new shoes and hood vents for the TF500

[Steve@TF]

i had a new wheel designed and had the first set made for my own car for a decent sized show out here a couple of weeks ago. unfortunately, discount tire sent me the wrong sized fronts and i didnt notice till the day before the show when we sent the wheels to have the tires mounted up :bash:

so..... new wheels werent going to make it on in time

but we did get the suspension all installed a few days before the show thanks to my buddy dan of Luce Racing. Eibach sportlines, Tokico Dspecs, MM adj panhard bar, J&M camber plates.

luckily, i had a customer who was cool enough to allow me to sport his new Chicanes for the show, before shipping them out to him :thumbsup:
(yes, there was a little "wheel greasing" involved lol)

here's the car at the show, with the incredible long beach harbor in the background.

20x9 20x11 3 piece Chicanes in brushed aluminum with polished lips.
brushed center caps with custom CNC engraved logos which were then custom painted Vista Blue (the color of my deleted stripes).

tires are 265/35/20 555 up front and 305/35/20 555R in the rear.

after the show i finally got a spot to snap some quick pics in front of the water. there were a handful of people waiting to do the same thing so i had to move quickly, plus, we wanted to go eat dinner finally!

the correct tires finally did make it in, about 2 days after the show lol.

here's the new wheel design finally ON the car.

True Forged "Competition" in 3 piece. brushed centers with chrome lips.
same custom caps

i thought maybe 20s looked a little big on the car and wanted something a little better for open track use, so i decided to try 19s. my gf says they look too small :bored: i scored a great deal from a member on here for the rear tires so that's what i went with for now.

19x9.5 19x10.5
Nitto Invos 275/35/19 and 285/35/19

im thinking of possibly going to 19x11 with the 325/30 Invos next time around. unfortunately not much selection in 19" and i dont want a DR either.

this is the latest wheel design added to the TF line up. its basically a modified Chicane with 3 differences, 1 being obvious

oh and i havent taken good pics yet. these are just some quick ones at the tire shop using the PAS camera.

and last but not least, the hood vent combo i decided to go with for now. i wanted them to match the wheels. so i went with polished frames with brushed louvers

 

[pony23]

Car looks great Steve!!! I really like the new competition wheel design. I think it will be a big hit. They should be flying off the shelf.

 

[Robertt305]

Ain't got $hit on my wheels.

 

[stkjock]

you bastard!!! you're gonna force me to buy a set of those from you guy....

are the new wheels going to be available in 18s?

also the difference between the Comps and the Chicanes - the thickness of the spoke material?

they look great!! I am very jealous right now

 

[sbrooks]

they look great

 

[Steve@TF]

Ain't got $hit on my wheels.

well day is dubs. mine aint, but i keep em real clean :-D

you bastard!!! you're gonna force me to buy a set of those from you guy....

are the new wheels going to be available in 18s?

also the difference between the Comps and the Chicanes - the thickness of the spoke material?

they look great!! I am very jealous right now

doing a set in 18" right now. 3 actually. one for a cobra, one for an fbody and one for a vette that will be at the Texas Mile in a few weeks.

and soon a set for a member's new Z06 :burnout:

ALL of our wheels are available in 18".
15" through 26". :thumbsup:

 

[Steve@TF]

as far as the differences:

1. the spokes are a little thicker because two of them have been deleted

2. the fluting around the lug nuts had to be removed because they dont work with the design any more

3. there is a chamfered edge around the big spokes which looks really nice in person.


eventually i may have some more spokes lopped off. maybe down to five, but then the windows would be really be BIG. kind of like the stock 07-09 GT500 wheels. but that wouldnt be for some time.

 

[stkjock]

Thanks

Please post better pics of the new wheels ASAP

 

[Steve@TF]

will do when i have more time but for now you can see the good pics on our FB page right here

Facebook

 

[stkjock]

thanks

 

[Daffy]

Hey Steve,

First off, your car looks great & I really like the competition rims, I like the beffy look of them myself.

