Progress On Street Cars

6:31 AM
I bought some wheels I shouldn't have. 

Volk Racing wheels are highly sought Japanese wheels known for their strength, light weight, and quality manufacturing. New Volks are expensive to import and demand draws premium prices for them used. Several companies make replicas but they just don’t meet the standard set by authentic Volks.

The Volk TE37 is a nearly iconic wheel. The simple six spoke design is elegant and bold. It is a favorite wheel at the track.

The TE37 Cup edition was only produced for a few years. Its spoke surface has a unique, almost spherical, dish shape that is quite distinct. Once I saw photos of the Cups I felt they would be the best looking wheel for an AW11 MR2.

I started obsessing over these limited, rare, highly engineered, and great looking wheels. I regretted letting a few used sets get away from me, but then I found a competitively price set that had never been mounted. A couple weeks later UPS dropped a new set of Volk Racing TE37 Cups at my door. The dimensions are 15 by 7 inch, 43mm offset, 4x100 hole pattern, silver finish with a machined rim. On the scale they were a bit heavier than I expected, 12.4 pounds, but I’m still thrilled.

I haven’t bought tires yet, but was excited to see how they looked so I photoshopped them onto my street car.

Ray's Engineering Volk TE37 Cup Edition, 15x7".
The photochop job is amateur.
I’m a little embarrassed that I spent what I did for these, but have no remorse. I think people spend some silly money on wheels of questionable performance or aesthetic value, but these are undeniably great for all purposes. A bit excessive but I love them.  


In other news, the DOT.MATRIX is all blue now. Some graphics will complete this paint job soon. The rattle can finish is a little uneven in places, but what the hell. It's a beater. I spent a couple days driving it around with no driver's door or front fender. People seemed to love seeing that on the street and I got cat-calls and thumbs up everywhere I went. It was fun, but ultimately terrifying to be that exposed in traffic. 



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