# BBS RS Build



## nobug (Aug 10, 2003)

Here is a bit of a how to on replacing the lips on a set of BBS RS’ 

These are new wheels that have never had tires mounted on them, so it will not be as much work as a used set, as far as cleaning and polishing etc. 

Here is one of the original 6.5” wheels and a wheel with a 2” radinox lip installed making it an 8” wheel. 










First off here is a 9mm socket I made a plastic sleeve for so it wouldn’t mar the new bolts. 
The plastic is a piece of MK4 fuel line that was heated and stretched to fit over the head of the bolt. 
Once it was fitted on the bolt I heated it again and pressed the socket on to the head of the bolt. 











To start I removed the nuts from the original wheel, then using the handle of a hammer I tapped the bolts out this far with another hammer, a piece of hardwood or brass would work. Then I used a small punch to remove them the rest of the way. 










Next is the tricky part, removing the old lips. I used a heat gun and patiently kept heating the lip till it was nice and warm, I heard of putting them in the oven etc. But this worked for me. 
Took a little time and slowly heated and heated. A few blows with a plastic dead blow hammer and they were off. 










Next I taped up the center and the edge of barrel so I could clean up the mating surface. I used a cookie on the die grinder and then went over the surface with some 180 sandpaper by hand. 
Then it was wiped down with wax and grease remover and also wiped the back of the new lip just to be on the safe side. 











Next I used urethane and ran a very small bead of it around the outside edge, being careful to stay away from bolt holes. Try to keep the bead as small as possible and continuous, 
you would think to put lots on so it doesn't leak when the tires are installed, but that is definitely not the way to do it. 
Even a little more then this amount and it gets to be a mess real fast, believe me, I did it on the first one. I spend a lot of time cleaning after it was together. 











Next the new lip was fitted, and bolts set in place. 










The next step is a little time consuming. I put a drop of loctite on each bolt and loosely tightened the nut with a cordless screwdriver. Once they were all on I started to torque them in a cross pattern, and I marked each bolt with a marker as it was torqued. 
This is also where the socket with the plastic insert comes in, I used it to hold the head of the bolt as I torqued the nut. 










All bolts torqued 










After I was finished I wiped the marker from the backside of the rim. 











Even though I used a very small bead of urethane (not much wider then a 1/16th , it squeezed out between the two surfaces a fair amount, I ran my finger around the seem to smooth it out. 











Two down and two to go along with some of the tools needed for the job. 










Finished one of the front wheels tonight 7.5” in the foreground and a 8” in the background. 










7.5” on the left 8” on the right. 










I wanted to see what my nuts would look like polished  
Again they are new and don’t require a lot of work, this is just a quick job to see how much work it was going to take to polish them. 

Stripped and sanded with 1000 grit, didn’t spend enough time on it I can still see bits of paint and some sand marks etc once I polished it. 










A quick polish.


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## nobug (Aug 10, 2003)

Here is the next step in finishing the wheels off and some info on polishing 

I am going to do the center caps for my BBS build. Again these are new so don’t require a lot of work like a used set might. 

Center cap with stripper on it. 










Cleaned up with a cookie on the die grinder, I used three different grits, started with the red then went to blue and finished with grey. 










Next they were sanded with 400 grit to remove any bits of clear or paint, then wet sanded with 1000 wet and finished with 1200 wet. 










Now on to the polishing, first I used the green which cuts and removes the light sand marks. 



















Next I used red rouge and a finer wheel which brings the shine up a little more. 



















Next the white diamond and softer wheel for finishing. 



















Not really a fair comparison as the unpolished one has dry paint stripper on it.


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## VW-Pssst (Jun 10, 2007)

WOW!


Very nicely done. Now I gotta pick another set of RS's up to refinish lol:laugh:


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## syntax (Oct 26, 2010)

several really good ideas in here. thanks!


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## projectmk2gti (Dec 24, 2010)

very helpful:thumbup:


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## DumpedDub (Sep 16, 2004)

how many ft lbs did u set it to?


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## nobug (Aug 10, 2003)

DumpedDub said:


> how many ft lbs did u set it to?


I have read various specs, I went with 18 Ft. lbs.


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## DUTCHswift (Feb 22, 2012)

:thumbup: Added to The Official Wheel Build Almanac & Reference Thread


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