[Billfrombyron]

Scored, and scored big with a set of Energy Motorsports Individual wheels that I picked up about 2 weeks back.

These things are in need of some love and are blessedly crack free. Just some curb rash.

I'll be pushing my limits in the powder booth with a slick 3 color combo.

Illusion berry on the face of the spokes, ink black on the sides of the spokes and Cadillac grey inside the barrels and rear of the spokes. Prismatic powders is who I sourced the colors from.

These are super light forged japanese goodness. The brand isn't really known much outside Japan and some european countries, but they are really quite nice in person.

I did a few videos on my ETA Wheels channel about what to look for when inspecting wheels and how to do a dye penetrant test for those who have never see one done.

They weigh in at 9.8kg in 19x8.5, 5x120 square and are 72.5mm center bore.

Here are a few pics of what's been done so far as I get ready to begin powder coating them.

From pick up, to removing the stretch tires, to degreasing and dye penetrant test to curb rash repair.

I'm considering a set of the floating Cadillac logo center caps when everything is complete.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

All damage repaired and ready for chemical stripper.

Next step will remove the remaining clear coat. Then sand blast and powder

 

[Billfrombyron]

All stripped down and back home. Ready for the fun part, sand blast and powder coating!

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

5 hours of blasting later the first wheel is done.

I'm going to outsource the remaining 3. The cabinet at the tech shop is barely big enough to properly blast them and whatever the heck they used as a base coat was unaffected by the aircraft stripper used in the previous steps.

I'll let a local company handle the heavy lifting so I can focus on powdering the first wheel tomorrow afternoon.

-Byron

 

[AAIIIC]

I've never heard of that brand, but that's a good looking wheel. I'm definitely interested to see the final product!

 

[Billfrombyron]

I'll pick them up this afternoon and hopefully get 1 or 2 started.

Plans got derailed after I had to get yet another Covid 19 test. We have to do them every 2 weeks as part of the vaccine trials. Some days it goes quick and some days it drags. Yesterday took me 3 hrs so I scrubbed the day and went home after.

I genuinely felt bad for the workers at the sand blasting place, so I went and bought a box of N95 masks for the workers. They are using regular desert sand to blast the wheels and just wrapping a head scarf over their nose and mouth.

That's a huge no-go in the safety world. I know it won't last them long, but at least I feel better inside. I'll be bringing them another box when I pick them up.

For those who don't know why it's dangerous, google silicosis and sand blasting.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

Quick video of the wheels, completely stripped from the sand blasting place.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

Put some work in tonight.

I liked the Cadillac grey powder so much I just did a solid color.

.......that's my story and I'm sticking to it.........

They are really beautiful though, the camera doesn't quite pick up how sexy they are. I'll get some sunlight pics Sat when I do the second pair.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

And here they are all cleared and cured.

It kinda flops silver/black/bronze/grey and is really hard to photograph. Its a really cool color.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

Did the intake tube and shifter in illusion berry powder coat.

I'm definitely doing the same for my wheel center caps and lug nuts. It will tie in the 2 colors and really make it pop.

A

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

Now I'm just waiting on 4 lug nuts to arrive so I can mount them. Went with McGuard spline drives. I hate wheel locks, I will reserve them in n case I need to emergency replace a lug nut. (Happened twice so far with the car oddly enough).

Can't wait to get them mounted. Total weight is 9.8kg for the wheels and 9.8kg for the tires. So 43 lbs ish for the non metrically inclined.

It's still a very light setup compared to what's coming off the car. I was at 38lbs just for the wheels, not counting the tire, that are on the car now.

Went with 255/40R19 square. Falken FK510. 2020 stock which is rated at 69db road noise vs 71db for the 2019.

-Byron

 

[AAIIIC]

43# is pretty damn impressive. Did you actually weigh the tires? 9.8kg seems awfully light for a performance-oriented 19" tire.

It's been a long time since I put any of my V's wheel/tire combos on a scale. I seem to recall being in the low to mid 50s. I think I'll be mounting up the winter wheels/tires this weekend, so I'll try to remember to take that opportunity to weigh the winters going on and the summers coming off.

Edit: Winter wheel swap complete.
OEM wheels with 245/45-18 Nokian GR4s - 52#
CCW 19x8.5" wheel with 245/40-19 Firestone Indy 500 (nearly new) - ~53#
CCW 19x10" wheel with 285/35-19 Firestone Indy 500 (down to ~4/32" tread) - ~54#

So now I'm curious what weight difference is between a brand new tire (at 9 or 10/32" tread) and a used up tire (at 2 or 3/32"). That's quite a bit of rubber worn away. I'll be replacing those rear tires at some point next spring/summer, I'll have to get a before and after weight.

 

[Billfrombyron]

43# is pretty damn impressive. Did you actually weigh the tires? 9.8kg seems awfully light for a performance-oriented 19" tire.

It's been a long time since I put any of my V's wheel/tire combos on a scale. I seem to recall being in the low to mid 50s. I think I'll be mounting up the winter wheels/tires this weekend, so I'll try to remember to take that opportunity to weigh the winters going on and the summers coming off.

Edit: Winter wheel swap complete.
OEM wheels with 245/45-18 Nokian GR4s - 52#
CCW 19x8.5" wheel with 245/40-19 Firestone Indy 500 (nearly new) - ~53#
CCW 19x10" wheel with 285/35-19 Firestone Indy 500 (down to ~4/32" tread) - ~54#

So now I'm curious what weight difference is between a brand new tire (at 9 or 10/32" tread) and a used up tire (at 2 or 3/32"). That's quite a bit of rubber worn away. I'll be replacing those rear tires at some point next spring/summer, I'll have to get a before and after weight.

I actually weighed the tires in the wrapping and ended up at 9.8kg. I was pleasantly surprised myself at the weight. It's way lighter than what I have now.

Had a slight setback with the toe rod bushings basically crumbling to dust. New ones are on the way, and I'll be installing my standby BMR toe rods.

I need to add a 8mm spacer to clear the rear brakes and as I just learned the hard way, I'll be ordering another set of 245/40R19 for the front as there is zero clearance for the 255/40r19. Sigh, I guess I'm stuck with staggered fitment again, but at least I have a spare set of rears now.

I will transfer the old (but servicable) 245/40r19 while I wait on my new tires to arrive.

I gotta admit, she looks good on a tow truck.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

Was only able to fit the fronts, reusing my existing 15mm spacer.

Doing a 5-8mm spacer in the rear, when I'm done with everything.

I'm also picking up a set of center caps and a neat looking subdued US flag decal.

-Byy

 

[Billfrombyron]

Almost done. Got the spacer modified, made an extended hub centric ring (66.9mm to 72.5mm x 20mm long) added in some ARP 3.25" lug studs, cut to 2.5".

Got everything mounted up, waiting on the alignment to complete.

They sit with exactly the same fitment as previously, which was perfect.

-Byron

 

[Billfrombyron]

All finished up. I'm really and genuinely shocked at how much nicer the car rides with the new setup.

Fitment took a ton of work, but came out absolutely flawless. I'm super proud of myself. Ended up getting longer studs and cutting them down to 2.5".

The next fun challenge will be in dialing in the vss pulse per mile via HP tuners to maintain speedometer accuracy and traction control happiness.

-Byron