Kosei K-1 Racing wheels

[roooo]

For those of you with these wheels .. how do you like them?
And, did you buy them from Tire Rack or some Canadian shop?
Because every time I try to find a price in Canada, it's double what they cost in South of the border.

Due to the original wheels I orderd not showing up, and stores having no 15x7 in stock except for forged wheels, I may have to order a set of these. 5 business days to get them to a local shop. About one or two days estimated by UPS shipping from Tire Rack in Indiana.

I would like to buy local but 2x's the price doesn't make me happy.

[Dave]

I've had a set of K1's for 5 years now. I bought them when they first came out from TireRack (nobody else had them yet). They've taken everything I can throw at them, including some piston bits at Cayuga :p They are darn strong and quite light at 13 lbs. I'm very impressed with them overall.

That being said, the new Team Dynamic Pro R1 or Pro Racing or whatever they're called is another 13 lbs rim that you may have better luck finding locally and for a comparable price to the K1's. I've also heard that Rota is now making the Slipstream in a 15x7''

[ice/solo racer]

I'll back up what Dave says about his K1's,mine are going on 3 years old and still look good.I purchased mine from the tire rack as well-the canadian dollar is a little better now though.
I didn't have to many choices for wheels with the bolt pattern and offset of my old corolla but the Kosei's fit perfectly.

[ADAM]

i have a set as well..so far they have been great

[Taylor]

I had a set for a year. I only sold them because while they were the right offset for the Prelude I bought them for. Once I sold that car, and then put coilovers in the MR2 they needed spacers and even then it was TIIIIIGHT. But.. that's just an offset thing.

Otherwise, yeah nice and light. Don't look half bad either.

I bought locally but basically from someone importing them from the US so... :)

I was also able to sell them for some reasonable money at the end of the season last year too.

[roooo]

Well the support monkeys at Tire Rack don't think they will fit my car but haven't given me a proper explanation yet. Bah.

I was going to get the Team Dynamics wheel but they don't have anything in stock with a high enough offset (only +35 or something for rwd cars) and it will be another two months before more come in.

I haven't been able to get any good answer about whether the Rota Slipstream 15x7 is being manufatured yet or not. The 15x6.5 is available but I would really rather have a 7" wide wheel to have the option of going beyond a 205 tire if I want to.

[Dave]

agreed, 15x7'' is the way to go.

Moose picked up some affordable Enkei RCT 15x7'' from Wheel & Tire Zone last year that he runs 225/50-15 RA-1s on. I think they're reasonably lightweight too, at about 14 lbs. You'll have to ask him, but I think he paid about $200 or so per rim. Give Andrew or Pete at WTZ a call at their Mississauga location for more details on the Enkei RCT's.

Looking at the Enkei website, they have a couple rims listed there in a 15x7'' with +35 and +41 offsets.

http://www.enkei.com/highperformance/rp02-j.htm
http://www.enkei.com/highperformance/rpf1.htm

You go always go look around at Cheap Thrills in Milton too. It's not what I'd call a pleasant experience, but you may find something suitable and their prices are very good.

[roooo]

All the new Enkei 15x7 are only 4-bolt :(

[Dave]

crappy! Your Protege is a 5 bolt? *in best Johnny Carson voice* I did not know that! Is it a 5x114.3 like the 5 bolt Hondas?

[roooo]

Yes 5-bolt like Hondas. Actually the same fitment requirements as Integra Type-R and the RSX. Except Mazda centerbore is 67.1 mm where Honda/Acura is 64.1 mm.

FWIW .. exact same specs as the Lancer EVO.

I swear I'm gonna go crazy. Don't really want to pay 500-600$ each for forged wheels. But it's so hard to find others at this late date.

I have seen 15x7 +35 fit on a Protege5 and my MP3 has a bit more fender clearance. So now it's back to the Team Dynamics as a possibility .. heh.

