Wheels

  • Thread starter el fayce
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Style 19
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BBS Nardi
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I mentioned polycast wheels elsewhere and said I may do a treatment on them here, but instead I think I'll meter some in from time to time.

For a little background, polycast wheels date back to the mid-to-late '60s and were a way for car companies to offer the appearance of a cast aluminum wheel at a reduced cost.
Typically outsourced to wheel manufacturers such as Motor Wheel Corporation in Lansing, Michigan, the polycast began life as a simple stamped steel wheel center welded into a steel hoop, something that was produced in great volume, and then [as I understand it] offered into tooling which would cast plastic that bonded to the surface of the steel. Because the plastic casting could be done more quickly and easily than aluminum, with any engineering already having gone into the base steel wheel, they were less expensive than their aluminum counterparts and could theoretically be made in greater variety. However, because there's still a steel wheel in there and the durable plastic doesn't weigh nothing, they were quite a bit heavier than their aluminum brethren.

Here's one style polycast offered only on Chevrolet Camaro Berlinettas from 1976 to 1981. They were offered only in 14x7.

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While on the subject of Camaro wheels, Chevrolet offered a stylish, "mag"-inspired 15-inch steel "sport" wheel for Z/28s, manufactured by Kelsey-Hayes and made available from 1970 until 1981. While it wasn't available for any other Camaro as original equipment, it was used as a service replacement wheel and was even originally equipped on Chevelles that required a 15-incher.

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They're not explicitly wheels, but I posted Mopar mag simulators (hubcaps) above, so how about a Ford offering?

These 14" "sport" wheel covers were standard on Mustang Mach 1s, but they found their way onto other Ford and Mercury cars from 1970 to 1973, such as Torinos, Cougars and Montegos.

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They would be ideal for a small Volkswagen. A harlequin Polo on euro chopped springs perhaps.
 
I'd rather a deep dish on a VW, but yeah... you'd just have to buy these if you owned that Polo.
 
Does anyone know what model OZ wheel this is?

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I'm really digging them. I would love to find an 18" set of wheels like this for my Porsche but I can't find anything. The closest I've come across is the fifteen52 chicane, but they are not available in Porsche fitment.

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(I even asked them if they could make custom drillings but they apparently cannot...which seems weird but whatever)

Rotiform makes something somewhat similar that is specifically for Porsche, the NFN (I'm guessing 959) but they are ungodly expensive and not quite what I'm after also.

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I've also seen a few Speedline Corse wheels that are similar namely the 2110 (spokes are too fat) and the 2017 (spokes not quite as shapely, also seemingly unobtanium) but again not quite right.

Stuff like the SSR professor and Work Meister are too dissimilar.

Anyone know of any others?
 
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I think those OZs are the Crono wheels. The USA Lancer had those as OEM and I've seen a set on a factory Honda Civic and Hyundai Excel way back in the day.

Edit: Scratch that. It may have been Enkei wheels on the Civic.
 
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Rays just came out with a new wheel, the 21C, which is pretty neat looking.
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I was going to say it'd look really good on something like an R32 GT-R... turns out they do. Needs to be a bit higher, with a bit more meat (I'd say something like the old Group A cars in term of stance) though.
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Empi Sprint Star steel wheels, the 4-lug variant, manufactured by Lemmerz in Germany.

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The above are purportedly 15x5.5 and 15x8, the latter of which would be two inches wider than any originally manufactured and appear to be close to standard backspacing, which was a constant regardless of the original width.

Here's another example purported to be 15x8, but the center appears to have been pressed back in closer to the inside edge, resulting in an even deeper offset. It may be my own perception, however.

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The hole for the valve stem makes me think it is deeper.
 
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So I'm going to use this thread since it's close enough. I'm looking at getting a set of wheels for my car since the OEM ones are pretty trashed (the car was a lease for a high end rental company). They still hold air and aren't super bent, but pricing out a set of new rims from Volvo is laughably expensive ($950 a wheel!) so I'm going aftermarket. I had my eye on a set of BBS RS-GTs but those got sold last night. The seller has a few other options I like, but I need some opinions (the Volvo forum is worthless for this).

One of my choices is a set of Works Schwert SW-2/SC2 wheels. They're forged two-piece and have been welded together, which sounds like is super common for Japanese two-piece wheels. Here's what they look like on an actual car:
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The other is a set of PIAA Super Mesh wheels. They're forged monoblocks and completely refurbished. The paint shop screwed up one of the wheels though so there are some very minor stretch marks where the paint dried funny. I can't really see it though. Here's what they look like on a car:
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There are very few SPA S60's running around on aftermarket wheels and the ones that do have them are running complete garbage. When I asked on the Volvo forums, I got pretty much a slew of gravity cast Tire Rack brand wheels that I'm sure would bend if I looked at them.

I think I like the PIAAs more, but I honestly don't know anything about PIAA other then they make lights.
 
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It sounds kinda simple, but I like 2 wheels that are in some Jeep Renegade models.
Sport:
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And Longitude:
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I really like the OEM wheels on my dad's Genesis G80 Sport. They're 5-lug, but they also have an appearance that resembles a center-lock wheel.
 
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Appliance Apache from the mid-'60s. Cast aluminum, typically fitted with a chrome cap not pictured. How would you like to detail four of those?
 
I'm quite infatuated with 964 C2 wheels:

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They just look so right. Then again, I'm a big fan of simple but bold and well detailed wheel designs. Pelican Parts sells a pretty nice replica for not a lot of money and I'm strongly considering picking up a set for my 986
 
My favorite of the modern era Porsche wheels. Weird thinking of the 964 as modern era. My favorite of the Porsche alloys? Nope, the Gas Burners hold that title. "Modern era" will have to do for now.
 
I know I've mentioned the J-body 10-spokes on multiple occasions. They're among my favorite OEM wheel designs.

But also very handsome are the 5-on-5 style available at the same time on Cordobas as an alternative to the "standard" aluminum offering.

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