I am looking for 15x8 wheels to fit 225/45/15's on my ITR. I saw that Tirerack lists Kosei K-1 15x8's at $169 in the April issue of GRM which seems like a very good price, but I don't know if they make them in 5x114.3 bolt pattern or in what offset, and I couldn't find them at all on their web site. A previous thread https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=1 discussed some of the offerings in 15x8's, but the list seemed short (pricey Volk's discontinued?). I was wondering what people know of now that spring is comin!

Edit:

I found this info here from 2004 post on a Tirerack sponsored forum:
http://forums.freshalloy.com/u...art=1

"As some of you may have heard there was a problem with our custom K1 program wheels which was created when the machine shop we used moved out of state. At that time we were put into a holding pattern on those wheels because we did not have any place we trusted that could machine the wheels properly.

Well, it's been more than a few weeks since that happened and I am happy to announce that the K1 blank program is back up and running. We can custom machine the Kosei K1 wheels to your specific needs !!!

to order your custom set of wheels all you need to do is select your wheel size and offset from the list below, and let me know the center bore and bolt pattern you need and I will have them machined to your exact specifications.

15X7 BLANKS ET17 SIL K1 RACING * $179.00
15X7 BLANKS ET27 SIL K1 RACING * $179.00
15X7 BLANKS ET38 SIL K1 RACING * $179.00
15X7 BLANKS ET45 SIL K1 RACING * $179.00
15X8 BLANKS ET12 SIL K1 RACING * $199.00
15X8 BLANKS ET22 SIL K1 RACING * $199.00
15X8 BLANKS ET32 SIL K1 RACING * $199.00
16X7.5 BLANK ET12 K1 RACING * $199.00
16X7.5 BLANK ET22 K1 RACING * $199.00
16X7.5 BLANK ET32 K1 RACING * $199.00
16X7.5 BLANK ET43 K1 RACING * $199.00
16X8.5 BLANK ET17 K1 RACING * $209.00
16X8.5 BLANK ET27 K1 RACING * $209.00
16X8.5 BLANK ET37 K1 RACING * $209.00
17X7.5 BLANK ET35 K1 RACING * $239.00

"


Modified by descartesfool at 6:42 PM 3/13/2005

 

i just picked up some 16x8.5's they take about 4 weeks imo awsome deal

 

I phoned Tire Rack a couple weeks ago about 15x8 K1s, and was quoted $189 per wheel, 4x100, 4-8 weeks on custom machining with those same choices of offset.

 

Just out of curosity, what off set would you run on a dc2 with a 225 on 8" rim?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by descartesfool &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am looking for 15x8 wheels to fit 225/45/15's on my ITR. </TD></TR></TABLE>

if you are running hoosier/kumho 710's, they will fit better on a 8.5 wheel.

buy my pair, they need a new home....



<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jaker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I phoned Tire Rack a couple weeks ago about 15x8 K1s, and was quoted $189 per wheel, 4x100, 4-8 weeks on custom machining with those same choices of offset.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i wonder what those suckers would weigh. 15x7, +38 k1 is 14.0 lbs. i am betting they weigh 15 if not 16 lbs good price though.

 

Sorry Rodney, those are nice, but I'm not driving a motorcycle. I need 4 wheels!

I called Luke Pavlick (nice helpful sales guy more technical than most, ext 362) from Tirerack who posted that list I put up above to get the news on the 15x8 K-1's. Kosei makes those wheel blanks exclusively for Tirerack for typical track use . The $169 price only applies to pre-drilled wheels and the only models they have in 15x8 at $169 are for BMW's (5x120 mm pattern), otherwise they drill stud holes and centerbore to your spec and you pay $199 per wheel. As of today, they do not have any in stock (32 mm offset) and they are expecting a whole lot of the 32 mm offset ones mid-April. The 15x8's in 32 mm offset weigh 15.0 lbs before drilling and max taken off is 0.5 lbs so they will weigh 14.5 lbs (more or less) ready to go. Backspace for those wheels is 5 3/4", and he said due to manufacturing tolerances on wheels, you should allow an extra 1/4" from the hub face back to suspension arms to guarantee clearance on any wheel of this type. Backspace is from hub mounting face inside wheel to its outer lip. He said most wheels are about 3/4" thicker from outside to outside than their advertised (inner) width, so you can expect a 15x8 wheel to measure 8-3/4" outside to outside. He also said one can expect the tire's overall width to go up by 3/10" for every 1/2" increase in wheel width, so going from a 15x7 wheel to a 15x8 wheel (1" extra for the math challenged), the overall tire width is going to go up 6/10".

