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Friday, March 13, 2020

Nausicaa - Project Update - Wheels Ordered

This turned out to be a more complicated ordeal than I had hoped. Originally when I was shopping for some of my Prelude parts I came across the blog hosted by Studio VRM which has a multipart blog about How to Build a Honda Prelude Racecar.

Roger at Studio VRM was really helpful in figuring out wheel size. I decided to go with Gram Lights 57Transcend 17"x8" 5x114 (having elected to do the 5-lug conversion). This was elected because of wheel availability in 17" wheels for 5x114.3 over 4x114.3 bolt patterns. This all informed the brakes ordered. The 17"x8" recommendation came from Roger, who has a lot more experience racing a Prelude than I.
I then spoke with Brian at Fastbrakes to make sure the wheels would clear the desired big brake kit. He confirmed that these would.
And I was happy to be using wheels from RAYS Wheels (Gram Lights are a sub brand of RAYS). This were listed as in stock with Evasive Motorsports for months.



I spoke with Tom at Vivid Racing about these wheels, as I was ordering wheels from Vivid Racing for the BRZ. He checked and said they did not have access to them.
All right, I figured I would follow up with Evasive Motorsports. When I called them I found out that the particular wheel was no longer manufactured and that they should remove it from their site.
So... now I needed to figure out new wheels, and kind of fast. Depending on wheel stock these can take nearly 60 days after being ordered to be delivered.

I wound up reaching out to Weds Wheels of North America and getting in contact with Roy. Brian of Fastbrakes provided me the exact model number for the Wilwood big brakes my car is using. And with that information and the wheel sizing information provided by Wilwood's web site we determined that the Weds TC-105X in 17"x8" 5x114 with 32mm offset should clear my brakes.

I am planning on running Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S 245/40ZR17 on these wheels. Same as on the BRZ.

Dodged a bullet on this as for a week or so there it looked like I could be in real trouble with the big brake kit and clearances, and maintaining reasonable side walls on the tires.

All that said, part order information!

Vivid Racing:

1) WedsSport (Weds Wheels) TC-105X17"x8" 5x114 with 32mm offset
    Options:
    A) Center Caps
    List Price:      $467.50 (each)
    Total Price: $1,870.00

2) McGard SplineDrive Tuner 5 Lug Install Kit w/ Locks & Tool (Cone) M12x1.5 (black)
    List Price:      $131.16

Unfortunately I will not have images for this for a while unless P&L Motorsports send me some when the wheels come in.

Also, lesson learned. Must verify that the parts I am relying on to fit together and around one another are in fact still in stock and still made. One would hope that website inventories would be accurate, but better to verify then get in trouble and cause undue stress.

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