Old school style

[dem00n]

Originally Posted by TylerLieberman

In case you're wondering, they're 4 lug Watanabe wheels with custom adapters to go from 4x114 to 5x100.

15 or 16? 8 inch? That's a nice setup!

[venturaII]

I like the Minilite/Panasport/Watanabe look, but the body kit, stance and 4 lug adapters are a bit over the top for me. I'm trying to keep this thing usable. lol

[8R6]

non-honda version of the mugen manhole covers.......

[dem00n]

Originally Posted by venturaII

I like the Minilite/Panasport/Watanabe look, but the body kit, stance and 4 lug adapters are a bit over the top for me. I'm trying to keep this thing usable. lol

If you want that old school JDM look, your best bet is importing wheels from Japan. You'll have to run adapters as well, since 5x100 is a Subaru thing.

It won't be cheap, JDM wheels new and old tend to have a premium to them. They can take a beating though and tend to be lighter than the European counterparts. Be cautious of three piece wheels, older ones will need rebuilding!

Also the TRD car is lowered by a lot. Even those the 15 inch wheels have fatter rubber, you can see on the Speedhunters article that it's lowered on the TRD coilovers. The car would look pretty bad on 15 inch wheels without lowering it. 16 inch wheels with 55 size sidewall on stock ride height can look good, if you like rally cars!

Yet again...15 inch wheels without the right offset and size tend not to fit our cars due to brakes. 17 inch wheels would look off with the old school look, I'd stick to 16.

[M23]

+1 for Watanabe look

Rota makes a 17" replica fyi:
17x8.5 5x100 e+10
17x8 5x100 e+5

http://www.rotawheels.com/wheel.php?id=100

..wish they'd make these and ship them to the states already.

The 18" version everyone has look waaay too big for this old-school design though.

[FTemplar]

Hey guys, I stumbled upon this thread because i was looking for pics of old school FR-S to update my new page with (https://www.facebook.com/retroGT86BRZ) . I created this page because I couldn't find a comprehensive website that specializes in anything old school or retro related to the GT86. If you own a GT86 that has some retro flair to it and would like it featured on my page, or just have some cool pics or info to share, feel free to send me some pictures!

That said, I thought i'd chime in since I have a set of Retro 2's. I was looking for those back in November '14 and came across them completely by accident by finding an ad on craiglist. The seller told me they were created for the SEMA '13 show and only 2 sets were made, so I quickly jumped on them! I tried to trace the origin of that set, It is my understanding that they changed owners at least 3 times, but for all I know they could be the same that were on Wheeldude's FR-S @ SEMA '13. The only other car I have ever seen them on are the six retro-liveried GT86's recently produced by Toyota and sponsored by Rota. Last I was told, they are not for sale and special order only. (For now...)
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/06/03/t...goodwood-poll/



Anyway, here are some pics of them on my car, hope you like it I've ordered my set of overlay cluster gauges too, they should come in soon. I think my Subaru is totaled, it keep trying to go back to its Toyota AE86 roots haha






Thanks & regards,
Jonathan

[venturaII]

I still really like those wheels, but based on Wheeldude's lackluster customer support, plus the facts that they basically tried to talk me out of buying them based on their very limited availability, plus a 19 pound wheel isn't the direction I wanted to go, I ended up going with 16x7's and 225/50's, which I feel work a lot better with the stock suspension. For less than the cost of the Rotas, I got 12.5 pound forged wheels AND Ecsta XS tires, basically new. It was too good a deal to pass up.


I really like the Retros on the blue.

[FTemplar]

Originally Posted by venturaII

I still really like those wheels, but based on Wheeldude's lackluster customer support, plus the facts that they basically tried to talk me out of buying them based on their very limited availability, plus a 19 pound wheel isn't the direction I wanted to go, I ended up going with 16x7's and 225/50's, which I feel work a lot better with the stock suspension. For less than the cost of the Rotas, I got 12.5 pound forged wheels AND Ecsta XS tires, basically new. It was too good a deal to pass up.


I really like the Retros on the blue.

Interesting, I totally understand your reasons for going that direction, as for me well its my daily drive so I was just concerned about looks. Out of curiosity through, how much were they asking for the Retro 2s ? I ended up paying 800 USD for mine (used).

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by FTemplar

Interesting, I totally understand your reasons for going that direction, as for me well its my daily drive so I was just concerned about looks. Out of curiosity through, how much were they asking for the Retro 2s ? I ended up paying 800 USD for mine (used).

They were in the $275 ballpark, if I recall correct. I REALLY like this wheel (still do), but man, Wheeldude's support was beyond horrible. Never returned calls/emails, and when I finally managed to get someone on the phone to ask questions of, they never had any answers, nor did they get back to me with the answers like they said they would.


The final straw was the weight and the +42 and 17x9 combo meant very little negative camber was available. But damn, they look good.

[FTemplar]

Originally Posted by venturaII

They were in the $275 ballpark, if I recall correct. I REALLY like this wheel (still do), but man, Wheeldude's support was beyond horrible. Never returned calls/emails, and when I finally managed to get someone on the phone to ask questions of, they never had any answers, nor did they get back to me with the answers like they said they would.


The final straw was the weight and the +42 and 17x9 combo meant very little negative camber was available. But damn, they look good.

I understand where you're coming from. After I bought them, I tried to find out more about them from Rota and Wheeldude, and I hit a wall with everyone...

And yeah, i'm on stock suspension and there is VERY little clearance left between my tire and the stock front struts. About half an inch I would say... I would definitely need spacers if I was gonna lower it, but i'm not planning to because Canadian winters

What kind of wheel design did you end up going with?

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by FTemplar

I understand where you're coming from. After I bought them, I tried to find out more about them from Rota and Wheeldude, and I hit a wall with everyone...

And yeah, i'm on stock suspension and there is VERY little clearance left between my tire and the stock front struts. About half an inch I would say... I would definitely need spacers if I was gonna lower it, but i'm not planning to because Canadian winters

What kind of wheel design did you end up going with?

I went with Motegi Traklites. I'm really not a fan of five spoke designs in general, but these were being sold on the forum here as a basically unused wheel and tire combo for very short money. They had one trackday on them with just two sessions in the rain, so they weren't even scrubbed in, really. For the weight loss and price, it was too good to pass up.


If the Retros came in a more reasonable size, like a 16x8 and offset around +40, I'd be tempted to take the performance hit in weight to get the great looks.


I'm on stock suspension as well, for the same reason (New England roads), and the taller sidewall of the 16s really works well with the long travel.