Nice job Sean, I demand pics ASAP.

I think I'm just gonna roll the fenders in the FD before I even spray primer :rofl:

Thanks man! I would roll them before too. It would be less stressful then doing it with new paint. I was pretty pissed it cracked but whatever...it is just a car and I would rather have a small paint imperfection then a chewed up fender from a tire. :o11:

You'll hate my FC then :)


Get some pics up of the wheels when you get them. What color did you end up going with on the wheels you got the deal on?

17x8 +28 huh.... you shouldnt have too much rubbing issues up front... but rolling the fenders is definitely a safe bet. Looks good man!

17x8 +28 should look awesome. I'm running 17x8+35 and there is a less offset that could be there. I've always thought of running a small 5-7 mm spacer to bump them out just a touch more. I love that perfect flush look and the benefit of the FC's suspension is that it will tuck into the well upon compression.

They are silver. I will decide if I want to make them a gloss graphrite once I see how silver looks on my Blue.

Yeah I figured rubbing wouldn't be an issue with that offset BUT I have a 5mm spacer just in case ;)

I am hoping I rolled my fenders enough, i didn't fold the fender lip completely against the inner fender due to really cracking the paint BUT trust me it is folded damn good. Plus I only did a "very tight fold" from one red point to the other on the picture.
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...008002-1-2.jpg



Is that enough?? ...we will have to wait and see.

Cool! I hope they look good :)

Doubt it ;)

sean! pics of wheels!

Hold on MoFo! I have one more lip to sand and polish. I am awaiting my newly powder coated/cleared centers from Big Sky Perfromance Coatings. PLUS I need to strip the old ass RTV from the rims and polish/clean the 148 bolts!! :( Needless to say I should have hit up the "refurbish" option when I had the chance.

Fuck it, I saved 300.00$....just lost most of my fingerprints from sanding.


In due time my friends lol

That's not all a bad thing :suspect: I lost alot of definition from metal working and general calases. I've been fingerprinted three times now and each time the dude made some snyde remark :ugh2:

Lol Brian, now you got me thinking what I can get away with...

Thanks for the help with the PM's man. So can I still get Stance CO's from Auto RND for 1000??

No worries Sean. I dunno about $1000. Call Rishie, that's who I bought them from. It was 2 years ago though sooooooo, I'm willing to bet that the prices changed. Damn, it WAS 2 years ago wasn't it..... shit.

I paid 1280 shipped for Stance GR+ Pros... that was the best price I could find a few months ago when I got mine.

Man I HATE this winter BS!! Doesn't matter I guess since the FC is wheel-less. I just want to get my rubber, coilovers and wrap up some loose ends and hit the road!!

Well here is a lttle update:

I finally got my Do-it-yourself wheel refurbish done on my poor condition Work Equips. After 6 grits o sandpaper and sme water and elbow grease, I have to say they came out great. There are some minor imperfections BUT frankly at this point I dont give two shits(it does slightly bother me though:)).

I had the centers powder coated here in town and he did a wonderful job for the price. I have one face that has some "acne" that hopefully I can wet sand but I am unsure if you can wet sand powder coating.?.?..I think it is in the clear coat, if so no biggy I can fix that.

All the bolts were in rusty shape and only 20 of the 128 came out bad. I had to order 15 more from WORK and they were $20 per 5!! :o11:

All that is left is to clean the old silicon off of the rim pieces and seal up. I wonder if I need to remove the powder coating on the outside diameter of the center face to better ensure a seal with the silicone upon assembly...anyone know??


Here are some pics:

Before: bad corrision as you can see:icon_tdown::icon_tdown:

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...project003.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...project004.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...project002.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...project001.jpg

After some sanding at 600 grit(still have 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 to go:beatdeadhorse5:

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject001-1.jpg


Finished lips and newly coated "darker silver" centers

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject002-1.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject003-1.jpg

And the final project:001_005:

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject004-1.jpg



SOO much work but I found it ironic that i had to work for my WORK's HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....
Tires are next: Falken FK-452's in 235/40 and 255/40.

Awaiting money for BC coilovers I am about to buy. Updates soon...........................................:ic on_tup:

Wheels looks great man! Way to put some elbow grease into it.

No doubt, nice job Sean :icon_tup:

Thanks dude!.......I have no finger prints on my thumb and pointer/middle fingers:rofl:

Thanks homie!!!



I am still wondering about the powder coat/sealing issue. I will have to research some more.

Nice job! Would have gone gold, but ya know :)

Its always nice when you can bring something back like that though and it probably saved you a ton over getting new wheels.


On the powdercoating question, I've never had to seal a PC part against a non-PC part but I would think you would be ok to not sand it off. The only catch would be that the PC was applied properly and is level...if it has any dips/changes in elevation I would sand it off to be safe.

Damn those look nice. Good work on your WORKs.

Makes me want to take apart those SSR's.........

:7: Bill, I'ma go rent me a trailer and I'll see you in the morning so we can load your car up, bring to the land of good taste and you can go buy a scubie :p

Agreed, as long as the coating is level, it shouldn't be a problem, however, if it went on thick, it may need to come down a bit.

