW Automotive, showed off a revolutionary new technology that allows for a universal-fit alloy wheel. Yup, a wheel that can technically fit any car with any wheel lug nut pattern.
The technology will be marketed under a new line of BBS wheels called BBS Unlimited. It’s currently available in the five split-spoke BBS CI-R design with more designs and finishes to be added soon. What the technology promises is to allow a customer to buy a set of wheels, adapt it to use on a particular car, and then move the wheels to another vehicle with another adapter plate when the car is sold. This is great news. In theory.
We’re going to tell you why the new tech in the BBS Unlimited line of wheels may not be so revolutionary, but why it still could be a big deal.
How BBS Unlimited Wheel Technology Actually Works
To break down the technology in the new BBS Unlimited line of wheels, think of it as a wheel that’s designed to fit no particular car, but one that can be adapted to fit nearly any car.
What BBS have done is manufacture a high-end, flow formed alloy wheel in its classic CI-R design with a 5x117.5 wheel lug pattern and PCD. This wheel can then be fitted with the proprietary anodized aluminum wheel hub adapter and polyamide centering rings to make sure there are no vibrations between the mating surfaces. The wheel hub adapter can be ordered from BBS to match the wheel lug pattern of whichever car it’s being fitted to.
The only potential drawback to this system is that with the additional width of the adapter plate, it effectively neutralizes any offset the wheel comes with. This could make nailing the fitment on different cars a little difficult, with the wheel and tire package left sticking out a little from the body line of the car.
BBS seems to have thought of this as well, as the wheel hub adapter plates are available in widths ranging from 0.55 in to 1.96 in. If all this still sounds familiar to you, that’s because this technology has existed for years!
Are BBS Unlimited Wheels Different From Wheel Hub Adapters?
Wheel hub adapters have been around since the late 60s, first used for adapting truck wheels to different hubs. They achieve the same outcome by sitting between an existing wheel and the vehicle’s hub to which the wheel needs to be fitted. In most cases, these adapter plates are made of steel.
Wheel hub adapter plates have earned something of a bad reputation over the years. Because it’s another part at the crucial point of where the wheel mates to the car, where the maximum forces are generated, these adapter plates have been known to fail. Especially when subject to rough roads or sudden impacts, like hitting a pothole at speed. Some users have been able to use them without issues for years but only be regularly inspecting that the wheel lug nuts have been torqued down correctly.
Where the BBS Unlimited technology seems to differ is that it adds in a polyamide centering ring to negate any minute vibrations that could lead to failure. BBS Unlimited wheels are also TÜV-certified, Germany’s famously stringent technical inspection association. This would lead one to assume that it’s far safer than any regular wheel hub adapter plate assembly out there, especially considering that BBS wheels have been OEM fitment on some of the best cars in history.
Why BBS Could Actually Change The Game… But In The Future
Why this is important is because given that new brand-name wheels, especially lightweight forged wheels like the ones from BBS, can be too expensive for the average enthusiast to buy brand new.
When shopping for wheels in the used market, choices in a particular wheel lug pattern may be limited if your vehicle’s lug pattern isn’t common. With a BBS Unlimited wheel, the owner can adapt his wheels to any vehicle of his choice. Or if he wants to sell the set, finding a buyer will be easier as the wheel is a universal fit.
Where we would still be hesitant is in high-intensity applications, such as motorsport, where the loads subjected to the wheel mating surfaces may be too extreme for even a system as well-engineered as the BBS Unlimited. But for the regular enthusiast, BBS Unlimited wheels may be the ticket to always finding the right fitment, with the assurance of quality. And that’s not something you're likely to see every day.
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