DIY three piece wheel assembly / installation bbs, fikse, ccw, kinesis, etc

[Thatcher]

Step 1: Make sure all surfaces are clean and free of any old silicone before mating them together. To strip silicone, you first use a razor blade, then a wire brush attachment on a cordless drill or drill press. There are other methods of stripping old silicone, feel free to get creative.

Step 2: Assemble the wheel. With most three piece wheels, you mate the outer lip and inner barrel together first, then drop the center in from the backside or front side, line up the hardware holes, and put in the hardware by hand.

Step 3: Torque down the hardware (you may also choose to torque down the hardware at the very end, this helps with not having a bubble form in the silicone). With Fikse and Kinesis wheels, which use relatively small, M6 hardware, torque spec is 15 ft lbs (fikse = 14 ft lbs, kinesis = 15 ft lbs). Do not over-torque. With wheels that use larger M8 hardware, torque spec is usually around 18 ft lbs. Torque in a star pattern, rather than just one after another in a row. Do not use a cheap, autozone style torque wrench. Borrow a good torque wrench from a friend if you have to.



Step 4: Lightly scuff up the mating surfaces of the outer lip and inner barrel with scotch-brite or light sandpaper.



Step 5: Clean the mating surfaces with some rubbing alcohol on a rag, or surface prep.



Step 6 (optional): Mask off the mating surfaces so that you'll end up with a clean silicone line on the barrel and the lip.





Step 7: Seal with a non-acid curing, adhesive RTV silicone. Slowly lay down an even bead all the way around, with the angled cut tip of the tube facing down.

*Note: I buy this stuff by the case, so if any of you guys need a tube of it, just email me. thatcher.shultz@gmail.com *



Step 8: Carefully smooth the bead with your finger, applying just the right amount of pressure so that it correctly seals the mating surfaces; you want a smooth, even amount of silicone. Make sure you don't have a bubble in the silicone. Often times, a bubble forms because the trapped air has nowhere to go. One way to combat this problem is to not torque down the hardware until after the wheels are sealed & cured. If a bubble forms, just pop it with a razor blade or something sharp laying around, and smooth back over it with your finger.

Step 9: Remove masking tape before the silicone cures.



Step 10: Allow at least 24 hours of cure time before mounting a tire.

[87911jon]

Well done! Thanks.

[FrenchToast]

Nice write-up. Well done, concise, and from THE guy who is very knowledgable about this! Using an accurate torque wrench is indeed a must.

One question. Would it be wiser to use a torque wrench that tops out at maybe 30 ft-lbs? Just trying to be constructive and help find a torque wrench with the right range for this. (A very accurate torque wrench one uses for lugnuts won't be so accurate at such a low setting).

I vote this thread gets bookmarked, or 'stickied', whatever they call it??

Also, I like your final choice of color. The flat grey goes great with the polished rim. Great contrast, post some pictures of them on a car when they're mounted!

[slow&rusty]

Beautiful Thatcher...I love the sea of awesome wheels that surround you. I wish you dabbled in 5-112 Benz three piece wheels.
Yasin

[heliolps2]

thanks for the info will be bookmarked

[rfloz]

Thanks.

I'm re-doing my CCWs and found some videos on their site - Complete Custom Wheel - Home.

Slightly different instructions, e.g., torque to 32-36 ft/lbs and they run a bead on the mating surface between the bolt holes and the rim shoulder. They also cover disassembly.

[WPOZZZ]

Awesome thread Thatcher! One thing I really hate doing is stripping and rebuilding 3 piece wheels.

[Thatcher]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

Awesome thread Thatcher! One thing I really hate doing is stripping and rebuilding 3 piece wheels.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by FrenchToast

One question. Would it be wiser to use a torque wrench that tops out at maybe 30 ft-lbs? Just trying to be constructive and help find a torque wrench with the right range for this. (A very accurate torque wrench one uses for lugnuts won't be so accurate at such a low setting).

I vote this thread gets bookmarked, or 'stickied', whatever they call it??

Also, I like your final choice of color. The flat grey goes great with the polished rim. Great contrast, post some pictures of them on a car when they're mounted!

Good question.. yes, it is ideal to use a torque wrench that has a lower range, but it's not that important as long as it's a quality torque wrench and not a piece of crap.

That particular set of Fikse wheels was originally built for my 993, but sold it to a 996TT guy. I just emailed him requesting photos of the car w/ wheels installed.