[roooo]

hmm ... well, back to Kosei. On order .. custom drilled. Hope they get here in time for Event 1. But no pro solo for me. But I'll have to get 'em repainted so I don't like everyone else out there ;)

[Dave]

nice! But you do know the Kosei's come in three different colours (or at least they used to): white (most popular), silver (which I have), and anthracite (pretty rare and kind of an ugly green if you ask me).

[GregR]

I picked up a set of Circle Racing 15x8's for just under $200 US each, and they can make almost any offset up to +38, any centre bore, and bolt pattern. Forged aluminum, too, and damned light: mine came in at 13.2 pounds each. They also make 15x7's but no 15x7.5

[Dave]

15x8''....*drool* I want, I want! Is that $200 USD landed at your doorstep, or $200 before shipping, handling, brokerage fees, customs, and any other buggerage fees? I wonder how strong forged aluminum is? Will they survive a big off into the weeds and stones?

[roooo]

Hey you get get custom racing wheels for a good price in Canada!
Kodiak in Vancouver ... save all that nasty border trouble.
http://www.kodiakracingwheels.com/

I thought Circle wheels were spun, not forged? +38 is still too low for me. I would need +42 in an 8" wheel.

As far as K1 colours .. I would like to get them re-done in black. I think the Anthracite colour is maybe only available in 16". Regardless, all they have for me at the moment is silver blanks they can drill for me. No fiddling with centering rings. :)

[GregR]

$191.10 or so US before shipping and stuff. I'll tally up the damage once I get all the bills from any brokerage that they may have gone through. Not sure about handling the weeds, though. For now, I'll use 'em for Solo-2 and the 2-3 Solo-1 events I plan on trying.

The Circle's are 2-piece, with a forged centre and a spun rim. Yeah, I was also thinking of going a few mm more in offset, but once I tested the rim w/o tire on the car, I had just enough clearance on the inside that going the additional 1/4" (they do offsets on 1/4"-increments) would have caused rubbing on the inside. Fenders can be rolled, but steering knuckles can't.

[roooo]

Argh .. a delay on my wheels :( May not have them for the first event if I wait for them .. another week or so. Hopefully not more than that.

Since they're blanks that are being custom drilled .. they won't have cast-in holes for the studs, they be shaved on the back pad and have inserts put in. Can anyone think of any disadvantages about that?

[Nabs]

There's alot of choices out there. I had a set of K1's and they are great. Unfortunately, they are a bit more than i wanted to pay this time around. If you check around, you can find some good 15x7 wheels. I beleive Enkei RF1's are made at 15x7 , 5x114.3 bolt pattern with a 38mm offset, and are $79 US ea. Good Luck.

[dimebeg]

I just got a set of Kosei K1, 15"X7" with 5X114.3mm bolt pattern and a +38mm offset. I ordered a +45mm offset and they set the 38. I am told that Kosei discontinued the 45 offset, so I hope you wanted the 38.

I can't lower my car now, prelude, so I'm not sure if I want them or not. I paid $240 Cdn for them and ran them at the Waterford hills event. Thats it. I might sell them if I can find another rim for around the same price soon. Would you be interested in them? Like I said, I only ran them once and I will unmount the tire and clean the rubber from the tire off for ya. Let me know what you think.

[Taylor]

$240 each right? Otherwise I want them. :)

[dimebeg]

Originally posted by Taylor
$240 each right? Otherwise I want them. :)

Yes, $240 each. Sorry, I thought that was obvious.

[Taylor]

I thought the smiley was obvious too.

[GregR]

Originally posted by dimebeg
I just got a set of Kosei K1, 15"X7" with 5X114.3mm bolt pattern and a +38mm offset. I ordered a +45mm offset and they set the 38. I am told that Kosei discontinued the 45 offset, so I hope you wanted the 38.

I can't lower my car now, prelude, so I'm not sure if I want them or not. I paid $240 Cdn for them and ran them at the Waterford hills event. Thats it. I might sell them if I can find another rim for around the same price soon. Would you be interested in them? Like I said, I only ran them once and I will unmount the tire and clean the rubber from the tire off for ya. Let me know what you think.