From the Hoosier web site, a 225/45/15 has a measuring rim width of 8" which gives a section width of 10.2". By that measure, they should have a 9.6" section width on a 7" wheel. It would be nice to know if anyone has ever run a 225/45/15 on a 15x8 with 32 mm offset and seen any fitment issues. I asked if they had wheels with more offset (stock ITR is 50 mm), but Luke told me that is all Kosei said they could make for them, and he had no knowledge of anyone fitting this setup on an ITR. All this because I figure that Hoosier is going to sit a lot better on the ground with an 8" wheel than a 7" one.



Modified by descartesfool at 2:34 PM 3/14/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by descartesfool &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">otherwise they drill stud holes and centerbore to your spec and you pay $199 per wheel.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe the extra $10 is because there's an extra hole (5x114 vs. 4x100). I, like Rodney, am running the 225/45-15 Hoosiers on a 15 x 8.5" wheel. I however have 4 wheels on my car . I asked for the 5 3/4" backspace on my Kodiaks, knowing full well that it was too much backspace. I wanted to custom tune the fit with spacers. I use 3/8" of spacers on the rear, and 1/4" in the front. The rear spacers are for trailing arm clearance, and the front are for caliper clearance. If I did not have Wilwood 4 piston Superlite calipers in the front, I could run with no spacers.

And by the way, this is on an EF hatch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jaker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I however have 4 wheels on my car </TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf do you need 4 wheels for? i only use 3 at a time..... to the original poster, just figure out what wheel you want to use and make it fit. i have a set of 16x10's on the back burner awaiting fundage for a motor.....

 

My setup must be all wrong, because I have never seen a pic of my car with a rear wheel in the air, and no one has ever told me that they've seen it either. My front end must be too stiff!

 

 

That is a nice dog!

 

Thats some crazy ****. It looks like the inside front is about to come off the ground as well.

 

So what does a new 15x8.5 Kodiak wheel cost, and what else is available?

 

What would you recomend for a 4th Gen Prelude, I would think 15x7 is good, but wouldn't 15x8 rub the control arm in the front? And whats the (ET#) represent?

 

just a fyi my wheels shipped today and they were odered on feb 22. i gotta say im happy with there speed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vodomagoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just a fyi my wheels shipped today and they were odered on feb 22. i gotta say im happy with there speed</TD></TR></TABLE>

From whom did you order them?


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by descartesfool &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So what does a new 15x8.5 Kodiak wheel cost, and what else is available?</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.kodiakracingwheels.com

Their pricing is there. Rodney's wheels are Keisers. There's alot of companies making custom wheels to order. However, they are not as cheap as the K1s or other "off the shelf" stuff.

 

Thanks for the link.

So I know of:

Kosei K-1 15x8 5x114.3 32 mm offset 14.5 lbs are $199 from Tire Rack

Advan RG 15x8, 5x114.3, 30 mm offset 12.6 lbs are $370 from http://www.machiii.net/wheels/AVS/RG.html ($170 extra per wheel to save 2 lbs!)

Kodiak 15x8 are $346 from Kodiak.

SSR Competition 15x7.5 5x114.3 (43 mm offset 9.6 lbs ?) are $319 from Tire Rack

Volk TE-37 15x8 5x114.3 43 or 27 mm offset $336 from http://www.machiii.net/wheels/volk/TE37.html

But Volk TE-37 15x8 5x114.3 are no longer listed on the manufacturer's website, as RJ said, so they may not be actually available. See here: http://www.rayswheels.co.jp/cg...=TE37. Hope yours aren't bent!

