The Blue Meanie has a new owner

[Minidave]

I think Motegi's are pretty good wheels, what are you going to do with the ASA's? Sell them on Fee-bay? They'll only work on first gen cars because of the 12mm bolts (or anything else FWD that uses 12mm, maybe some Hondas?)

If you can, get metal centering rings with the wheels - even tho I never had any trouble with using the plastic ones with the ASA's, I've read and it makes sense that the metal ones work better. Just be sure when they balance the wheels that they use the centering rings on the balance machine, I had to have them rebalanced a day or two after they installed the new tires because the guy didn't use the centering rings on the balancer....just FYI.

Did you get the 12mm allen socket?

[Spart]

No, not yet. I've been forgetting to!

I'll keep them, to use either as winter or track wheels. I have a place to store it in the winter so it's not going to get driven much... hmm.

[Minidave]

You going to Joey mod it too?

[kenshin138]

Motegi is hit or miss on wheels. Most of their wheels are very, VERY heavy. For the cost you can typically get other brands that offer better/lighter wheels. Rota, despite all the negativity around them for being a knock-off company, makes good, cheap, light wheels.

The ones you posted though are part of the "Racing" models of wheels, which are lighter. Those are 17lbs for 17" wheel which is very good for a cast rim. Price seems pretty nice as well. I would suggest running with no center-cap or getting a smooth one, as the bulky one makes the wheel look kind of cheap IMHO. I like the simpleness of it though, will look good on the car.

[Minidave]

I think Davester runs Motegis, doesn't he?

[Spart]

Lightness is part of what I was going for on these, and those Motegis are relatively light for a 17" rim. I don't obsess over it too much. There's an old adage that for every pound of rotating mass you lose, it's like losing four pounds of linear mass. This simply isn't true, the physics depend largely on how far from the axis of rotation the mass is centered. The average ratio is more like 1:1.5.

But still, lightness *is* lightness and I see no reason to throw 25 pound rims on the car when good looking 17 pound rims are available for a decent price. (I don't mind the hubcap, btw.)

As to the Joey mod, I don't know. I've disassembled light fixtures on other cars before and gotten them back together no problem, but the cost of making a mistake on these HID's is pretty high. I think I can settle for just doing the chrome trim around the light fixture.

[Minidave]

I think the ASA's are pretty light too, I remember how much heavier the S 'lites were when I'd change them out in the summer!

[Spart]

Dave, do you know which model of ASA's these are? I can't find them on their website... I'm kinda thinking the first owner put some ASA hub caps on some random wheels just to match the color to the car (they're a very common type of hub cap, same as I have on the Celica which has Eagle Alloys.)

[Minidave]

No, they are ASA's for sure, says so inside the wheel IIRC. I don't have a clue which model, maybe there's a number stamped inside the wheel?

But they're also from 7 years ago, so they may not make them anymore....there might be some info in all the paperwork I gave you, I don't know when/where he bought them, but if I had to make a guess - Tirerack. You might email Alex at the Rack a pic and see if he recognizes them.

[Spart]

Cool. I was trying to find out how much they weigh the other day and couldn't figure out the model number.

[Minidave]

Found 'em....JS6, blue cap and all - except I think the one's on the BM have more spokes, don't they?

Edit: Nope, went back and looked at the pic on page 1, that's them!



Yikes, one site says 22.5 lbs!

[Spart]

I kinda figured they were around 20 pounds. Same number of spokes as I have, 10.

[Spart]

22.5lbs looks to be correct: http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/fo ... heels.html

[dimini]

Let's see photos of these updates!

[Spart]

I need to get some wax on him first.

[LiLReD1]

You want a good light weight wheel for a good price and good quality, I just got the Konig Feathers. The 17's are an exact replacement to stock size 17's, and took off about 7lbs a piece from my JCW wheels to 16.5lbs a piece. I probably would've gotten 16's for an even more loss of weight if they'd fit over JCW calipers.



Here's 16's on a blue R53 for referance look.



They also come in black.



And silver.



I also like how it goes along with a "twin 4-spoke" design being a 4 lug application. But I guess I'm biased, lol.

[Spart]

I've actually had some Konig Heliums on another car in black! Similar rims, and they are very light.

For me it's half aesthetics, half lightness, and aesthetics beats out lightness. I'm not a subscriber to the pound of rotating mass = 4 pounds of regular mass theory. But lightness is still lightness even if the ratio varies and is closer to 1.2:1 not 4:1.

Here are the SP10's in black:



The thing with the Motegis vs. the Konigs is that the Motegis are a true flat black whereas the Konigs are a semigloss... and I actually prefer the semigloss. My worry is that it seems like the spokes stick out too far? Do you have any pics of them from an extreme side angle?

[Counterfit_Mini]

Here's 16's on a blue R53 for referance look.

Drooooool.

I like the look of the bronze with the blue/white.

[LiLReD1]

Here's 16's on a blue R53 for referance look.

Drooooool.

I like the look of the bronze with the blue/white.

Agreed. Even more than my red combo I think. I couldn't pass up the deal on the golds though. Let alone I think I like the 16's better than my 17's. Can't help that though.

[Counterfit_Mini]

I'm poor so I can't buy new wheels but if I had the money I might have to go with a gold/bronze set of wheels. It looks really good.

[LiLReD1]

I'm poor so I can't buy new wheels but if I had the money I might have to go with a gold/bronze set of wheels. It looks really good.

Agreed. . Wasn't sure if I like it, but pics don't do it justice. So I can't imagine how good that blue one looks.

It somewhat clashes with the chrome, but that's soon to have a remedy.

[MiniManiac]

Noooooo! Stay away from the blue/bronze look. That is a classic Subbie look

The silver is a good option

[LiLReD1]

Oh goodness, don't disgrace it calling it a Subie look alike! The colors aren't even close! Lol. It never even crossed my mind. But yers does look good though. I just wanted to change it up personally so it didn't look so much like possible stock wheels.

[MiniManiac]

When I go to change my tires, I am going to powder coat them white.

[Spart]

I like the blue/bronze look, but not electric blue and bronze. I think EB looks best with either white or black rims, to match the roof and mirrors (however they might be painted.)