Do you all recommend your 3 piece wheels for open tracking? I've been of the mind to run 1 piece on track, I'm a little OCD about breaking @ 140mph+ with pushing the car to stress with a 3 piece setup. But, what do you guys recommend / think about this? I have your 20" chicanes, I pull them off for track duty because of them being 3 piece. My lazy self would love to do a set of perf road race tires on the chicanes and not be swapping wheels/tires reguarly ...

You can PM me for a chat if you like too, thnx.

Dave.

 

[CPRsm]

Steve are you coming down for the Mustangs by the bay show ? I can get you in for free if you like.

 

[acobra03]

Very nice! Classy looking.

 

[Steve@TF]

Hey Steve,

First off, your car looks great & I really like the competition rims, I like the beffy look of them myself.

Do you all recommend your 3 piece wheels for open tracking? I've been of the mind to run 1 piece on track, I'm a little OCD about breaking @ 140mph+ with pushing the car to stress with a 3 piece setup. But, what do you guys recommend / think about this? I have your 20" chicanes, I pull them off for track duty because of them being 3 piece. My lazy self would love to do a set of perf road race tires on the chicanes and not be swapping wheels/tires reguarly ...

You can PM me for a chat if you like too, thnx.

Dave.

3 piece wheels were pretty much invented for this purpose. damage a wheel on the track, break it down and repair and you're up and running again. of course, that's assuming you have the pockets to repair them whenever you need to lol. or a sponsorship that will give you free parts as needed (like a race team). plenty of people have done it and continue to do so. any wheel, regardless of construction, will start to show fatigue if you push it hard enough. ive seen everything from fikse, to hres have issues after lots of track use. and using the race team analogy again, be prepared to swap out parts, if you're going to abuse them, like a race car does. if you're talking about occasional track day fun, i wouldnt worry about it. maybe just check the bolts to make sure theyre not coming loose at all after a good romp.

this reminds me of the set we're doing for a texas mile car right now. the owner of the shop asked if they can do 250mph? lmao! my wheel engineer just laughed and said no one is going to guarantee that. and the tires will probably fail weeell before the wheels do.

Steve are you coming down for the Mustangs by the bay show ? I can get you in for free if you like.

havent heard of it. i take its in SD?

 

[XyX]

Does the rear of the car sit lower or is it just the tire size(sidewall)?

 

[Yaadman_GT]

Looks great Steve!!!

 

[09Troublemaker]

looking good man!:beer:

 

[Steve@TF]

Does the rear of the car sit lower or is it just the tire size(sidewall)?

it sits very level, so it its just an illusion. probably because the front and rear tires are almost the same size.

ive got a funny issue with the car. took it to the alignment shop this morning because the driver's side tire is hitting a little. it slices a little during dips. i thought maybe the axle needed to move to the pass side a little more. he put his measuring tool on it and it turns out the pass side actually sits out further than the driver's side by .0625, but doesnt rub at all on that side. wtf?? :shrug:

 

[Daffy]

Thanks, Steve. Do you guys use locktite on the threads?

I'm thinking for piece of mind I'll run around all mine & loktite them if appropriate and maybe consider going with a tire setup for the open track & stop the swapping wheels.
Dave.

 

[RedlineHP]

it sits very level, so it its just an illusion. probably because the front and rear tires are almost the same size.

ive got a funny issue with the car. took it to the alignment shop this morning because the driver's side tire is hitting a little. it slices a little during dips. i thought maybe the axle needed to move to the pass side a little more. he put his measuring tool on it and it turns out the pass side actually sits out further than the driver's side by .0625, but doesnt rub at all on that side. wtf?? :shrug:

Steve, I think what is happening is: with a panhard bar, as the suspension articulates up and down you also have a small amount of side to side movement of the axle which shows up (rubs) with the car so low and wide tire filling up the wheel well.
Oh and the car and the new wheels look great.:thumbsup: