Hi all,

I've been shopping for some shoes for my car but couldn't find anything nice that is within reasonable price range.

I found some replica on ebay which looks nice:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-NEW-Bentley-Continental-GT-Flying-Spur-SPEED-BLACK-20-inch-WHEELS-SuperSports-/171069486659?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Wheels&hash=item2 7d4893643&vxp=mtr


Is it a bad idea to put replica rims on this car in terms of safety?

 

I have done a lot of research on replica rims for various luxury brands in the past and there are always two issues. One is that replica wheels are always heavier than original wheels because those nice people in China use cheaper metals to make those wheels. Two is that replica wheels weaker and are more susceptible to bending when you hit a decent pothole.

Heavier wheels equal to more unsprung mass (bad for performance), but if you don't drive aggressively and don't track your car, you probably won't even notice. I personally would not go fasten that around 150 Mph with those wheels - I guarantee you that they have not undergone any of the stress testing that factory wheels were subjected to. Who knows what's going to happen?

Looks like for $3K more you can get a brand new set of original Speed wheels on ebay. The price is definitely outrageous, but I guess it's expected for a $250K car.

 

I second ek1 completely. Weigth and strenth are issues!.
I'd stay with OEM's or go with a repectable brand.
Myself, i'm saving for a set of OZ superforgiato's in 19", because of significanty reduced unsprung weigth. And I will be using them in summer season only (little or no potholes!).
For weigth and interchangability of OEM-wheels I can send you a link if you like. I was surprised that the OEM-SS wheel has the exact same weigth as my GTC-wheel. Altough Bentley has advertised that differently!

 

I third it. Higher weight is bad and if the rims fail due to excess weight who will be to blame?

 

Is there a way you can post that link for OEM wheels? All this time I thought that SS wheels are lighter than any other Bentley wheels. As you mentioned, Bentley's own marketing materials for Supersports state that "Even the wheels are lighter – saving 10kg in weight in total. Motor Trend said "To help reduce unsprung mass, the giant carbon-ceramic brakes offered on the GT Speed are standard, along with new forged alloy 20-inch wheels that are each 5.5 pounds lighter than those on the Speed".

 

Lilo1980 - by the way, if you will make a decision to stick with OEM wheels, Bentley now has these gorgeous (in my opinion) Le Mans edition wheels. Check it out:

 

Hi.as asked:
This link shows you dimensions and applicability of all current Bentley-wheels for all models.
http://www.beroparts.com/upload/Bent...-%20240912.pdf

it's from Bentley, by a dealer.
I weighed my GTC wheels some weeks ago and the mentioned weigth is bang on.

also: Ek1 posted a thread about SS wheels some week ago.

christian

 

Thanks for posting that - I was looking for this document for the past half a year and the dealership said they don't have any documents like that Oh well...

Sorry, I dont mean to hijack this thread, but I cannot believe that SS wheel is not really "lightweight" and they definitely are not 2.5kg lighter per wheel than non-SS wheels (as Bentley advertises it) . It just seems very strange for one of the world's top auto manufacturers to make false claims about specs of their top of the line performance model.

 

Yep, I have these and I love them. I've gotten plenty of comments about how good they look. Thumbs up.

 

Those Le Mans wheels are stunners... absolutely gorgeous!

 

DaddyC, huge thanks for posting that PDF of the rim specs. Agree high unsprung weight is to be avoided as much as possible and is a big performance killer.

 

Awesome find Thanks!

 

Anybody has weighed their SS-rims in real life yet? Preferably without tire.
If I'm right , the PDF-file/link only gives one weight for the weels and front vs. rear have different sizes !

 

2005 Continental GT, 20" 275/35 . is it worth buying 19" rim and putting 275/40 , it buys me half an inch extra rubber from road to rim. I just moved to Manhattan car is stored, driven 2x per month for fun and occasional trip upstate new york.

 

Dave, I stay with 19" as the roadways here can be challenging plus she is a true daily driver, a Magic Carpet to NYC, etc. Keep checking eBay as you can find great deals on OEM 19". Last set I got was the OEM chrome 5-star one-piece for $800/4.