The BBS ACR wheels on my Viper

[Rich Detert]

Even from the very point I got the Viper last year I've hated the way that a previous owner had them painted solid black.

Viper ACR's came with Silver BBS wheels on them.
I like the style of the ACR BBS wheels but I really hate the whole solid black wheel trend.
To me on a black car the wheels seem to get lost (Car is Black with Silver Stripes).

The way it looked with the black wheels on it.



I knew it would take a while to do anything to change the look of the ACR wheels to anything I would like so I picked up a set of standard polished 5 spoke 99 Viper wheels and tires to put on the car for a few months. I bought them from a buddy, he gave me a decent deal on them.

This is what they look like.


I like the idea of having them chrome plated, but since no where local will do them.
Getting them plated in California with shipping both ways it would cost $1,400.
That's more than my budget would allow.

I took the ACR wheels to a local polishing shop to see what they could do with them.

We discussed it and the best bang for the buck was the stripping and polishing the front face.
I resprayed the black, they got the tires remounted today.
They stripped and polished the face on the 4 wheels for $320.
Pretty reasonable price IMO.

This is how they turned out.







One move into the sunlight to see the shine better.


I'm pretty happy with the look.
It should add the "flash/bling" that I think that the car needed.

I need to clean up the car before I put them back on next week.
Since they put black lug nuts on the black wheels I bought a set of chrome ones to go with the polished wheels.

[V10Sidepipes]

That looks really good. Price seems more than reasonable as well. Nice job.

[Victor96]

I like the look of the polished ACR wheels over chromed rims. But can be a pain because you have to regulary polish them to keep them looking shiny due to them quickly oxidizing. You should look into putting a clear coat on them or some other product. Although I heard clear coat has a hard time grabbing onto the polished surface and can turn yellow (not sure what other products are out there but worth looking into). Due to this I bought a pair of chromed ACR wheels to make life easier. Here's a pic of them on my car. DSCN6482.jpg

[Rich Detert]

I know what you mean about having to polish them occasionally.

Since it's just the face, hopefully it won't be as much of a problem.

The polishing shop said just use a Mothers Polish ball on the every once in a while and I should be good.

Time will tell.

[Nine Ball]

Looks great either way to me. I would never refer to black wheels as a "trend" however, they have been popular since the early 90s, almost 30 years. Even the Ford Model T only came with black wheels.

Tony

[plumcrazy]

looks much better now than when they were black.

[Red Snake]

Black wheels are way played out. Those look much better now.

[sparkrn]

Totally agree with you getting rid of the black and keeping the BBS wheel. Great move. This will help the look drastically.

[Lemay88]

I also prefer the polished look, more time period and stick out more on a black car. Good decision
Are the BBS ACR are 18" ??
If so, how hard is it to get tires for them??

[Rich Detert]

I also prefer the polished look, more time period and stick out more on a black car. Good decision
Are the BBS ACR are 18" ??
If so, how hard is it to get tires for them??

At this time the rear tire are the hard ones to find depending on what type of tire you want.

New Michelin's are hard to find.

My car came with Toyo Proxy 888's on it (rear).
For the amount I drive the car they work great and handle well.

The spare set of 99 style wheels came with the Michelin's that are originals.
They only have 2k miles on them but they're pretty hard.
You could tell that the car didn't handle as well as soon as I drove on them.

I have picked up another set of used Michelin rears that seem like they are softer.

[BlknBlu]

Black wheels look fantastic, but not for all rims. The BBS wheels are pretty busy and the black blends in too much. I would not call them played out by any means.

Bruce

[Patentlaw]

Good move.

[Rich Detert]

I finally got to put the polished ACR wheels back on today.
I also installed the skip shift eliminator while it was in the air on stands.

Of course the weather turned to crap (rain with snow coming Saturday) so I couldn't pull it outside to take decent pics, but here are a few inside the garage.

Between the bad lighting (fluorescent) and the flash on the camera the pics suck.





The car still needs to settle the suspension back down from being on jack stands, but since the weather is supposed to be nasty for the next week it's be a while before I can drive it.

[BrianACR]

Those look really good. I've been thinking of getting mine re-finished. If I can find a shop that will do that. I don't want them polished though, I want to keep the original look.
Definitely agree on the black rim thing. Not a fan of it.

[Rich Detert]

The weather was nice enough that I could pull the car outside and take some better pics.

I like the way it looks now far better than with the solid black wheels.

Although it wasn't a sunny day, at least it was dry out.

A before pic with the black wheels.



The black wheels just seem to get lost with everything being black and make it look boring and bland.

New pics with the polished wheels.

[PrincetonTT]

Nice! I think a little drop will help pull it altogether....twins

[Rich Detert]

Nice! I think a little drop will help pull it altogether....twins

I agree, I've been thinking about lowering it some.

With where we live (somewhat rural and not some of the best roads) I'm concerned with ground clearance.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Am I the only one who liked the wheels black? I can totally see you wanting to give the car some contrast since it is already black but I still think it looked pretty damn good! If you threw some tire shine on those brown tires it would have looked even better

I have the same ACR wheels. I've been looking into doing something different with my wheel setup but not painting them. Maybe some HRE or Forgeline with a lower offset and larger diameter.

[PrincetonTT]

Am I the only one who liked the wheels black? I can totally see you wanting to give the car some contrast since it is already black but I still think it looked pretty damn good! If you threw some tire shine on those brown tires it would have looked even better

I have the same ACR wheels. I've been looking into doing something different with my wheel setup but not painting them. Maybe some HRE or Forgeline with a lower offset and larger diameter.

Only wheels I would put on my car would be cow classics. They are awesome on our cars- this is one of my favorite setups here.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Only wheels I would put on my car would be cow classics. They are awesome on our cars- this is one of my favorite setups here.

I was into those wheels for a bit but fitting a BBK or even 03+ brakes are a no go on those wheels. Also I'm going for a larger diameter wheel next as the ACR wheels are starting to look tiny on the car by today's standards

[ACRSNK]

Am I the only one who liked the wheels black? I can totally see you wanting to give the car some contrast since it is already black but I still think it looked pretty damn good! If you threw some tire shine on those brown tires it would have looked even better

I have the same ACR wheels. I've been looking into doing something different with my wheel setup but not painting them. Maybe some HRE or Forgeline with a lower offset and larger diameter.

I'll buy your ACR wheels.

[Viper Red]

Nice,

What are you gonna do with the 5 spokes you got?

[Rich Detert]

Nice,

What are you gonna do with the 5 spokes you got?

I'm planning on selling them.

I'm trying to decide on an asking price for them and the tires that came on them.

There's plenty of tread on the tires (supposed to have 2k miles on them),
but the DOT numbers say that they're from 1999 if I'm reading them right.

[v10viperbox]

You might want to look into some of the polished stainless protectors that the Harley guys use. I have see some of there bikes look perfect after a spray down even after being on ex-salted roads.