rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

...who's wife used to bang this guy, that worked with another guy, that had a cousin from Lebanon, who had a dog, who's previous owner...

silvrbreez

...went bats**t crazy because it was HIS WIFE that his dog's new Lebanese owner's cousin's coworker was sleeping around with. They met once on the dog show circuit, and let's just say she never got over his doggy's style.

OK OK...enough enough

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Yikes.....

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

where my pictures!?

silvrbreez

I'll post some of the wheels and tires this evening.
Still no spacers...
still no roller...
so still not on the car.

silvrbreez

UPDATE

Borrowed a fender roller on Thursday
Adaptec spacers arrived Friday
Birthday party for our kids on Saturday
Church and rest on Sunday, but I did get the spacers on with the OEM wheels and double-checked the torque after some test driving.

Took today off of work to get this done...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13232967143/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13232822575/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13233176104/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13233170644/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13233007633/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13233195724/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13233191654/
Specs, for now, are...

WHEELS
Koenig-Specials KG-IMP 3-piece (circa mid-90's) made by SSR
Prismatic Powders Ink Black lips and barrels
Prismatic Powders Speedway Black with Casper Clear face
Original stainless hardware + 2 replacement BBS wheel bolts
Chrome 90-deg valve stems with TPMS adapters
OEM TPMS sensors
F 18x8.5 +45 (15mm spacer...effective +30)
R 18x9.5 +45 (15mm spacer...effective +30)

TIRES
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport
F 235/40-18
R 265/35-18

SUSPENSION
ISC N1 Coilovers
F ~25-1/8" ground-to-fender...about 1 finger gap (dampening set to 16)
R ~25-1/4" ground-to-fender...about 1 finger gap (dampening set to 16)
Will try to bring it down a bit more over the next couple of weeks.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Wow man, nicely put together! I look forward to more full on side shots!

silvrbreez

Looking to get some better shots at a location possibly this weekend.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

love the look...eager to see more pix after you lower her more...

acurarsx04

It looks really great.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Wow, those wheels give your TL a very interesting look.

silvrbreez

No poke. No stretch. No big camber. No tuck. No bling. Definitely not in with the trends. I'll take "interesting" as a compliment.

WillTC

Man... I should've gotten a WDP

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Going a tad lower will end up setting them off, if that's in the plans.

silvrbreez

About the ride height, I'm felling things out now.

I really need to get some full-on side shots to give you guys a good overall sense of the stance. It's barely enough to wedge a finger between the top of the tire and the fender if you go at it from an angle.

I can squat it down more (maybe 3/4" of an inch or so) without rubbing for smooth driving, but I'm not sure what sort of clearance that will give me on my daily commute. I've got some dips and bumps that can't be avoided on highway interchanges, ramps, and entrance/exits. If I can get through this week without any issues then I'll try to set aside some time to crank the coils down 1/4" to 1/2" and do some driving to test things out.

silvrbreez

went down to the parking lot and snapped this with the phone

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13265734065/

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Fk that, leave it alone...that's perfect AND driveable.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

I would go a tad bit lower and pull a little camber....i think that will set the wheels off

any plans of bringing some contrast to the wheels by either different lugs or caliper color?

silvrbreez

Lugs are plain jane open ended and hidden behind the center caps. Plan on keeping the caps on. As for the calipers, I'm planning on keeping things low key and just throwing the black RDX covers on the back. May be blacking more out around the body (i.e. emblems, grill, roof)...but that's still up in the air. Rotors will definitely be upgraded when these stock blanks fade.

It's definitely an understated look. Most of the comments I've gotten so far locally center around how from far away it doesn't look all that impressive, but when you get close and realize the fit and stance it definitely has a presence.

I was going for subtle and I think I got it.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Based on that last picture, I can't tell or see the drop. That's why I don't like black wheels.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ its not the black wheels...he is shooting a white car and (assuming he focused on the car) hence the blacks are underexposed and not clear...it similar to shooting a black car in the snow...either the details in the sky are lost, or the image becomes underexposed...

silvrbreez

Although the poor quality of that phone pic doesn't truly show the fender gap or lack thereof, I make no excuses for the look. The black lips can give the appearance of larger, meatier tires and less of or no drop. It's a misleading aesthetic, but that's fine.

Since putting the wheels on Monday, some notice right off the bat that its lowered and some people that had previously known that I'd lowered it ask me if its still lowered. But everyone realizes how close everything is when they get up next to the car. My favorite view of this setup is standing at the rear taillight and looking down at the rear wheel and fender. That gives you a real sense of the beef and flushness of the tires, the size of the rear lip (albeit still minimal), and the squat of the car.

So far it's the second impression of this setup that stays with people and I'm fine with that.