Out of curiosity, as this was the debate that got me banned on the evil forum for calling out a newb on the subject, what temp were the centers baked too? was the temp brought down gradually? If you heat AL too much and/or bring it down too fast, you temper the material making it weaker. Now, I'm no metalurgist so I don't know the exact temps, but I do know that a standard powder like mine, that has to be baked @ 450*F is way to hot to use with wheels.

SSR's you say :suspect: You've got 3 months DJ!

I will have to ask what he baked it at. PC is SO common on alum wheels you think this issue would have been brought up many times. hmm...



I bet DJ's SSR's turn out sweet! It will be nice to see what color he changes them.

That's the thing that worries me though, that it has been done so many times and I would hate to see some guy thinking that becuase it has been done, it doesn't need to be done in any special way, and there is a right way and a wrong way. If the guy is good and experienced and knows his stuff, then I wouldn't worry, but if he doesn't and just knows how to spray some powder, than I would be a little concerned.

Like I said Sean, I don't know the specific temps, I just know that it needs to be low temp, well, lower than the standard Eastwood powder, and the temp needs to be brought up and down slowly.

Interesting you say that man because I called the guy who did my PC and was requesting he come look at the one center peice that has the dbris under the coating. Of course he was very professional and agreed to do it over for free. ANYHOW he started to explain how forged aluminum is very hard to get a good fishish on due to the baking temp.

I will met him this afternoon for him to pick up the one center and am DEFINATELY going to ask him what temp he bakes at for alum.

Sounds like he knows his stuff though and knows that AL needs less of a temp. What I like to do is bake my parts first to burn off the contaminents from the inside, then clean them again, then coat them. Works well on anything underhood that was exposed to oil and nastiness becuase it justs burns it off. Stinks like transient hooker ass but works well.

hahaha.

Well I asked him and he said that he bakes aluminum at 375*F for 25 mins cure time. I have read some interesting threads on the annealing properties of aluminum BUT it seems that the TYPE is most crucial. Cast and Forged 356 T-6 aluminum can withstand aging at 305-315*F 2 to 5 hours. The T-7 aluminum can take 435-455*F 7 to 9 hours before annealing. I wonder what these forged WORKs are made of??????


The imperfections on my wheel was residual sand from blasting. It will be fixed asap. Good Shit!!

.

Haven't checked this thread in a while - NICE work on the equips!! That is some dedication to the polishing on those lips.

Big ups! :)

Better be GOLD!!! :)

Thanks man! Yeah tell me about...I had a couple times where only beer numbed the pain in my hands and elbows.

"Better be GOLD!!! "

LOL you are a subie nerd at heart

Looks Great. I should keep better track. I have a polishing kit for hand drill with assorted buffers, wheels , and super fine polishing compounds. Takes a little bit of the hand abuse out of the picture.

MAN Ransom I would have loved to know that :)!!

Polishing was a breeze since I used a Mothers Flex power cone and chicago buffer.

Got my rubber in today..........:)

235/40 up front
255/40 in back

Hope they stick well. The reviews on these were great and I looked around FOREVER.

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject003-2.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject001-2.jpg

http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...oject002-2.jpg

NICE!

So how do those compare to the RT615 and the NT-01/NT-05? I can't decide.

Nice choice on the sizes ;)

Nice rubbers!

Well the Falken RT615 and the Nitto NT-01/05's are HARDCORE performance tires. Really for track you and light street driving. I would think they perfrom better on dry conditions then these FK-452's . I WAS going to go with Direzza Sport Z1
Star Spec's but they were known for very fast wear BUT extremly sticky for street tires. A little pricey for my budget range.

I went with the 452's for longer tread life then the others listed and a better "wet" performance if I am ever put in the position of rain when on a road trip. I really wanted some Ultra HP tires that will last a little while until I have to shell out another 500 for more rubber. I have came across mixed reviews having to due with road noise but we will see.....most bad reviews were on Hondas for some reason WHILE the good reviews were from many Porsche, Cobra and Corvette owners.

I was actually thinking in the future of the Falken RT615's for a track tire once I pick up a set of cheap 17'' race wheels.

This will be the only time I actually use one lol:rofl:

Cool, thanks man.

Weeeeellllllll I'm a hardcore kinda guy :rofl: and I plan on using them for auto-x and such. I was pleased with the wear on the RT615's for future reference. I've heard a lot of good things about the Dunlops but I've had bad experiences with their truck tires so I'm kinda leary about them.

Yeah I hear ya on the wet traction issuue but I ran the Dragon last year in the rain on the RT615's and I was quite pleased with them honestly. I've got no issues running those in the rain which is why I'm not very hesitant to rock some NT-01's for this year.

I have a cheap set of 17" rims for sale :D REALLY light mfer's too..... sooooooo

Tires should have grooves? huh... knew I was doing something wrong :)


I run the 512 HP on my rx8 for the winter and they do well. They dont seem to wear out too quick, have good wet traction and acceptable dry traction with stiff sidewalls. So far no real complaints, I'm sure you'll be fine. I wouldnt use them for competition though... they chunk :)

OH YEAH..i totally forgot about the rain at DGRR last year from your pics. Fuck me..that would have been a big factor in my purchase since you really pushed them to the "max" in wet conditions.