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Beautiful Thatcher...I love the sea of awesome wheels that surround you. I wish you dabbled in 5-112 Benz three piece wheels.
Yasin

Thanks! I do have a few sets of these DP touring spoke wheels in 18x8 et35 5x112. Pretty unique.

Originally Posted by rfloz

Thanks.

I'm re-doing my CCWs and found some videos on their site - Complete Custom Wheel - Home.

Slightly different instructions, e.g., torque to 32-36 ft/lbs and they run a bead on the mating surface between the bolt holes and the rim shoulder. They also cover disassembly.

CCW uses very large hardware.. but 32-36 lbs seems like overkill to me. You should never use silicone between the bolt holes, it's totally unnecessary and causes more of a headache if you ever have to take apart the wheel and re-do it.

[rfloz]

Originally Posted by Thatcher

You should never use silicone between the bolt holes, it's totally unnecessary and causes more of a headache if you ever have to take apart the wheel and re-do it.

Okay. I was perhaps a bit ambiguous. I didn't mean "between the bolt holes" but between the outer edge of the bolt holes and the shoulder that forms the V where the wheels meet.

If you watch CCW's videos it makes more sense.

Anyway, thanks again for the info and pictures.

[KTL]

Thatcher,

I rebuilt some BBS RS street wheels with some new halves. When I took them apart, I noticed that BBS assembled them by applying silicone to the center (or the rim halves) and sandwiched the center in between the halves.

My point is, with a center that goes between the rim halves, would you still apply the silicone the same way you do in the method you detailed above?

Nice job. Very clean-looking finished assembly.

I'll also second Thatcher's recommendation for the wire wheel. Some people may not want to do this because they don't want to scratch the halves with the wire wheel. Well good luck scraping with something else or with solvents that dissove silicone. Take it from Thatcher, the wire wheel is the way to go. It rips the silicone right off and makes your halves ready to be wiped with degreaser and then apply silicone when you're ready.

[Thatcher]

Thanks Kevin - With a sandwiched center, you want to seal the edge of the center to lip, and center to barrel. Usually it's just one big seal, just depends on how thick the center is. No need to go crazy and put silicone where it doesn't need to be

[KTL]

Thanks for the confirmation. Yep BBS uses very little from what I can see on the unmolested BBS RS wheels i've had.

But man you need to see the slop job the guy did who rebuilt these wheels before me. OMG you wouldn't believe the mess. Black silicone slobbered all over the center-halve joint, oozing out of the inner joint, nuts covered in silicone........ what a shameful mess!

[rfloz]

Originally Posted by KTL

I'll also second Thatcher's recommendation for the wire wheel. Some people may not want to do this because they don't want to scratch the halves with the wire wheel. Well good luck scraping with something else or with solvents that dissove silicone. Take it from Thatcher, the wire wheel is the way to go. It rips the silicone right off and makes your halves ready to be wiped with degreaser and then apply silicone when you're ready.

+1 on the wire wheel. The masking tape is a good thing too.

Trying to torque down all those bolts by yourself on the garage floor is a PITA. If I ever do this again, I will try to rig up some kind of wheel stand, maybe using an old hub.

Anyway, thanks again for the info.

[IROC]

Question - if you're replacing fasteners, what do you recommend for both the screws and the nuts?

Thanks...

[Thatcher]

Depends on what wheels you are talking about.. but for most three piece wheels, you can re-use the hardware as long as you follow torque spec, as long as the hardware isn't stretch hardware, and long as it isn't corroded.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by Thatcher

Depends on what wheels you are talking about.. but for most three piece wheels, you can re-use the hardware as long as you follow torque spec, as long as the hardware isn't stretch hardware, and long as it isn't corroded.

I've got HRE Fuchs replicas that I've had for a long time. They're 20-bolt, 3-piece wheels. I talked to HRE and they recommended that I buy new fasteners from them (to the tune of $100 per wheel). They also would not tell me what the fasteners were but did give me the torque.

[HelmetHead]

Thanks for the informative post.!
I so want to redish my fm10's to eliminate the need for spacers

[Thatcher]

[rfloz]

Well, I'm pleased to report my newly re-assembled CCWs actually hold air! I did manage to glop a little too much silicone in a couple of places, but it cleaned up well. Better to much than too little, eh.

By the way, nice picture of my new daily driver.

Originally Posted by Thatcher

Okay, I don't actually own a TT yet, but the wife did say it's my turn for a new car. So please keep it parked indoors.

[Thatcher]

Hah, alright