So I recently leased a 2024 BMX iX M60 that came with the admittedly great looking 22” wheels, but I also live in the frozen north surrounded by a lot of less than stellar city streets loaded with potholes and other hazards. Because of this (and because I’m a stickler for feeling like I’m riding on a bed of air, apparently – it’s one of main reasons I ate negative equity to get out of a Mach E in slightly less than a year of leasing it) I’m getting 20” wheels to stick some new tires on.
First look was the obvious one, DiscountTire/TireRack and getting some cheap cast wheels. Found some that seemed alright, in the $275-350 per wheel + tax range, but wanted to explore my options. Next was spending a few weeks trolling Facebook marketplace for a deal on either those same options, but used, or maybe someone offloading their OEM wheels. Few decent things popped up, but pretty much never in the exactly right configuration I’m looking for (too narrow, too wide, staggered set, priced to include tires I don’t want etc.).
That’s when I stumbled upon the world of custom forged wheels direct from the land that makes all of our shit, Alibaba. Will I regret this? Will they kill me? Let’s find out together.
I spent a couple of weeks looking at various manufacturers, googling other people’s experiences with ordering through these places, trying to settle on what seemed like a “trustworthy” option. In the end it came down to two places: one that appears to be the highest volume seller with high “verification” on the platform + a great rating + a lot of reviews, the other from a slightly lower rated seller that explicitly was recommended via some Reddit posts + also has a great rating + a fair number of reviews.
I decided what I want are replica BMW 827m wheels in satin black. I think OEM these are only available as staggered 19x9.5 fronts (too small for an iX), 20x10.5 (too wide for an iX) rears, and as with everything BMW, they’re super expensive ($3000+ for a set).
Both of my chosen Alibaba suppliers offer these, so I started the process to inquire for quotes. The larger volume seller initially quoted/tried to offer me cast variants of the wheel that they had in stock, and it was quite cheap. $775 shipped from China to my door for a set of 4, $350 of that being shipping cost. After some clarification on my part that I was interested in custom forged versions (I had started the inquiry from that particular listing so I thought that was obvious, but I guess not), I was given a final price of $1240 to my door. The other option, which only does custom forged wheels and doesn’t retain stock, quoted me $1800 shipped to door. Honestly, I do believe that this second option likely might be higher quality. They offer a higher variety of color options, and their “site” in general is just a bit nicer looking / better branded. But ultimately I don’t think they’re 50% better, so I’m going with supplier #1. Another factor is that, while both suppliers are adamant that they are doing this in a way that won’t lead to me paying the (72%!) tariff, I don’t fully trust them on this, so I’m factoring that into my cost calculations as a potential surprise at the end.
I send my explicit fitment requirements to my sales contact, and after some back and forth clarification, they confirm they can do what I’m asking for and I make my payment through Alibaba. Fabrication + shipping will take nearly two months, which I’m fine with. I get an invoice for my order and after a couple days received the “designs” to approve before fabrication begins:
Fake center caps + M badges and all!
Will provide updates as we go. Curious if anyone else around here has done this as well.