I'm assuming 5th Gen Prelude since it's a 5x114.3? I'm running 15x8's in a +38 offset on my '99 SH, lowered with H&R "Race" springs, and 225/45-15 rubber. Needs to have the fenders rolled or cut slightly, but if you have a smaller drop [mine is 1.8"/2.0"], then I don't think you'd be running into too many problems. Are you running 225/50-15's on the rims?

[dimebeg]

Originally posted by GregR
I'm assuming 5th Gen Prelude since it's a 5x114.3? I'm running 15x8's in a +38 offset on my '99 SH, lowered with H&R "Race" springs, and 225/45-15 rubber. Needs to have the fenders rolled or cut slightly, but if you have a smaller drop [mine is 1.8"/2.0"], then I don't think you'd be running into too many problems. Are you running 225/50-15's on the rims?

Yes I'm running 225/50/15. And I want to stay away from rolling the fenders if I can.

[Dave]

GregR, where'd you get your 15x8 K1's? Tirerack? I wouldn't mind getting a set of those!

[GregR]

My 15x8's aren't K1's - they're the Circle Racing ones. Sorry - I should have spec'd that in the previous post. You may have seen the white #10 Prelude at the ProSolo with the shiny rims - that's them!

[Dave]

GregR, my bad, I realized after posting that your rims weren't K1's as I recalled looking at them at the ProSolo. So those are Circle Racing rims! Excellent, it's all making sense for me now :)

[roooo]

Yee-haw ... K1's have arrived.

[roooo]

Have to bump this ...

Stupid quesiton about lug nuts.

Anyone have problems using the stock 21 mm lug nuts? Did you have to get tuner/racing lug nuts?

Or is a thin-walled socket driver enough to fit? Because my emergency wrench thing certainly is too big to be able to put the nuts on.

I could get the 7-sided ones but I'm also worried about the driver for those being too big to fit.

Any help before Saturday morning would be appreciated ;)

[Dave]

My K1's came with tuner nuts that a regular 17mm socket or spinner fits on just fine. But I think the base shape of the lug nuts that came with the K1's are a bit different than the acorn style OE nuts.

[roooo]

Hmm ...

[Marsh]

Originally posted by Dave
My K1's came with tuner nuts that a regular 17mm socket or spinner fits on just fine. But I think the base shape of the lug nuts that came with the K1's are a bit different than the acorn style OE nuts.

The seat on the K1 is a standard tapered seat. Tire Rack ships those crap 17mm nuts with all their rimse, because they mostly sell to *****s and the deep set holes won't accept a 19mm socket. This isn't a problem on the K1, but Tire Rack doesn't seem to care, since the nuts cost them a few pennies each. I've since pitched the 17mm in favour of 19mm open nuts. I don't have to change socket now and the 17 mm constantly cross thread, due to the fact that they were cheap $h!t!

[roooo]

Definitely doesn't work with my stock short 21 mm lugs.
Have to skip the PITL event today and do some shopping.

Oh ya, thanks for the quick replies.

[Dave]

interesting about the 17mm nuts, Marsh. I've never had a problem with them cross-threading or anything like that, but I agree it is a pain that they're a different size that stock nuts. Still, it was nice of TireRack to throw them in since I didn't have any tapered nuts without them (the stock Honda nuts are all acorn style, are they not?)

[Marsh]

Originally posted by Dave
interesting about the 17mm nuts, Marsh. I've never had a problem with them cross-threading or anything like that, but I agree it is a pain that they're a different size that stock nuts. Still, it was nice of TireRack to throw them in since I didn't have any tapered nuts without them (the stock Honda nuts are all acorn style, are they not?)

Yes, the Honda nuts, and VW nuts are all spherical seat. By the sounds of it, so are Mazda. I have to use different lugs for streat and race rims, but finding lugs for the K1's is easy. Any performance shop has lots.

[roooo]

Fortunately BC Auto had something in stock for me. All done spending for quite a while. Time to live off ramen and KD.

http://www.stasis.org/~rowan/images/protege-mp3/KoseiK1Racing/PassengerSideOffset.jpg