Rollin on 18's yo.

[MasCam]

My TRD suspension arived last friday (many thanks to Revhead) and was put in on monday (thanks curzon) and it is ....

Brilliant. The car looks alot better far better than it should for just a 20mm drop, it actually makes the car look a different shape, so much that one of my friends who didn't like the shape of the car now quite likes it .

The other great thing is that both the shocks and the springs came with a TRD emblem so not only does my car look and handle better but I will have another 10hp when I put them on

When the wife and I first looked at it it became obvious that the wheels that were on it (which I have always kind of hated) just didn't look right so the decision was made to slap some 18's on it. I have been looking for a while at various wheels so I had a few idea's. We did briefly look at the TRD T3 wheels that were recomended for the suspension (and wifey wanted to stick with TRD if possible) but they were a little on the expensive side, in fact they just about made Dave supercharger look like good value .

So that was the first choice down the drain (plus the 2-3 month lead time on them) so can anyone guess what our next choice was??

Chocolate fish at the next meet to anyone who guesses what is going on it by next saturday (6th).

couple of clues, I hate chrome, and I tend to be a bit more old school in my tastes (in my day it was just school )

At curzon sat the wheel next to the car and it looked really good (imho).

In case anyone dosn't know my car is a silver 2002 caldina GT4, ooh look at that avatar next to my name!

hee hee

Chris

[Steelo]

Join the 18"+ club

Should look sweet on your car! I have no idea about what wheels you are getting haha

[Lloyd]

They wouldn't look anything like this by any chance?

[MasCam]

No nothing like that ... My ones will be silver and have tyres on them give that man a chocholate fish

However did you guess

[MasCam]

One of the big reasons that these wheels were chosen was that they are quite lightweight for an 18. The TRD wheels we were looking at were Very light but for normal wheels these are pretty good, plus they look quite good on the car

[barryogen]

We did briefly look at the TRD T3 wheels that were recomended for the suspension (and wifey wanted to stick with TRD if possible) but they were a little on the expensive side, in fact they just about made Dave supercharger look like good value .

gah, TRD wheels are expensive!!!

purrddy wheels...

[rolla_fxgt]

They'll set it off nicely dude, good choice.

Are you gona polish them up or leave them as it is? by polish i mean buff up with sand paper etc till they gleam like old school deep dishes

[barryogen]

One of the big reasons that these wheels were chosen was that they are quite lightweight for an 18.

what sort of weight are they?
much different to stock ones(atleast the ones you had on it) ?

[MasCam]

Are you gona polish them up or leave them as it is? by polish i mean buff up with sand paper etc till they gleam like old school deep dishes

the picture dosn't really show it but they are already quite shiny and the sides of the spokes and inside of the wheel are a grey colour that is almost exactly the same as the car. So I think that they are probably quite shiny enough for me, I'm not a big fan of BLingg.

[MasCam]

what sort of weight are they?
much different to stock ones(atleast the ones you had on it) ?

Havn't got the exact figure's but they are 9.something kilo's according to the net (the trd's were 7.8k) Which is lighter than most of the 17's out there.

Will give exact figures according to my bathroom scales, tomorrow of the wheel weight and the weight of the wheel/tyre combo of both my old whels and the new ones. I'm interested to see if I gain or lose unsprung weight.

Chris

[MasCam]

Got the wheels on and weighed them.

The nice new 18x7.5 Konig next wheels with 225/40/18 Goodyear eagle F1 GSD-3 tyres = 20.0kg

The old wheels which turned out to be 17x7.5 Kosei RF penta wheels with 215/45/17 dunlop direzza dz101 tyres (ew by the way) 17.7kg.

So it turns out that the wheels that were on there were quite good, fairly light wheels, but they were still ugly (imho) and the TRD suspension said it was designed for 18's

I gained 2.3kg per wheel which dosn't seem to be to bad for going to 18in wheels especialy when the tyres were over half the weight of the wheel/tyre combo. Alot of the reasearch that I have done would indicate that a lot of 17in wheels are heavier than the 18's that I put on. Also despite any weight gain I wouldn't trade back for anything (whell short of a complete audi RS4 avant ) the handling is fantastic and the ride is still quite good, some of this is down to the goodyears which are a fantastic tyre, I had them on my last car and this one came with the direzza's which I thought were supposed to be fairly good but I honestly think that they are a step backwards from the FM901's they replaced for the way I drive.

will get some pics up soon.

Chris

[rolla_fxgt]

good to see a fellow toyspeeder with some euro taste & wanting an rs4 avant, awsome cars, now i just need to find the cash to buy one. ie get a proper well paying jjob instead of being a poor uni student.

[barryogen]

good to see a fellow toyspeeder with some euro taste & wanting an rs4 avant, awsome cars, now i just need to find the cash to buy one. ie get a proper well paying jjob instead of being a poor uni student.

having a proper well paying job doesnt cut it... you also have to be single too

[MasCam]

The best solution is to have a reasonable paying job and a wife that gets paid big$$$$$.

and you own wee business for a bit of extra spending cash helps to.

The RS4 is my hero car of the moment, it took over from the bmw M3 but that is due to be hit with a great big ugly stick, I mean updated to the new model. A more realistic goal is the R32 Golf with the DSG gearbox but that is about on par with my car in most respects bar interior room so i will just have to hold out for the RS4.

Hmmm the wife did metion something about wanting to build a house at some stage so that might get in the way a wee bit.

[barryogen]

Hmmm the wife did metion something about wanting to build a house at some stage so that might get in the way a wee bit.

it's all about priorities... just get and old craper of a house like I did, live in it cheaply, and then you can afford better cars.

about now, I'm starting to feel old.

[MasCam]

Yes but new house = Big garage with room for more cars + dedicated home theatre room, Hmmm Decisions decisions..

[aliluya]

I think i've seen your car around town a bit mascam ... looks nice ...

[MrsMasCam]

The question is, when did you see it? After extra tint/lowering/new wheels? Cos it looks quite different now. Originally the tint on the front window was too light, so it looked kinda weird, now have front up to legal limits so still not same as back but pretty good. And of course, lowering/wheels have really changed how she looks. The lines on the car look alot nicer now, people who have not liked how she looked previously, think she looks really good now. Amazing what small changes do!!!

[john_l]

Ye i saw your GT4 today at work (new world lol i'm trolley boy ) but yeah looks real mint a those wheels look friggen good.

[MasCam]

Glad you like them The more I see them the more I like them which isn't bad considering looks wasn't the main reason for selecting them, I don't think I would put anything else on her now.

I walked right past you at one point while you were driving the mighty trolley tractor. mind you it was an on call week so I was driving my van and my wife got to drive the car in with our son

Chris