unevolved

I recently bought a set of wheels off of Craigslist for what I considered a pretty good price. $150 for all four, with used tires.

However, I don't know what they are.

Here are the pictures of the wheels. Since they don't have a name, they shall henceforth be referred to as the "Awesome Wheels of Justice" or AWJs for short.

These wheels have a little story. Not much of a good one, but a story nonetheless. Let's begin.

I bought these wheels from a guy about an hour from me, who had them on his DC2. I met him at a gas station and followed him to his apartment where I helped him take them off the car. While I was standing there, I noticed there was a DOD sticker from Anderson AFB on the windshield. (Note: DOD stickers are required for all military personnel's vehicles to enter US military facilities. So this guy was Ex-military, although he didn't look to be any older than his mid-twenties. Anderson AFB is on Guam in the South Pacific.)I asked him about the sticker, and he told me he was in the Navy for a few years, and bought the car from a serviceman at Andersen. He said the car's previous owner was Filipino, and traveled there frequently. He therefore assumed the wheels might be Rotas, as the wheels were on the car when he bought it. He wasn't sure, and I'd looked through the entire Rota catalog, and didn't see anything that looked like them. So there's a good possibility the wheels may not be something that's not, or never was, for sale in the US. Not saying that makes them special, just saying it may be hard to track down their origin.



(Side note: No pictures of them on the Civic, as I need thinner lug nuts. They're on the way.)

Here are the AWJs as they sit now:



Close-up:



And the two markings on the back of the spokes:




In regards to the "JWL" and "VIA" markings on the back, I found the following:

JWL Mark
Japan Light Alloy Wheel (JWL) Standard for Passenger Cars. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport requires that aluminum wheels for passenger cars (with 3, 5, and 7-number plates) sold in Japan bear the JWL mark. The JWL mark can be displayed on wheels that have passed the standard through a self-certification system.

VIA Mark
A third-party entity called the Vehicle Inspection Association verifies whether a product meets the requirements prescribed by the JWL or JWL-T standard. This association permits a product to bear a VIA mark if it passes rigorous quality and strength verification tests conducted in accordance with the JWL or JWL-T standard.

Source

So all those really mean is they're legal for sale in Japan, nothing really about the origin.

Help me out here, HT. I'm very curious.

sde780

Nice toy ninja sword in that basket, do you still play with it?

Jk I have no idea what wheels those are btw

unevolved

I knew someone would call that out. It's from Sea World, my sister got it for me a while back. And yes. Yes I do.

I've figured out they're not Konigs, Rotas, Enkeis, or knockoffs of Advans.

xunsungheroesx

Edit- I can only figure out what they aren't, sorry:
They are not RG replicas since the RG has 6 spokes, but they do have a very similar design.
They are not 57S replicas because the spoke width varies and the 57s has thicker ones.
They are not SA-90 replicas because the spoke width goes in and out at the middle of the spoke and the SA-90 spokes just go larger to smaller.

unevolved

Thanks for the help. I'd already looked into the RGs, and I agree they're pretty damn close.

Whatever they are, though, I think they'll look good in white.

seafoamda

i dont know what those are but i have the exact same wheels sitting on an ef in my yard I hope theyre worth millions!! GL very interested to see what these are!

r.wright

iTrader: (58)

Yeah by lookng at that distinctive hub i automatically thought konig traffikk but those have 6 spokes and yours are 7 spokes. Hmmm

It Wasn't Me

You took a picture of the wrong spoke. It says 5x114.3 but the hubs only have four holes.

The spoke next to that one says 4x114.3, though. Do any other spokes have info on them?

KHRISTAN

KOSEI.... i think

unevolved

Another one says 4x100. They all have different castings on the back of them. I'm guessing they just used one casting for all the hub patterns. That one just happened to be in the right position.

If it is, I can't find it in their product lineup.

r.wright

iTrader: (58)

Would it be possible to a take dead on centered picture of one wheel?

Last night i couldnt sleep much(viet french iced coffee lol) so i went on a wheel identifying spree thru maybe over 1000 different styles and i still couldnt find them and went from general usa to european and japanese auction sites and stores and i still couldnt find them.

I believe they were made by some off brand for an overseas market but then i believe they may also still be a lenso, konig brand but still not sure. I also have a theory that these had some type of center plate cover that was placed over the lugs just like the optional one found on the traffik.

Oh and i looked at all the brands mentioned above like kosei and didnt recognize anything off their lineup either.

cadeMFjohnson

looks like its probably a cheap sport max.

still looks good for 150 bucks

i wish i had found a deal like that. i need to get off these stock steelies asap. only got a few hundred bucks though

unevolved

Sure, here's a pic. Thanks for your help. And I was thinking that same thing about the center plate. I've been meaning to measure to see if Honda centercaps will fit in that hole, I'm kind of hoping they will. Not sure, though. Can't find a ruler.

unevolved

I weighed the wheel on a bathroom scale. I heard it's sometimes a good way to tell if it's a worthwhile wheel or just crap. 33 lbs with tire, and Falken lists the 205/40/17 Ziex 512 mounted on there as weighing 17.9 lbs. I can't imagine the normal wear and tear would reduce the weight of the tire by that much, so just for the sake of argument, let's call it 17.5 lbs of rubber. That leaves 15.5 lbs of wheel and tire. Pretty damn good for a 17" wheel including air. Granted, that's bathroom scale accuracy, but I think I'm still looking at less than a pound an inch.

KillBot

Is there anything else on the back of the rims...any other numbers, letters or markings?

Looks like one spoke has the JWL, another has the VIA 5x114, and another has the VIA 4x114. Whats on the spoke with the date stamp (3rd pic, top right)?

unevolved

There's no other distinguishing markings. On that spoke spoke with the date is just "A202"

By the 4x100 stamp, it says "500kg." Think there's really a chance this thing weighs 11.2 lbs without tire and air? That seems a little far-fetched to me.

KillBot

I am going to guess they are made by Arays...a company out of china.

9 times out of 10, the manufacture stamps the model number near the date stamp...esp in mid 90's and up wheels.

Arays uses "A" and three digits to identify some of their older and newer wheels.

Arays is VIA and JWL ok'ed

Arays has 300+ designs...so you might want to contact them to see if they made it.

http://www.arays.com.hk/showroom4.htm#

unevolved

That's a good guess, but I don't think that's it. This is an Arays A202:

SiR18EG

any chance they are older weds?

unevolved

I thought about that, but I can't find a good listing of their discontinued wheels. They look slightly like SA90s, but not a whole lot. And those were pretty recently discontinued. I can't see any distinguishing features that would make me think that any more than a wild guess. I'm pretty sure A202 isn't a model number.

On the technical side of things, is there any way to tell if a wheel was cast or forged without knowing the origin? These things are pretty damn light from what I can tell.

r.wright

iTrader: (58)

all WEDs wheels clearly have a weds stamp on them and they would say made in japan on them. also the flow pattern does not lead me to believe these wheels are forged.

SiR18EG

I also noticed between the lugs there are those oblong holes which dont exist on weds..... It was a thought

unevolved

Yeah, I can't even find another kind of wheels that have those odd oblong holes.

This is really starting to bother me.

r.wright

iTrader: (58)

yeah this is one wheel that got me stumped lol

GL dude. If i find anything ill definately chime back.

unevolved

Probably something super-rare-JDM-y0.

I'm starting to give up, unless I find a new lead to pursue.