Volk CE28N 17x7.5 +43, Gold w/ polished lip

[TuxedoCartman]

After a six-month wait, I finally got my wheels in. Volk Racing CE28N's, 17 x 7.5" with a +43 offset. Custom ordered in gold, and had a local shop polish the lips for me.







Didn't take the time to weigh them, but they're supposed to be about 14 lbs, and they certainly feel like it. Also, strangely enough, they don't look as small in person as they do in these photos; I blame my poor skills as a photographer.

[Hanakuso]

Looks great. IMO that size/width/offset is what we should of gotten stock. It seems the stock tires are good enough for 7.5.

I think it will look 100x better when you lower it. Not saying it looks bad as is tho

[Leonardo]

Wow! Love the polished lip! Very Cool!

[JoeBoxer]

Definitely a good choice with the polished lip, i had some all gold wheels and it was a little much those look way better.

[Jeff86]

Great taste in wheels! Those look stunning!

[mugen79]

this is freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DarkSunrise]

Nice, planning on lowering it?

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by TuxedoCartman

After a six-month wait, I finally got my wheels in.

I remember your initial thread. What was the final resolution to your situation?

[bgibbsunc]

Im starting to love the Volks. Its going to be hard to decide between them and SSR. Thank god its winter.

[TuxedoCartman]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Looks great. IMO that size/width/offset is what we should of gotten stock. It seems the stock tires are good enough for 7.5.

I think it will look 100x better when you lower it. Not saying it looks bad as is tho

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Nice, planning on lowering it?

After all the crap Vivid Racing gave me about my size/ offset selection, as well as some of the guys on this forum, I have to admit it feels good to see these actually on my car, and to be 100% pleased with the look. The +43 offset is spot on, in my opinion.

I know a lot of people would disagree with my decision on this, but as of right now, I have no plans to lower my car. This is the first car I've owned since... well, ever, that I'm pretty damn close to 100% pleased with the suspension setup on. With my chassis bracing and all, I'm totally satisfied with the daily-driving handling aspects of this car, so I'm leaving the suspension alone for the most part. For now. Maybe if I start doing more track days, and get competitive with it, I'll look at coilovers. But it's kinda nice not having to rush out and drop $2k+ on suspension parts so soon after buying a new car, for a change.

Originally Posted by JoeBoxer

Definitely a good choice with the polished lip, i had some all gold wheels and it was a little much those look way better.

After these arrived, I got cold feet about having some shop do the polishing on them, and tried to talk myself into leaving them fully painted gold. But I just couldn't do it. There's a few car/ wheel combinations out there that can pull off a solid gold wheel (red Evos, blue and white STi's, for example), but this Whiteout/ Pearl white FR-S/ BRZ isn't one of them (in my opinion; no offense to those who have done so). I gotta say, the polishing made them stand out more than I was expecting, and I'm extremely pleased with the look.

Originally Posted by bgibbsunc

Im starting to love the Volks. Its going to be hard to decide between them and SSR. Thank god its winter.

Most SSR's look prettier, but Volks are generally lighter weight. Both are fantastic wheels. I had a set of SSR Professor SP1's on my old FD, as well as some SSR Comps on my 03 WRX (in gold, on a white Imprezza. Noticing a trend with me? )

Originally Posted by King Tut

I remember your initial thread. What was the final resolution to your situation?

So after four months of waiting, Vivid Racing sent me the wrong wheels. First they denied making any mistake, and tried to tell me that I ordered them in bronze with a +33 offset. When that didn't fly, then they tried telling me that that was the recommended offset and size by both Mackin Industries and Rays Engineering (which was at least half a lie, as I know Rays Eng. in Japan seems to be pushing their +50 offset CE28's as the ideal offset for our cars; you only have to do a cursory search of Japanese car sites to see that's the case. この外人は日本語を読めるできますよ). After THAT didn't fly, then they started offering to replace them with other wheels, and powdercoat them gold if I wanted (which kinda raised a red-flag in my head, because a lot of these lightweight wheels should never be powdercoated, due to the heat)... before finally giving in and agreeing to refund my money. And even then, I had to hound them a bit to get them to send me return shipping labels.

See all the business I'm giving Vivid Racing now? No? Look harder... LOL.

After that, I got a hold of a friend of mine who lives in Japan, and got her to order some for me locally, then ship them to me. This was back at the start of October. Well, she found a shop with a pretty good price, but they said because it was a custom order they didn't expect them to receive them from Rays till late February/ early March. I was pissed at looking at that long of a wait, but what're you gonna do? I've heard of people waiting 9 months or longer for wheels, so I resigned myself to it.

Well, I don't know if it was the shop that was wrong in their estimates, or Rays just decided like stepping up production, or what... but last week I got an email that she'd received my wheels, and was shipping them out. Benefits of having a friend in Japan over buying through Mackin? AIR MAIL, FTW!!! (Yes, it *did* cost me $ALL, but, umm... look at how much I saved on not installing coilovers! And really, can any of us put a price on the warmth of a child's laughter, or instant gratification when it comes to shiny car parts? ) They were here in my garage three days later, had them polished over the weekend, and installed the day I picked them up. And truth be told, even with air-shipping included, I only paid about $300 over what I would have spent buying from somebody retailing for Mackin Industries, so that wasn't so bad.

So, bit of a headache, bit of embarrassment at having stock wheels on my car longer than any other FR-S owner... but a happy ending overall.

[ayau]

we have similar wheels. mine is 17x7.5 bronze +50.

i bought them used. couldnt justify spending $3k on wheels when i know ill eventually curb/scratch them.

i'm planning to mount them on michelin pilot super sports.

[TuxedoCartman]

Originally Posted by ayau

we have similar wheels. mine is 17x7.5 bronze +50.

i bought them used. couldnt justify spending $3k on wheels when i know ill eventually curb/scratch them.

i'm planning to mount them on michelin pilot super sports.

Nice! Once I've worn out my stock tires, I was actually planning on going with the Pilot Super Sports as well, but in a 225 size.

[ayau]

Originally Posted by TuxedoCartman

Nice! Once I've worn out my stock tires, I was actually planning on going with the Pilot Super Sports as well, but in a 225 size.

personally i think 225 is too wide for a 7.5'' wide rim. you can even run 8'' rims on 215 sticky tires. this will give you a stiffer sidewall due to the slightly "stretched" tires.

tires work best at their optimal operating temp. when you use wider tires, it takes more work to get them to their optimal operating temp, and many times, you won't reach that temp just daily driving the car.

[JoeBoxer]

Sorry for being one of those guys giving you a hard time over the offsets btw, it looks great and sorry for your trouble with vivid I think it's about time for something to be done there.