Purchasing HRE 540R's was a dream come true. I literally wanted those wheels on my car for more than 10 years. But after seeing them on the car, I didn't actually like them. When the Brembo brakes were installed, I received a blessing-in-disguise because the front wheels were not manufactured correctly, and would need to be replaced -- remanufactured. At that point, I decided that I would try to get the entire set replaced. Here is the story of how those events unfoled.
Here's an update, and a chance for all of you to know what's been going on with the car, and why the HRE 540R's are being replaced by HRE P40's. This story has a very happy ending, so stick around for the rest.
When I bought the HRE 540R's from Wheels Boutique, they gave me an incredible deal. I ordered the wheels to be compatible with Brembo BBK's.
See: Brembo BBK Installation.
However, when the wheels arrived, I wasn't completely satisfied with the look on the car. I was thinking they would look more like my similar style BBS wheels looked on my Z3, but they didn't. But that's the risk I took being one of the first guys on the block to do this. My risk, my problem...but I was willing to live with it.
When the Brembo's were installed, we discovered that the front wheels fit, but the rears didn't. According to all those folks involved, Brembo had changed the specs of the rear calipers after I had already ordered the wheels -- and the new specs didn't catch up in time. Nobody's fault really...just one of those unfortunate things.
So I called HRE and Wheels Boutique. They were willing to remake the two rear wheels -- obviously at no cost to me...but I wasn't sure I wanted them because I wasn't completely satisfied with the look on the car. On that same day, pictures of two M3's with HRE P40's appeared, and I REALLY liked the way it looked. So I emailed Wheels Boutique, and asked what it would take to swap out the entire set -- since they had to remake the two rears anyways.
Here's what I was thinking, and thought this could be a VERY workable (win-win) solution for everybody. The P40's are a Monoblok wheel, forged, lighter, and much easier to manufacture. Whereas the 540R is a 3-piece and VERY expensive and time-consuming to make. Since the MSRP is about the same, I figured the manufacturing costs of the P40's should be less (don't know if this is true), and a reasonable argument could be made for a swap with little or no extra $$$ from me. So, I made that proposal.
Within 5 minutes, Wheels Boutique called me, and seemed very interested. I only wanted to know how much $$$ it would cost me -- if anything. In the end, they charged me a very modest restocking fee -- which was so small it was a no-brainer to accept.
So next week, the P40's are coming and being installed on the car.
I believe Wheels Boutique and HRE really showed how much they were willing to work together to come up with a solution that made sense, and satisfied all parties. It's not often that you see a potential nightmare turn into such a great solution. Thanks to both of them.