In fairness, I'm still considering bringing the coils down another 1/4" or so, but this current ride height was dialed in by trial and error after weeks of commuting on my stock waffles. It's right on the edge of not rubbing or bottoming out on the daily obstacles I face. I was pleasantly surprised that held true even with this more aggressive setup. I may do another round of trial and error, but for now I'm enjoying the drivability and function.

Undying Dreams

iTrader: (3)

Well it sure is different, I keep coming back to this thread to have a look.

Keep it up man! I think if you're right on the brink of rubbing, then keep the height where it's at.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Be honest, are you "sold" on them? You sound like me when I was justifying my black work wheels, I remember defending that at a distance it didn't look like my car was sitting on 4 spare doughnuts. Not trying to be a dik...just picking your brain.

The detail on them is awesome, and the work you put in is amazing...but I do see that a wheel that style with a dark lip and small spokes does look very small...so you do need to pay more attention to the stance to properly set it off than someone with good reverse contrast. I'll use Gerzand as an example...he had 17's IIRC for his race inspired look (well, he is fast...) and it worked, but there was ZERO wheel gap and his wheels were super flush.

I think you'll have to tinker with the height or go with different wheels to REALLY get the look you envisioned. I'm sure that's hard to hear after pouring your heart and soul into these. Don't kill me, bro.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

^^^ hehe...yeah but if I remember right, Andy was running 275 tires on a 17x8 (or was it 17x9) wheel....now thats a race look with that kind of bulge (~11" tire on an 8" rim)


I think the only thing which is missing is contrast on the wheels...I think some contrast there, will accentuate the look

silvrbreez

I hear you man and no harm no foul. I like talking about this kind of stuff. We can all have different tastes in how we approach personalizing our cars and that's what keeps this hobby interesting. I appreciate suggestions that try to get me closer to something you think I'm trying to achieve as opposed to suggestions that just gets me closer in line with the current trends or to just throw another trinket on the car for the sake of modding. The difficult part there is getting inside of the other person's mind to know what they're aiming for. For example, I personally wasn't a fan of the full on black-on-black you were running with the Works, but I think the brushed ring around the Advans you're running now just works (pun intended). But that's me, who am I to say that wasn't what you were going for, but there's nothing wrong with sharing my opinion as to what looks good or bad and for you to do what you want with it.

I admit that the color scheme does make them look smaller than they are, but so do the stepped lips and my choice of tire size. And now that you mention it, they do look a little bit like spare wheels...I get that. But once I decided to stray from the in-kind restoration, I had a method to my madness in choosing the colors I did.

• The gloss black lips are a tip of the hat to the piano black trim and tinted windows that are already on the car.
• The color of the faces are a nod to the OEM Type S wheel color, while introducing the matte finish to contrast the lips a bit.

I've poured back through this thread to double-check that my mind hasn't changed from when I set out looking at wheels. I've held pretty true to my original goals and I think I've accomplished the look I've envisioned.

• I originally wanted staggered 18"s and was considering the Work Emotion XT7, which you know is a pretty basic wheel. Some could easily argue that those would have looked better, or larger, in their opinion because they don't have a lip and the spokes go all the way to the edge, but...
• I mentioned I had always appreciated the classicly styled, 5 spoke, and possibly 3-piece with stepped lips. At one point I even had a lead on some OZ Futuras.
• I also did originally consider brushed or polished lips, but I also said I was thinking about going for more of a OEM+/Mugen aesthetic versus the current popular street/stance aesthetic.
• My fitment plans have never included running much poke or trying to be hella flush, but I did want to give a nice profile when you look down the car.
• Camber kits were always a maybe, but I think I can do without them unless I really want to set the car down low.
• Even before test fitting the wheels, in the time between installing the ISC N1 coils and getting the wheels finished, I was considering going a bit lower...and I still am but just not sure it'll work.

I can honestly say that I'm sold on these...for now. I say for now because I'm always thinking of new ways to tweak things and I'd love to rebuild another set of wheels in the future or possibly even refinish these with another color scheme down the line and play around with the specs and fitment again.

I also don't think I'm justifying them by what I'm saying about the photos not doing it justice since those are more the words of others than they are mine alone. Maybe they feel like they're just being nice, but its been mentioned on at least 5 occasions since Monday. Believe me, I've justified bad mod decisions on previous cars just because I forked out the dough and then tried to sell myself into believing that the piece I added really did benefit the look or performance and I didn't just throw money away. I don't feel that way about these wheels...I love 'em. :wink:

I like feedback, good or bad, because if we're being honest its nice to hear that a decision you've made is well received. But know at the end of the day I'm going to go the direction that makes me happiest and keeps me looking back at my car every time I park it.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I honestly think that tactfully providing any feedback is really the key to it's reception. to a member that puts a lot of thought into his posts and also appears to write very literally what you're thinking. I dig it since I'm the same way.

I agree...okay, I'll change my opinion to this...set it down the 1/2" you're planning anyway...and get some full on high res photos in the sun. Shoot, if it didn't offend you I'd even offer to mess around with them to make the wheels "pop" more to be more true to what you're seeing and balance between not washing out the white car and blacking out the dark wheels.