Obviously choices seem to be pretty limited unless someone else knows of something. Makes those Kosei ones look like a bargain, if a tad heavier than ideal.

 

Circle Racing Wheels too, won't beat the Kosei price though:
http://www.circleracing.com/

A couple of the Road Racing models come in 15x8 with the 5x4.5" 'murican designation of your size:
http://www.circleracing.com/Me...de=rr
and
http://www.circleracing.com/Me...de=rr

 

Well that adds another, but is the most expensive one yet. $388 at 13.6 lbs means $189 more per wheel than the k-1's to save 1 lb. They have forged centers though.
The SSR's (only 15x7.5) seem like a much better deal to save weight as it costs $319 so $120 more than Kosei's to save 5 lbs per wheel, although I have not confirmed that weight I saw on the wheelweights site. I would however be concerned about P.D. Cunningham's comment that they had a tendency to rapidly turn into stop signs if you bump them much.

 

i ordered them feb. 22, i was told 4 weeks till shipping and figured they wouldnt go out till next week.

 

my keizer's are listed on the site for $276, but when you factor in custom hub bore, machining for certain lugnuts, added spacing for brake clearance, it is more expensive. These cost me $350 each. took 2 weeks from order till arrival at the house. oh yeah, 15x9

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rodney &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oh yeah, 15x9

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

Did they grow?

 

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

yeah, last year i inflated them with viagra.....

 

wow. lots of good info on the custom K1s...might even be able to make them fit on my german car with a really wierd bolt circle...
as for weight savings by going with a volk or ray's or SSR or kodiak or whatever...couldn't the money be spent in a better way? if we figure a low number of $100/wheel to save 1lb...that is $400 to save 4lbs. wouldn't the benefit be much higher by spending the money elsewhere, like on some blingy carbon fiber parts? or 2 new, really sticky tires? or (if it applies)a health club membership? or maybe on a welder you can use to stiffen your chasis and make custom parts? or even on some better shocks/springs/sway bars/torsion bars/control arms/bushings?
i don't mean to be an ***, but dollar for lb...it seems that the K1s are the best deal and they'd allow some spending on othe stuff to help you go a little faster.heck, you coudl even get a really blingy sparco or alpinestars suit and pick up chicks.....

 

My carbon fibre hood saved me 18 lbs and it cost $450, so about $25 a lb saved. Plus higher weight is badder weight. It is all so expensive to save weight. Saving 1 lb of 23" diameter tire weight is like saving 2 lbs of dead weight (1 lb dead plus 1 lb rotational extra equivalent), and saving 1 lb of 15" diameter wheel weight is like saving 1.42 lbs of dead weight (1 lb dead plus 0.42 lbs rotational extra equivalent), so spending $400 to save 4 lbs of 15" dia. wheel weight is like saving 5.68 lbs of dead weight, so about $70 a lb saved. I say buy the carbon fibre hood or something else light if you can find it. But you will be very hard pressed to notice much speed gain from taking 18 lbs off your car. LapSim says you get a change of 0.09 seconds for 18 lbs at Mosport for my ITR (2700 lbs with driver & fuel). Now 18 WHP, that is another story. LapSim says you get 1:42.29 going down to 1:40.91 or a reduction of 1.38 seconds going from my 182 WHP to 200 WHP. Saving 4 lbs of wheel weight is going to give you a very hard to measure gain. Now SSR's can save you 5 lbs per wheel over K-1's or almost 28 lbs equivalent total dead weight, or over 0.1 seconds reduction.

The reason I suspect 8" wheels might be worth it even at 14.5 lbs each is that if the 225/45/15 tire sits much flatter on the track than with a 7" wheel and adds more rubber width, the gain might be lot. For the 1:42.29 lap time, I have used a g value of 1.08 which I got from my data logger in slow speed un-banked corners (peak g-values can be a lot higher, particularly on banked corners). If the wider wheel causes grip to go up by only 0.01 g's to 1.09 g's for similar conditions, then lap time goes down to 1:42.06, or a drop of 0.23 seconds. If grip goes up to 1.10 g's, then lap time drops to 1:41.86, or a drop of 0.43 seconds, which would be nice. Time will tell;-)