Not the greatest photos, I took them quickly after being so late for work getting the wheels cleared through customs and then getting them installed. I will post a full review/feedback later this week after I get the car detailed and nicer pictures will accompany that, but for now, here is my ride transformed. I still can't believe the difference a nice beefy set of wheels/tires make. I can't stop going back and forth to the windows in our office floor to check my car out, like falling in love again.

Nice are those from Modbargains?

Nice are those from Modbargains?
Yup. As I said I'll post a full review including the whole experience dealing with modbargains who were great btw, I really recommend them. I even ended up paying less customs fees, shhhhh don't tell anyone.

Wheels make the car. 18s or 19s?

Wheels make the car. 18s or 19s?
I totally agree. I mean the original wheels on my car looked nice and will be my dedictated winter set, but the car was begging for a bigger set to fill those bulging wheels wells and boy do these do the job. The wider wheels and the specific offsets make them stand out. They are 18s btw. I updated my sig with details.

They look good

I want some new shoes
Those look great

Thanks guys. My objective is to make my car again as shiny as your car e90dTm, and hopefully the detailing guy wont disappoint on Thurs. Stay tuned for more pics.

MRYAKAN,

Looks GREAT. I have been waiting sooooooo long for a CSL wheel for our car. They would look good on my Monaco Blue! The perfect summer wheel, as the stock ones would instantly turn into "winter" wheels. I would love a PM with the "deal"

CSL Uber Alles!!

Looking good! I kind of laugh when I see "winter" and "summer" wheels because I don't know what that is. ;)

Looking good! I kind of laugh when I see "winter" and "summer" wheels because I don't know what that is. ;)
Thanks. Yeah, you lucky Californians, winter to you I guess is when you have to occasionally search for the wiper stalk :stickoutt.

Congrats man! It was fun hangin' around for your journey and peaking in on all your posts/questions during your search! I will definitely be hounding you for some more information when the funds are back up, so that I can upgrade my car too...

Looks HOT!
:redspot

Congrats man! It was fun hangin' around for your journey and peaking in on all your posts/questions during your search! I will definitely be hounding you for some more information when the funds are back up, so that I can upgrade my car too...

Looks HOT!
:redspot
Thanks. Yeah the whole experience is part of the fun and I did learn quite a bit about many subjects. Hound away, it is only fair that I now try to help out like others here helped me.
Cheers

Looks good!

I'm on the market for wheels & tires soon. So far I've been looking at Tire Rack and Wheel Max. I'll be sure and check out your site as well.

I actually want something with black centers and metal rims only. Something like this;

http://www.wheelmax.com/product.asp?ProdId=14716&ProdID2=14717&Prod2H=18&Prod2W=9.5&Prod2P=192

Thanks. Yeah, you lucky Californians, winter to you I guess is when you have to occasionally search for the wiper stalk :stickoutt.
That's like a blizzard down there.

Thanks guys. My objective is to make my car again as shiny as your car e90dTm, and hopefully the detailing guy wont disappoint on Thurs. Stay tuned for more pics.Thanks, I detail my own car every 3-4 weeks. Takes 2 hrs but I get the job done!

weird question, but how did you transfer your older tires/rims back to your place?

weird question, but how did you transfer your older tires/rims back to your place?
indeed weird, in my car of course. They put them in plastic bags and loaded 2 in the trunk and 2 on the back seats. I also had to pickup these wheels from the airport before taking them to get them installed, and only 1 fit in the trunk with those and 3 had to go in the back. There is lots of space with the extra 2 doors and very spacious there.

so Modbargains wouldn't ship the new tires/rims directly to the place you had them installed?

so Modbargains wouldn't ship the new tires/rims directly to the place you had them installed?
The original plan was to deliver to my house, but turns out the international courier they used only brokers commercial shipments via customs so I had to go do the paperwork and pay the fees myself and decided to just pickup the wheels while at it and got them installed the same morning, didn't want to wait any longer for them to deliver later. Saved some money at customs doing it myself too :devillook.

Got the car detailed today. For a miserly 140$, they did a pretty good job, claying, removing a few scratches, touching up stone chips on the hood and a full machine buff/wax which took care of most of the swirl marks. The result were very impressive IMO. Here are some more pics to judge for yourselves:

High resolution copies can be seen here too:
http://profile.imageshack.us/user/zambarossa/images

As some may know already, I purchased the Velocity Motoring CSL Replica 18" staggered wheels from Modbargains (see http://www.modbargains.com/product.aspx?pf_id=velocity007) and they are great. Read on for a full review.

Research and Shopping Process:
Was painful at times. I had my mind made up on CSL replicas and decided to stick with RFTs, but I was undecided about whether I wanted Staggered or non staggered setup. I also wasn't sure about the right offsets and wheel sizes. Finally tire size selection was an issue since only certain sizes were available in RFT. In the end, using the wheel section on this forum and help from the vendor (see below) proved extremely critical in making my decision.

Vendor Selection and Engagement:
I set out contacting modbargains and EAS about the matter. EAS was non-responsive online and gave me the runaround on the phone since it seemed they weren't very willing to go outsize what they carry. The fella I contacted at modbargains on the other hand was very helpful. He indicated he was new at the job and at times we went back and forth learning from each others when we were discussing tire size selection and recommendations, but in the end he was very responsive via email and very helpful. Modbargains also indicated that they were willing to install any tire they can get from tirerack and indeed I indicated my tire preference and they quoted me a price equal to what I would have paid had I purchased from tirerack in addition to a reasonable mounting and balancing fee.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND MODBARGAINS after this experience.

