Well folks there is a new player in the field of lightweight wheels.



9.5 lbs in a 15X7 (41 offset)

I ordered a set, and they arrived yesterday - there is one issue however, THEY DON'T CLEAR THE ITR BRAKE CALIPERS ON MY HATCHBACK. Argghhh.

Anyway for non Type-R owners on stock brakes this looks like a great lightweight option.

More information HERE.

It looks like they can be had for $175/ea but I was able to haggle with my local Discount tire to get the price somewhat lower than that. It is a real bummer that they don't fit as the are beautiful wheels.

Nash - who hopes others will learn from his misfourtune

[edit] - spelling skillz own

 

Why oh why are there so few good looking and light 15x7 wheels in 38ET!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why oh why are there so few good looking and light 15x7 wheels in 38ET!!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

3 mm spacers are out there - I have a set I ordered that I can't use now....

Nash

 

True. But that would mean 3mm spacers up front and 7mm spaces out back. Too many spacers, too much of a PITA. +38 and a 5mm out back is by far the best for us GSR boys.

Or just run 205s on 35ET.

 

They are also available in a 35mm offset. These have been out for a while now... they look awesome!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">True. But that would mean 3mm spacers up front and 7mm spaces out back. Too many spacers, too much of a PITA. +38 and a 5mm out back is by far the best for us GSR boys.

Or just run 205s on 35ET.</TD></TR></TABLE>

or just 205's on the rear. agast! tire stagger! never mind, can't have that. :sarcasm:

nate

 

A few pics of these on my car that show a little more detail. They fit just fine on the 6th gen Civic.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">or just 205's on the rear. agast! tire stagger! never mind, can't have that. :sarcasm: </TD></TR></TABLE>

yea.. that might not be a bad idea for my plow, but it would make tire rotation an interesting exercise. Really for road racing, +38 is what you need on a GSR.

 

like someone had mentioned they make them in a +35 offset and the weight goes up to 9.9 lbs.

Anywhere online sell them for $175 a piece? That's a hell of a deal. I found them for $820 shipped and I thought that would be the lowest I'll find. Good to know.

What was the name of the store you got them at rambler? We have Discount tire and Direct tire which I always mess up. Pretty cool they sell them there. Might have to go check that out.

s

 

looks similar to the new Kosei K1

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stevel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
What was the name of the store you got them at rambler? We have Discount tire and Direct tire which I always mess up. Pretty cool they sell them there. Might have to go check that out.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Discount tire

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yea.. that might not be a bad idea for my plow, but it would make tire rotation an interesting exercise. Really for road racing, +38 is what you need on a GSR.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i still think that proper utilization of your tires would make them wear evenly, thus the only reason you should need to rotate would be to spread there wear between all four tires. last i checked, hoosiers heat cycle out pretty quick, so to me, using the front tires up before they go off is a better approach. the rears can last a whole season on an autocross car, don't know how long they'll last on a road-race car. of course, this is all information i gleaned second hand from talking with daddio and a couple other local autocrossers that use tire stagger. i've never raced on r-tires, so i have no first hand experience. though i hope to change that soon.

my falkens wear very evenly across the tread, even though i started at full tread depth and street drive the car a _lot_ with over -3* front camber and some rather aggressive toe settings. and i've only rotated my tires twice since the season started and all 4 are worn to the wearbars. i hope to be doing a tire stagger setup with falkens soon.

nate

 

could anyone tell me what the best offset is for 96 accord coupe? I'm planning on ordering these same wheels in a 16x7 size.

 

I think these have been out for a few months now at least. There are many many threads about these wheels in the MiataForum.com wheels & tires forum.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
my falkens wear very evenly across the tread, even though i started at full tread depth and street drive the car a _lot_ with over -3* front camber and some rather aggressive toe settings. and i've only rotated my tires twice since the season started and all 4 are worn to the wearbars. i hope to be doing a tire stagger setup with falkens soon.

nate</TD></TR></TABLE>

did you get 3*+ of negative camber just by lowering? or are you using adjustable upper control arms?

on a 96 integra (which is close enough to the civic for offset, right?) isn't 41mm good? i thought dropping down into the 35/38 range was too far out. or is the biggest problem rubbing the inside rear, in which case a 41 or 45 is no good?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i still think that proper utilization of your tires would make them wear evenly, thus the only reason you should need to rotate would be to spread there wear between all four tires. last i checked, hoosiers heat cycle out pretty quick, so to me, using the front tires up before they go off is a better approach. the rears can last a whole season on an autocross car, don't know how long they'll last on a road-race car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

In theory that sounds good, but it is hard to achieve in practice on an FF road race car. The fronts just take so much more abuse. The rears really just keep the gas tank off the ground. Trail braking and rear wheel lock up (if you don't have ABS) are the only 2 times they see any real wear. Rotating front to rear is a must if you ware on a budget. Sure I could have 8 rims, 4 with 205s and 4 with 225s and just rotate those, but $$$. Also as you said, that wouldn't be the best approach with Hoosier as the rears would heat cycle out with 99% of the rubber still on the tire. Even so, I would still want +38 in the rear as a 205 R tire on a +35 rubs just a bit on the TA. Nothing major, just gives it a little polish in that area.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks similar to the new Kosei K1

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea .. looks nice. 4.9kgs at 15x7 and the nice +38!! Any idea when we will see these in the states and what the price will be?? Best I have seen in Japan is 17,000 yen a rim. With ocean freight, might as well get Volks or SSRs!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Philbert &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">on a 96 integra (which is close enough to the civic for offset, right?) isn't 41mm good? i thought dropping down into the 35/38 range was too far out. or is the biggest problem rubbing the inside rear, in which case a 41 or 45 is no good?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea. R tires are much wider then street tires at any given size. They will rub, esp in the back. 205s can be run on +35, but for 225 you really need a +38.

 

are these things cast or forged?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tunes12 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are these things cast or forged?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Neither really. They are spun. The kosei looks different than the enkei. The kosei spokes go farther out to the lip, and look like a one piece design. Are the enkeis one piece? Look like two piece to me, but I could be mistaken. Probably just a one piece that is cast to look like a two piece.

The enkeis look waaaay better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks similar to the new Kosei K1

</TD></TR></TABLE>


Not that it matters, but I think this Kosei is a different company entirely from the makers of the "old" K1. The old K1 was made by Buddy Club, then renamed to Kosei for some reason to be sold in the US. It's odd that they would name the wheel the same though... maybe K1 has some meaning I'm not aware of.

Regarding the Enkei's... it's quite disappointing that the brake clearance is so poor.

 

Hello Mos,

They are spun cast and therefore considered a cast wheel. They are not spun as in a three or two piece wheel where the outer rim is turned from a billet.

 

According to this page, they are cast. They do say they use a method called ``Super Forming'', but don't say anything about what that method is.

 

Regarding the new Koseis from SPiFF's post, what's the point of dual valve stems? Better balancing?

 

They say the dual valves primarily benefits those who use nitrogen instead of air, but I don't quite understand everything they are saying in that section.

Basically they say you can get better balance and nitrogen density by pumping in Nitrogen in one valve and pulling out any air from the other. I think.