Thats right I just couldn't let go could I! Seriously though when I was on a search for a half decent set of wheels for the Civic as soon as I got it I really wasn't thinking a set of splits, let alone BBS were anywhere near in my price range. I had all sorts of ideas crawling about in my head knew they'd have to be 16's and at least 8's wide to get a half decent stance.
My search began and I was pretty much dead set on a set of Rota's indentical to Will's but in a 16x8. That was until I decided to search 5x114 on Edition38's wheel section of the for sale forum's. Turns out although there wasn't loads a few sets of RS's cropped up which people didn't seem to be remotely interested in! After spotting the set I knew I needed due to the friendly offsets and high convient widths (way I saw it was rather have to space them out then run silly tyres and arch work to suit.) I made a ridiculous offer which was of course turned down but after a bit of haggling back and fouth I we came to an agreed price and I carted myself riding solo to Northampton and back one Thursday evening.
When I arrived at the fella's house and he showed me the wheels I was genuinely shocked, the pictures he had posted in his for sale thread did the wheels no justice whatsoever! They were a really clean, untouched set which was good news indeed. I got them home and left them untouched for a month or so apart from a quick trial fit to either prove or disprove my fitment theory. This went well just flagging up that spacers of around 10mm would be required for the rears in order to clear the trailing arms. These fine H&R items went on order at Regal Autosport whilst I began the monumental task of splitting the wheels bolt by bolt by hand.
I got one wheel done and I was teetering on the edge of self destruction, it really wasn't any fun. So I spoke to a mate of mine and arranged an evening to borrow his compressor and windy gun. The two of us got the remaining 3x wheels split in 15 minutes, I now felt alot better about myself! Then I began making enquires about having the lips polished, due to my Dad's silly second car living in the garage I had no room to DIY them but after a few phone calls I found a company that had done alot of work for a mate of mine. He called them and let them know I was going to be calling in at some point and upon my arrival they offered me a very competitive cash price for now just all four lips but the hex caps too! I handed over the bits and was told to come back in a week to collect the finished articles.
A week passed and I returned to collect the bits, they'd done a ridiculously good job for the money I spent with them so I was rather chuffed! Now I just had the task of rebuilding them. Once again I spoke to my mate with the compressor and commisioned that for the task, using the air ratchet this time rather than the windy gun as reserch told me they didn't need to be done up that tight, all siliconed up we bolted them back together which went supringly well, then checked each bolt with the torque wrench to make sure we'd done them properly. The job was infact done which I was pleased about as we hand't had too much trouble and the day that I fully finished them after applying the second coat of silicone my tyres that I'd ordered showed up! Massively convient if you ask me!
So Saturday morning I set my alarm to get up nice and early and go get the tyres mounted, but I overslept, after a quick trawl around town no-one wanted to even attempt fitting them, so I rang a place called Pro-Tyre in Fareham who said they'd take a look at least, on arrival I was greeted by a super friendly "Fuck off mate" by the resident tyre fitter, who started grinning instantly and told me he's seen "far worse!" This was good news and he set about mouting them with the trusted Bead Cheater. Straight on no issues so I handed over my money for their services and headed home for a Trial fit.
To my relief they fitted and pretty well if I do say so myself, considering I'd trawled though all manner of internet infromation on EK Civic wheel fitment and found no-one in the world that was running similar spec's to these! The front needs winding down but that was on the cars for this week anyway since I mounted the 195/50's to standard front wheels over the 55's it came with. The rear arches need fettling but again I was convinced this would be the case as the rear lips as standard are massive rivaling that of early Volkswagens! All in all it was a success and I'm quite excited to hit the last few shows of this season with them mounted properly all being well! Lets see how I get on with that anyway, maybe see you at Edition38 or Players? Who knows because I sure as hell don't!
on March 21, 2011, 9:34 pm