No, the work wheels worked (ha!) for 3 years for me...but from the day I received them, the pictures I'd seen on the forum were laying flat with reflecting sky in them...I expected them to be gunmetal, not black and
when I opened the box at work that day, my heart fuggin sank because I've always hated black on black. I made it work with the contrasting caliper and eventually lug nuts to make it more interesting, but I never was "in love" with them. In the end, the Advan make me a million times more happy because they're a classic design that I find gorgeous, have some concave, have a nice finish and the machined edge delineates the wheel edge (like you said, apparent in my rolling shots). No RAGRETS there at all.

If it was the me I am now...I would have gone straight to powdercoat and done white or a nice bright silver on the works TBH.

Anyway, I look forward to more posts and more pictures of different angles and my offer stands on messing with them in lightroom. I'm truly happy that you're happy with it.

silvrbreez

Feel free to have at my flickr and see what you can do with the pics that are on there. I've got Photoshop CS3 and I'm pretty good with chopping but need to hone my skills in post-processing. I honestly want to get better just shooting and then have to deal with post-processing less.

Anxious to see what you can do, although you don't have much shots to work with yet. I'll see what I can get this weekend if the rain holds up.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Move to Florida!

Are we flickr friends? Sorry man...definitely didn't remember you are a high res guy! I won't mess with your stuff. Your current phone pics threw me off!

Herp Derp...it's in your sig!

and you're Brandon Bergeron, which I already knew was my flickr friend.

Wow, I am getting old.
I'm gonna start prefacing all my posts with "...I remember in MY DAY..."

silvrbreez

not the best edit, went to B&W to make the contrast more obvious after adjusting the shadows/midtones/highlights, but you get the idea. the tires are more defined in this one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/13292948105/

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

as I said, drop it 1/2 inch...tuck a little tire....run some neg camber with those flat faced wheel....


and the first pic was already black and white

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Thank you for the edited pic. Anil has good advise for you.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Steven, Advice or Advise?


Brandon, sorry man...went with boss to buy him a car last night so didn't have access to my lightroom. Using pic monkey I played with another picture to what I considered to be visually stimulating...hard because to make the rear look good, front was super dark...to lighten front rim, rear was washed. Yours isn't bad, but I'd have liked some clarity instead of softness.

I dig it for now though...

silvrbreez

Thanks swoosh and Mr. Bell. Like I mentioned above, when I have time I'll do some trial and error with the height. Measured things up again last night and 1/2" more drop will almost make the face of the fender kiss the sidewall of the tire. Maybe the bit of additional natural camber that goes with the 1/2" of drop will give a bit of clearance, but I won't know till I set it down and check things out. As for dialing in more camber, I don't have a rear camber kit right now and don't plan to get one just for dropping lower on these wheels.

rockstar, thanks for the edit. Do you find Lightroom to be significantly better than plain old Photoshop? I guess it's just easier for dedicated photo editing.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

You mean camber kit to ADD negative camber? I'm against that... Also, I recommend the 1 piece upper arm, i don't like the idea of narrowing the rear track to adjust camber...bring top of tire out, not bottom in.

I don't know PS. I got lucky with lightroom and it's easy to use...I spend no more than 1 minute editing any of my pictures...if it takes more, i scrap the picture. That's it...it's more your eye...I think my picture is nice to look at and makes the rear fitment look tiiitsss...but you may look at it and not dig it. Also, your theme is very monotone...so I liked increasing the orange a bit...

Take some other angles, try and stay above waist height on you'll accentuate the wheel gap instead of the stance.

silvrbreez

My thoughts exactly. Only way I'd do it would be the SPC/Eibach/Truhart upper arm for that in/out adjustment from up top, but I'm not looking to go that way with these wheels since I know it'll fit now without it at this height without purposefully bringing the top more in. I'd only consider going lower if it'll still fit without it. My desire for the upper arms may come later, but not now with these wheels.

Thanks for the photo tips. I agree with the monotone nature and I've dabbled with adding a bit of a sepia feel to some of the shots I've taken. I like how it mimics the pearl better. And you're right about the rear fitment, you're edit captures it nicely and the look when you're next to it only magnifies that.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

yeah, I am not suggesting a -5deg camber LOL....I think a -1.5 or -2 will be perfect....

also when you lower her, you will be getting some neg camber anyway

silvrbreez

I'm -2.5* right now. That's just my natural camber at this drop height.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb-photography/11855662795/r

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

grainy as fuck...sorry, man...best I could do with dl image.

silvrbreez

I tried with the original off my phone in Photoshop and it was still grainy. I ended up switching to B&W since I thought it softened it up some. Your edit was still better than what I could come up with though. I'm still learning how to best manipulate the highlights/midtones/shadows in post processing.