The new wheels just came in...
12-06-2011, 12:06 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
The new wheels just came in...
I had placed the order so long ago (back in Auguest) - that I'd just about forgot about these things all together...
I came home from work this evening, just in time to see a UPS truck pull up to the house.
My wheels had finally arrived!!
I've loved the design of the FM5's ever since I first laid eyes on them. Always thought they were one of the nicest aftermarket wheels ever built even 'till this day. I remember thinking to myself, when the day came that I finally owned a C4 of my own, these were the wheels I was going to get. Their smooth, clean, elegant, and understated design flow with the lines of the C4 better than any other wheel I've ever seen, in my opinion.
Yeah, they cost an arm and a leg to buy, which means they're probably not for everyone. For the cost of just one single Fikse rim, you can buy a complete set of C5/C6 aftermarket repo's, but take my word for it, they're worth every penny.
From every angle, these wheels are an absolute work of art.
I've yet to decide which tire combo to go with, but once I figure it out, I'll be sure to update the thread with further pic's. I won't be running the new wheels until the spring time (I'll just keep driving with my current ZR-1's for now) but I'll be test fitting them over the weekend to make sure everythings the way it should be.
Big thanks goes out to everyone at Fikse, but in particular, Danny Goll, who took the time to answer all of my questions so quickly and thoroughly as well as keeping me informed on the progess of the order. It may have taken forever, but the weight was well worth it.
For anyone interested, here's some info on the wheels and the size/spec's they were ordered in for my particular application.
---
Vehicle: 1992 Corvette
Wheel Manufacturer: Fikse
Model: Classic Series FM5
Front wheel dimensions: 18 x 9.5
Rear wheel dimensions: 18 x 11
Offset front: 57mm
Offset rear: 57mm
Front lip: 1"
Rear lip: 2"
Construction: 3 piece rotary forged aluminum
Finish: Race satin center/mirror polished outer lip
Front wheel weight: 21.040 lbs (x2)
Rear wheel weight: 21.140 lbs (x2)
Total Weight: 84.36 lbs
---
The ZR1 wheels that I'm running now (17x9.5/17.11) weigh 28 lbs/30 lbs respectively. Total weight for the ZR-1's is 116 lbs.
The new FM5's weigh only 84.36 lbs total. That's a weight savings of just over 31lbs. 31+ pounds of rotating mass at that, which is a pretty significant weight reduction.
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Update:
The new tires just came in. I was going to wait until spring to buy them but I figured what the hell, may as well get it over and done with. Tire selection for 315/30/18 isn't as plentiful as I would have thought, but there's still far more choice than what was available for the old 315/35/17's.
I'm currently running Kumho XS tires and was planning on choosing them again for the new wheels but for whatever reason, I couldn't find 275/35/18 (for the fronts) anywhere. Everybody has them listed on back-order with no due-date in sight.
Haven't had too good an experience with Pirelli's in the past and I'm not a huge fan of Yokohama's. Nitto's and Sumito's run way too thin for my liking and Michelin's PS2 design is older than dirt and there performance has long since been surpassed by other (newer) designs from competing brands, so I passed on them as well.
BFGoodrich only has drag radials in 315 size and since I'm not willing to give up handling ability for straight line traction, so the BF drag radials were passed over as well.
This left me with only a few brands remaining. After doing some research, I ended up going with the new Falken Azenis RT-615K. Never run Falken's before, so I'm curious to see if they perform as well as I've read. Best pricing I could find was $1574 for the set which consists of (2) 275/35/18 and (2) 315/30/18 sized tires. As usual, I ordered them from the US as Canadian pricing would be literally HUNDREDS of dollars more expensive.
As many of you know, tire sizing varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Not all sizes are created equally as some tires run much wider (or thinner) than other brands supposedly the same size. I'll be measuring these Falkens later, but just from looking at them, they appear to be pretty much identical to the Kumho XS tires I have on the car now in terms of width's, and those Kumho's were within millimeters of the GoodYear GSD3's I used to run prior to that.
So basically it's safe to say that these Falkens run nice and FAT.
I'll post pic's of all three (GoodYear GSD3/Kumho XS/Falken 615k) 315's side by side to give a visual as to how they compare (width wise) to one and other so stay tuned.
Oh, by the way, the new Falkens shave off a total of 5.11 lbs of weight over the old Kumho's.
Total weight saved with the new wheels and tires is aprox. 36 lbs compared to the 17" ZR1 wheel/Kumho tire combo.
Not too shabby.
UPDATE:
Finally got around to mounting everything up. Here's what the car looks like now with the FM5's.
I came home from work this evening, just in time to see a UPS truck pull up to the house.
My wheels had finally arrived!!
I've loved the design of the FM5's ever since I first laid eyes on them. Always thought they were one of the nicest aftermarket wheels ever built even 'till this day. I remember thinking to myself, when the day came that I finally owned a C4 of my own, these were the wheels I was going to get. Their smooth, clean, elegant, and understated design flow with the lines of the C4 better than any other wheel I've ever seen, in my opinion.
