# Changes to OEM E46 M3 rim, or a replica?



## David Keogh (Feb 25, 2003)

This should be interesting for the detail-obsessed, or the paranoid (or both). My original front-right 18" rim is different than the other three original rims. I took some awful web-cam shots (all I had time for) and spliced it together below.

The top row is the front-right rim. The bottom pics are the front-left rim. The main difference is the clarity of the numbering, and the difference between the frontside and backside width of the slot between the short spokes (see arrows on pic). The "pinky" test is the easiest way to tell the difference -- I can put up to the first knuckle of my pinky in the inner end of the front-right spoke slot, versus only the tip of my pinky in the inner end of the spoke slot on the front left rim. You get the idea.

Part numbers listed on the back are the same, though the part numbers themselves are laid out slightly differently.

Any conspiracy theories? And on a side note, how would one know a replica rim from an OEM rim?


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## shep01 (Mar 31, 2003)

*welcome to cast wheel technology*

cast wheels -always that kind of deviation - very common - no worries - it is a very strong wheel


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