Anyone know what wheels Tom had on his car at SEMA this year? I know he doesn't pay for the wheels, I've seen half a dozen different sets on his car in different ads and on different web sites, but there's no recognizable center cap on these and he may have only had them for the show.



I'd go dig through wheel archives and the wheel site, but... I'm too damn lazy.

 

he must sure have a hard time driving that thing with all the vinyel on his windows

 

i think they say in the last mag he was in unless they changed from then i can look for you tommrow i will pm u

 

is that the car on the cover of import tuner and also with the hydraulics?

 

Yeah he's riding on airbags..........

Those rims looks heavy..... I wonder how much his car weighs now with all the stuff that's thrown on there.......

 

50,000 pounds!

hee

 

They are 19s, I believe, and they appear to be billet wheels, so I'm sure they weigh a fair amount. But a 20-22 lb. wheel isn't extraordinarily heavy. You people are just jaded because Volk makes such extraordinarily light wheels that are so extraordinarily plain and ugly...

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a couple pounds for appearance. And it's not like I won't have enough torque to turn them...

 

Thanks. Coulda sworn I had the Import Tuner with his car on the cover, but I must have thrown it out.

 

Well, being that the sticker on his window say ADR I'd assume they are Taiwan built wheels by ADR, imported by Golden Apple right over here in Hayward. That's actually a new finish I believe. It's amazing what they can do with paint and new "vacuum metallized finishes".

ADR Sterling:



From wheelmax in 19,8.5 with tires for $2200.00. So in other words this wheel probably weighs close to 30 pounds.

If one desires a extremely well priced forged wheel with some bling I would suggest the Enkei Aegis in Chrome. These wheels list out around 900.00/wheel. We have a few sets remaining and are blowing them out before the end of the year. They are A little less than 50% off. They are on a closeout special. available in staggered as well as Made in Japan for those who appreciate that aspect.



These are forged and they weigh in at 24lbs.

 

I can't blame him though. Our Protege MP3 runs these 19" Giovannas on the street as they were a sponsor. However we use some of their lightweight 17's for autox. Here's that car featured at SEMA w/some heavy 19" rimage.

 

Thanks!

 

Always a pleasure. Would hate to see any misguided souls on this big of a difference. Definitely not a billet, just a look a like. And they're damn good at it too. hehe.

 

hey who thinks Volk Racing rims are ugly? I've got a set of 17" AV3's and I've had tons of people say how nice they look.

Regards, Matt

 

Aw, c'mon Jim, I don't think the LE37T's qualify as plain and ugly....



photo courtesy of Nameless

 

does anyone know how much volk racing AV3's weigh? I've looked about a million times. I even went to www.whellspecs.com and they don't even have it.

Regards, matt

 

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You see a work of art (hopefully you do, they're your wheels) and I see a fairly plain 6-spoke design. Sure they're light, but the design certainly isn't "inspired", in my opinion.

 

Actually, they're on Nameless's car. I still have the stockers. Well, my tastes normally run to simple and functional, I guess. However, if I had a choice between any Volk wheel or say, a Fikse FM-5 or FM-10, the Fikse would win hands down. Of course, the Volk's run over a $1000 cheaper for the set....(Damn you GoodfellasFD3S and Fritz Flynn for your blingalicious Fikses! )

Actually one of my favorite wheels was the SSR Integral A2 which they discontinued... Come to think of it, didn't I see Integrals on your car Jim in your V8 post?

 

Oh is that all?

 

i'll have to agree with jimlab...volks are generally "plain" but they are not ugly....

 

All right, as protective as you people are about your cars and engines, I should not have used the word "ugly" to describe the Volk TE37s, which are probably one of the most common choices right after (or before) the SSR Integrals...

I'm going for a certain "look" with my car. The engine is almost entirely aluminum, some polished, some "raw" billet. I want billet wheels (or something similar) to set off the car and give it a purposeful appearance. I may just take the ADR Sterlings to Boyd and have them whittle me a set from billet.

I'm not as concerned about the weight of the wheels, because I'm not building a track car, I'm building a street car. I also know enough about wheel weight to know that an exceptionally lightweight wheel/tire combination is just going to hurt me where traction is concerned. That doesn't mean that I want "50,000 lb." wheels (heh) but it doesn't mean that I'm going to turn my nose up at 20-25 lb. wheels either, just because someone makes a more "simplistic" pattern that I don't particularly care for that weighs less for the same size. YAAAHMEEEEN???

The Volk TE37s are beautiful.

 

I'm hurt Jim Especially since I ordered the GT-C's in 19's and will be picking them up on monday.



Allot of people probably hate the looks of GT-C's but it kind of grew on me, plus they came in 19's for a hell of a deal

 

BTW, Jim, I'm surprised you're not very interested in Fikse or HRE rims. They're lightweight (well, some of the HRE's are lightweight) and have some serious bling appeal.....

 

Fikse (a local company) doesn't have that many styles to choose from. You've got the FM5 and the FM10, and the... FM5.

Same goes for the HREs. If you've got a 5-spoke HRE, it might as well have been a 5-spoke Kinesis (which I've already had) or Fikse, in my opinion. There is very little to differentiate them from others, and they're not what I'm looking for. More importantly, I've seen too many of them already.

If all I wanted was a lightweight wheel, damn the appearance, I know where to go. Kinesis still has my specs on file, and Fikse, HRE, or Volk (among others) would be an equally satisfactory choice. However, I want something that you don't see every day (at least not yet) and I want the look of a billet wheel, damn the weight, to match the look of my engine, whatever sense that makes.

I'll probably have Boyd Coddington make me a set of wheels. That'll ensure two things... that I'll have the look I want, and that no one else will be able to get a wheel exactly like mine.

 

wow thats beautiful! you're putting 19s on your FD then? i saw one with 19s the other day, it was beautiful... i have some questions about 19" rims but i think i'll go search around

 

Jim, I think you forgot to mention the fabulous FM5...


You are definately one strange guy though Jim. Not one to go with the norm at any rate. I've actually seen some billet wheels on cars before. Granted, I come from detroit, where 90% of the hobby cars are good ol' 60 detroit muscle. Billet wheels look pretty damn sweet on the right car.

Personally, I don't think billet is the right choice for a Japanese import car. However... your car is anything but. Quite an amazing machine, if I might say so. I've been trying to imagine your idea of billet-type wheels on this thing, and you actually just may be able to pull it off. I can kinda see where you're coming from now. Kudos bro

Would you be going with the 19" rim? I've seen a couple of 19ers on some FDs before, and I must be honest, I don't really like em. For some reason, thats just way too much rim for my liking.

Anyway, good luck on the never-ending project Jim

Rob