Yeah, they cost an arm and a leg to buy, which means they're probably not for everyone. For the cost of just one single Fikse rim, you can buy a complete set of C5/C6 aftermarket repo's, but take my word for it, they're worth every penny.
From every angle, these wheels are an absolute work of art.
I've yet to decide which tire combo to go with, but once I figure it out, I'll be sure to update the thread with further pic's. I won't be running the new wheels until the spring time (I'll just keep driving with my current ZR-1's for now) but I'll be test fitting them over the weekend to make sure everythings the way it should be.
Big thanks goes out to everyone at Fikse, but in particular, Danny Goll, who took the time to answer all of my questions so quickly and thoroughly as well as keeping me informed on the progess of the order. It may have taken forever, but the weight was well worth it.
For anyone interested, here's some info on the wheels and the size/spec's they were ordered in for my particular application.
---
Vehicle: 1992 Corvette
Wheel Manufacturer: Fikse
Model: Classic Series FM5
Front wheel dimensions: 18 x 9.5
Rear wheel dimensions: 18 x 11
Offset front: 57mm
Offset rear: 57mm
Front lip: 1"
Rear lip: 2"
Construction: 3 piece rotary forged aluminum
Finish: Race satin center/mirror polished outer lip
Front wheel weight: 21.040 lbs (x2)
Rear wheel weight: 21.140 lbs (x2)
Total Weight: 84.36 lbs
---
The ZR1 wheels that I'm running now (17x9.5/17.11) weigh 28 lbs/30 lbs respectively. Total weight for the ZR-1's is 116 lbs.
The new FM5's weigh only 84.36 lbs total. That's a weight savings of just over 31lbs. 31+ pounds of rotating mass at that, which is a pretty significant weight reduction.
..................Update:
The new tires just came in. I was going to wait until spring to buy them but I figured what the hell, may as well get it over and done with. Tire selection for 315/30/18 isn't as plentiful as I would have thought, but there's still far more choice than what was available for the old 315/35/17's.
I'm currently running Kumho XS tires and was planning on choosing them again for the new wheels but for whatever reason, I couldn't find 275/35/18 (for the fronts) anywhere. Everybody has them listed on back-order with no due-date in sight.
Haven't had too good an experience with Pirelli's in the past and I'm not a huge fan of Yokohama's. Nitto's and Sumito's run way too thin for my liking and Michelin's PS2 design is older than dirt and there performance has long since been surpassed by other (newer) designs from competing brands, so I passed on them as well.
BFGoodrich only has drag radials in 315 size and since I'm not willing to give up handling ability for straight line traction, so the BF drag radials were passed over as well.
This left me with only a few brands remaining. After doing some research, I ended up going with the new Falken Azenis RT-615K. Never run Falken's before, so I'm curious to see if they perform as well as I've read. Best pricing I could find was $1574 for the set which consists of (2) 275/35/18 and (2) 315/30/18 sized tires. As usual, I ordered them from the US as Canadian pricing would be literally HUNDREDS of dollars more expensive.
As many of you know, tire sizing varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Not all sizes are created equally as some tires run much wider (or thinner) than other brands supposedly the same size. I'll be measuring these Falkens later, but just from looking at them, they appear to be pretty much identical to the Kumho XS tires I have on the car now in terms of width's, and those Kumho's were within millimeters of the GoodYear GSD3's I used to run prior to that.
So basically it's safe to say that these Falkens run nice and FAT.
I'll post pic's of all three (GoodYear GSD3/Kumho XS/Falken 615k) 315's side by side to give a visual as to how they compare (width wise) to one and other so stay tuned.
Oh, by the way, the new Falkens shave off a total of 5.11 lbs of weight over the old Kumho's.
Total weight saved with the new wheels and tires is aprox. 36 lbs compared to the 17" ZR1 wheel/Kumho tire combo.
Not too shabby.
UPDATE:
Finally got around to mounting everything up. Here's what the car looks like now with the FM5's.
Last edited by LT1*C4; 04-29-2012 at 02:58 PM.
12-06-2011, 06:09 AM
#5
Le Mans Master
Nice, I remember the day when my Fikses arrived. They are much nicer in person than any pics can lead on. I did however opt for the other center caps....the ones that say forged on them.
Those things look amazing! Cant wait to see em on the vette!
12-06-2011, 11:09 AM
#11
1994 Admiral Blue ZZZZZR1
18' FM5's are the best wheel for a corvette!!!
Congrats!
Congrats!
x2
12-06-2011, 12:58 PM
#16
Banned Loser
Member Since: Aug 2009
Location: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
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2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
12-06-2011, 01:00 PM
#17
Banned Loser
Member Since: Aug 2009
Location: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
Posts: 52,806
Received 248 Likes
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114 Posts
2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
Nice wheels LT1, those are going to look sweet on your vette! 
12-06-2011, 02:34 PM
#18
Racer
LT1*C4. You're killing me. I always follow your detailed posts. I'm still getting my head around your electric water pump and ARH headers for a project sometime in the future and now you come up with these killer wheels. I can't begin to keep up. Pictures after the install are a must. Peter
