16x10 REAL Racing wheel shows up! (Originally posted 12/25/10)

As promised, my wheel showed up today and I did an initial test fitting tonight when I got home from the requisite Christmas Eve family function.

The first thing I did when I pulled the wheel out of the box was to weigh the wheel. It seems a bit heavy at around 17 pounds, but is certainly robust. It's also a nice looking wheel.

I then took it down to the garage and pulled a front and rear wheel for initial fitting. As previously noted, the two original wheel makers I had talked to (Diamond Racing Wheels and Spinwerks) said their wheels wouldn't fit over the stock brakes, so this was my first concern. The other big concern was whether the wheel would fit over the lower link on the rear suspension.

I mounted the wheel first in the front. It definitely clears the calipers and seems to be a pretty good offset, however due to the shape of the center of the wheel, it will require a spacer of approximately 3/8" (5 mm) to clear the caliper carrier.

Next up I moved it to the rear. It bolted up and appeared to fit completely. However, once I took the e-brake off and tried to spin the wheel, I noticed that it didn't turn as well as it should. I got under the car and took a look at the brakes and the lower link and all of them had clearance. So, the only issue in the back is the same as the front where it will require a spacer, although it would only need a very minimal spacer in the back.

Again, the biggest issue I was concerned about was the lower link in the rear. Let's just say the clearance is tight.... There is only about 1/8" between the link and the wheel! The main thing though is that it does fit!

Next up, I'll have to get some spacers and obviously longer studs. I'll also get one of my tires mounted up and do further fitting to verify everything is good.



More later.