Ordering, Shipping and Delivery:
I ordered over the phone and the process was smooth. The rep quoted me 5 business days for them to receive the tires, mount and balance them and then ship. On the 5th business day I checked my online account with them and it didn't have an update on order status but a prompt response to my email inquiry indicated that my order was shipped the day before and I was given the tracking number. The turnaround time was great.
Modbargains charged around 50$ more to ship to Canada which is very reasonable. My shipment arrived in Ottawa withint 5 bussiness days from when it shipped, which is very good for an international shipment. The only issue was that the shipping company they used couldn't clear customs for me since they deal mainly with commercial shipments, so I had to go to their airport hangar to get the customs clearance and pay the duties and taxes. This was not bad at all since customs were their neighbours and I scheduled it so that the same morning I took the wheels directly from their hangar and went to the installer and put the wheels on.
The only issue I discovered later while installing the tires is that it seems they forgot to put a center cap on one of the wheels. I am currently working this out with modbargains to get a replacement or reimbursement, but it was not a big deal since I used one of the caps on my winter wheels which was identical (I just wanted to have 2 complete sets).
Update: They are sending me a replacement cap promptly.

Installation and Impressions:
I paid 40$ locally to get the wheels installed and after an hour I was WOWed. You can see for yourself in the pics above, but the wheels are plain awesome and the staggered setup gives the car a menacing and sporty look. The wheels themselves seem very well made. The finish is not on par with the OEM wheels I have, but you wouldn't notice unless you touched them. They look great from all angles and there are no defects. Velocity Motoring makes a good replica product.
As for the 18" RFTs, they are a bit noisier than the 16" RFTs I had but only marginally and nothing too much for my taste. I feared worse. The ride is not much different at all with almost no comfort penalty or harshness, you just feel uneven pavement slightly more. And boy do they stick like glue, the car goes around corners as if on rails, but I am not yet pushing them to the limit yet since I want them to get broken in 1st.

Conclusion/Summary:
Learn before you order, use the resources here and vendors to your advantage.
Highly recommend Velocity Motoring CSL reps.
Highly recommend staggered setup for this car.
Highly recommend Modbargains.
18" is a nice upgrade and not a punishing ride.

Now I have to make sure I don't get upclose and personal with any potholes.

What was the total bill again? You can private message me if you want that private...

Are they the same wheels on a competition package M3? Looks sweet. But be careful, still looks like some snow on the ground. Have fun taking sharp corners.

Are they the same wheels on a competition package M3? Looks sweet. But be careful, still looks like some snow on the ground. Have fun taking sharp corners.
They are replicas of the wheels the came on the e46 M3 CSL in Europe. I believe CSL stands for Coupé Sport Lightweight, which is the performance version. I am still taking it easy on the tires until they are broken in but even in the 34F temp today they were sticking, the rears are so wide it is hard to get it sideways.

What was the total bill again? You can private message me if you want that private...
1270 for the tires, 750 for the wheels, add shipping, duties, taxes and installation to that. Americans save 15-20% easy off of what I paid since shipping is less and no duties/taxes.

I'm saving my pennies :)

Those look hot!

I know you said staggered, but what are the actual front/rear tire sizes?

Let us know how easy/difficult they are to clean compared to the OEM wheels.

Enjoy!!!

Those look hot!

I know you said staggered, but what are the actual front/rear tire sizes?

Let us know how easy/difficult they are to clean compared to the OEM wheels.

Enjoy!!!
Details in my sig.
They are not too bad to clean, a few more nooks and crannies but easily cleaned with water and a microfiber towel. I just noticed they tend to collect road grime though, I had to wash/wipe them even though it is still raining just to get the ugly dirt off.

Hello,

I am an inch from ordering these wheels. Only one lingering question. I ammume you have TMPS? Anything I should know or be sure to communicate when ordering?

Thanks

Nope no TPMS here, I have the FTM system that uses the wheel rotation to deduce a deflated tire. When you order you can specify if you want TPMS or not, they add 250$ to the order with TPMS.

I'm just curious; does anyone have a pic of an e92 with CSL wheels?

The mod bargain website has pics.

I'm just curious; does anyone have a pic of an e92 with CSL wheels?
Check out user "Sniz"'s signature pic, he has 19s: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/member.php?u=67839

Check out user "Sniz"'s signature pic, he has 19s: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/member.php?u=67839

I'm still of the opinion that 18's fit the E90 and E92 better than 19's, in terms of keeping everything visually in harmony.

Does anyone else see a reasonable resemblance between the CSL's (or CSL reps) and the stock BMW style 197's that come with the E92 328i ZSP?

When I first saw the 197's, I like them so much more than the style 189's my car will have, that I almost asked my dealer to arrange a swap. In the meantime, the 189's have grown on me. CSL's are still nicer though.

Yes I noticed the resemblance when I saw a car with 197s at the dealer lot, in fact this mesh design is very popular, and not just on BMWs. I just saw a Jetta in the parking lot at work with the same mesh design as my CSLs reps, but those were flattish without concavity and lip design of the CSL reps and were also much smaller. VMR just came with a new similar mesh design too, but with fewer spokes and more concavity (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=995619). Offset+ wheel width plays a big role and the offset/width on these replicas is a perfect fit/match for the e9x making them look great.

thanks for the detailed review. Your car looks great and the csl wheels compliment it very well! I will be using modbargians in the future, your review really makes me feel comfortable buying from them.

Thanks. Good to know I helped. I hope your experience will be as successful as mine.

Does modbargain.com have CSL wheels in 20's

Does modbargain.com have CSL wheels in 20's
Don't think so, I don't believe VMR makes them, but I could be wrong, don't take my word for it, check their website modbargains.com or http://www.velocitymotoring.com/.