What are my options here - opinions

[doommachine]

OK, so the car goes to regency monday, and it will pass - the last time the inspector crossed everything off, just the emissions test was inadequate.

(Annoying that you need to pay 50 bucks for them to look at a piece of paper)

Anyway, so no doubt it will be registered monday HAHAHA sorry...

Heres the question - as no doubt everyone remembers me continuously complain about how the front wheels stick out. I really don't want to get defected again, and sticking out wheels is a bit obvious. So as far as I can see, I have 2 options with them

1) Get flares added to the car

2) Sell the wheels, replace with wheels that fit.

Now option 1 is favourite as I really love the wheels, but are there flares for VR4s? I've seen the pics that Mr silver VR4 has posted up, but those flares are a bit.. well I prefer subletly. Really, I assume that custom flares would need to be made, but would this cost the earth or be relatively cheap in fibreglass?

The wheels are genuine 16" watanabe RS8's, with near-new falken azenis. The offset I think is for an RX7. I've had a look on the net and the prices vary wildly, does anyone know the general street value?

Alternatively, can anyone in Australia change the offset? All the places I called locally responded in this way : Watawhobe? I was told with 2 piece rims, changing the offset is not terribly expensive (100 bucks a wheel?) but it has to be wheels they can get the bits for..

Cheers in advance

 

[JAP63]

If the centre is interchangeable and its a true 3 or 2 piece rim then yes it can be changed...but good luck trying to find a replacement centre for your watanbes at 4x114.3..other words...needle in a haystack aka rocking horses shit.The only people to my knowledge who will supply you with 2 and 3 piece wheel centres in australia is Simmons.They also have the 3 piece rubber seal for the split section of the rim.Your only bet would be to fluke a set off an early 180/silvia with the 4 stud hubs and S13 offset...which would be better than the rx7 offset.(what is it by the way?)

I had the same prob when i bent 1 of my 4....Icouldnt find a centre..so that rim effectively became a $600 3 piece garden hose reel.

What you can do...depending on the flange thickness is take the rims to an engineering shop and have them mill the back off the hub flange down however far you need to go..the only problem with this is retaining enough material in the centre..i spoke with performance alloy wheels australia about this and they gave me the ok to mill 5mm off the superlite model..it comes down to having sufficient clamping area where the wheel nut taper section is.

It would by far be the cheapest option...how much do they stick out?
if its only 5mm then youd probly be ok to do that.

Alternatively..stick the flares on with tape or adhesive then take em off afterwards,theyd never know..
Are all 4 wheels the same offset..?
Swap the rears with the fronts..?

 

[vsthis]

Check out what JayRome is doing in this thread:

http://4gtuner.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4999

Looks subtle but tough as at the same time and i think i remember him saying that he might use his front guards as a mould for a fibreglass copy.

 

[doommachine]

Yeah if jayrome can make it look stock and retain the inner plastic bits etc, it would be a good option indeed. But.. fibreglass guards would be pretty illegal lol...

The centre of the rim shouldn't be a problem? surely it's the rim itself, the centre unbolts from the rim.

The rim sticks out about 25mm, I don't think machining them would be an option. I'm not sure what the offset is, but the rims have 205 tyres on them...

 

[CLuTZ]

Are both the front and rear wheels the same width?

RWD offset is abit touch and go- man you must love these rims!!!


pics??

 

[tharaka]

just run more negative camber.

 

[VR-4Squid]

roll the gaurds, if your willing to repaint them afterwards you can stretch the metal enough to cover wheels that stick out 2" or more quite easily.

We did my mates RWD corolla with a ball peen hammer and a block of wood, takes a while and requires abit of filling/sanding to get nice n smooth.

 

[doommachine]

I got a guy to come out to roll the guards, he reckons he could do it but the inner (plastic) guard would have to come out, which is illegal.

I've posted pics before, I'll try to find them.. theyre just 16" watanabes, painted grey. Just the right size

As far as negative camber, I put it in as much as possible with the camber bolts, and THAT's where the 25mm comes in. In the middle it's more like 30 mm.

 

[doommachine]

To continue with what jap63 was saying, since I have 4 centres, will it not be difficult to get a new 16" outer rim? Any idea who can supply, price estimate etc?

 

[JAP63]

The only people to my knowledge who will supply you with 2 and 3 piece wheel centres in australia is Simmons.

Theyd be the go if your looking for an outer as well..try a dealer.

 

[doommachine]

Well do you know who deals in watanabe? As I said, I have called around and no one has even heard of them (haha yay adelaide)

 

[evopwr]

Considering theres a high chance your rims are out of production (even probably in japan), getting 'wheel parts' for your watanabes would be either impossible or financially unviable.

25mm ...thats shitloads :shock: (but must look tough!)
best thing i can think of is to get little flares made up from sheet metal and weld that on.
Im guessing ~$100 for fabricating each flare, then ~$100 to get your guards chopped+welding, and ~$200 to respray both panels.
....$500 :shock: would look tough!!
alternatively you could do all that yourself!

-alex

 

[doommachine]

flares are sounding good... surely there must be some made for galants.. i've looked on ebay of course, but no love there.. maybe yahoo japan auctions.. just need someone who speaks japanese Perhaps I'll try the skyline forums hehe

 

[jase]

3) More camber

EDIT: D'oh Tharaka beat me to it