Hey everyone, I wanted to share a recent project of mine. I've always aspired to own a set of HRE wheels for my c5z. About 2 years ago I found some in Reno, NV and decided to make the plunge. The wheels were very rough. Pitted polished faces and chipped chrome lips. Every single wheel had a bend in either the lip or barrel. Corroded hardware and caked in brake dust. They had sat in his backyard for at least 10 years.



Upon getting them back home, I sent an email over to HRE using the serial # on the back of the hub. They are HRE 842R wheels in 18x8.5 +42mm and 18x9.5+43mm built in 2006 for a c5 corvette.
These ended up being the perfect offsets for resizing on my z06 with new wilwood brakes.

I put in an order through american rim supply for brand new us standard reverse lips in the same sizes. The lip offsets almost perfectly match oem c5z wheels. After waiting on the front barrels for over 8 months I decided to use a different supplier and upsize a half inch to avoid further delay. I used triangle hard alloys for the barrels.


I spent a few days creating a custom jig to mount the lips and polished them to perfection. I then gave the faces a quick sand to clean them up. I also got new HRE center caps.



Upon getting all the parts ready I decided to fully polish the wheels instead of going with brushed clear on the faces and barrels.
I found a custom powdercoating shop in Simi Valley that specializes in ceramic polishing. I got the faces done in a ceramic polish and had the inner barrels professionally polished. Everything was then clear powdercoated for a lack of maintenance and rock chips. Gas Powercoating is the shop name, they were great to work with. Very reasonable pricing.




After picking up all the parts I fully dissaembled them to ceramic coat the faces and lips as I cannot access the valley between them once bolted together. I also bought 160 brand new chrome m8 12pt bolts and washers.



Up next was the most important step that alot of 3 piece wheel owners skip. This is ensuring that the 3 floating pieces have the lowest total raidal runout possible. I created a steel fixture utilizing an old wheel hub all welded together for measuring the runout. The fixture ensured less than .001" flex using my dial gauge. I then spent TWO DAYS, not kidding, combing the best arrangement of parts to get the lowest possible raidal and axial runout. I'm pretty proud that all 4 wheels have less than .016" total radial runout on the lips and barrels. HRE specifies .020".


I then torqued all 40 bolts for each wheel to 22lb-ft and rechecked the runout as it was prone to move with a clamp load. Up next was sealing the joint where the barrels/lips meet. I used the same hub fixture mounted to a vertical steel beam to apply my silicone sealant. I used dow corning 733 as it provided the best adhesion to plastics, powdercoat is essentially plastic. It is also a neutral alcohol vapor cure, so zero chance for corrosion.




With the wheels all assembled, I put them up on the car to ensure proper valve stem clearances. I cannot run the inside valve stem/TPMS hole as it interferes with my stainless lines. I used a plug there and put the stem in the barrel. Very tight clearence on my front arms at full extension and rear fender liner.






After resizing, the wheels are now 18x10 +61mm in the front and 18x11 +62mm in the rear, perfect flush fitment for a z06. I am now at the last step which is mounting tires. I am running a 265/35/18 and 295/35/18 combo to match oem z06 diameters. Tires are continental extreme contact sport 02s.

I just wanted to share my project as I have at least 100hrs plus into this ordeal. I hope this can help or inspire others. Thanks for reading.

 

Exceptionally nice work, Todd. Those width/offset combos should work like a champ.

I've always wanted to do something, like that. Got a link for the new hoops?

 

Americanrimsupply.com is where I got the lips. Unfortunately all of their stock is out and production is halted. Hence my 8 month hold up.

Triangle Hard Alloys has vendors through wheelflip.com and amcrimhalves.com. unfortunately their stock is low and they might be going out of business soon. Sad to see.

 

These are the project types I really enjoy. Someone able to go full effort to make the pieces right again. Great job.

 

That is concerning news, Todd.

 

Outstanding work and a damn good looking set of wheels. I for one would be interested in seeing the completed project and them mounted on the car.

 

Looks great, definitely a lot of work. Good choice on going wider.
What was your overall cost?
I have some HRE's that need to be refinished, and a couple slight bends. I called HRE during covid, and the lead time plus the cost was ridiculous.
I could buy a nice set of new wheels for the cost for them to refinish, they also recommended not to use them at the time, due to the lead times on the rims.

 

The cost all depends on whether they are standard or reverse mount and their sizing. Outer lips range from 100 to $150 and inner barrels are 200 to $250 each. Hardware if not stainless already is about $250.

Finish options also also a big cost but dependent on what you already have and want to change. I'm a little over $1800 for just wheel halves. I spent about $400 for new caps and hardware.

If you want some help for finding the right parts to order, shoot me a DM of the wheels and their sizes so I can see if they have anything in stock.

 

Thanks, probably will be a while before I do something with them. I'll probably just have the local wheel place redo them, they quoted $250 per wheel, to disassemble, fix lips, media tumble polish, powder coat 2 different colors, clear, reassemble and seal. It was 3 years ago, so I'm sure the price increased some.
They are HRE 541's, 3 piece, just bare aluminum, no clear etc.

 

$250 per wheel is really cheap, for that amount of work.

 

That's what I thought too, compared to the cost listed above, and especially compared to HRE. I spoke to the owner, who also did the quote, and he said he didn't like doing the multipiece wheels because of the sealing, and almost always has to seal them again, so he factored in that for the pricing. He is a Corvette owner, so that may have helped. Whenever I go back, I might get a very different price, but still have the paper quote he gave me to negotiate with. They have very good reviews, and do a lot of work for dealers too.

 

Well here it is, took 4 weeks to find a suitable shop to mount the tires. I had to drive 4 hrs south into LA to a exotic specialty shop named Boden Autohaus.

They have perfect clearance to the inner fender liners and suspension. Balanced out with minimal weight. Fitment is exactly what I wanted, perfectly flush.

Everything is ceramic coated. I still am going to dial in my ride height before my alignment, I've had both subframes out the car recently. Overall I am very pleased with the results.

 

Beautiful! Great job on the wheels.

 

Looks great. What seats do you have?

 

Corbeau A4 in nappa leather.

 

Awesome job brother. I have a 2002 Z06 in beautiful Electron Blue as well.

Seeing your thread couldn't have come at a better time. I am in need of lips and possibly barrels and had no clue where to look. I have a set of 3-piece iForged wheels and the chrome is peeling and causing corrosion to where the tire is now beginning to loose air.

I am in Maryland and no one here touches chrome. I will reach out to American Rim and see what they can help me with.

 

Thanks Joe, I would start with calling Wheel Flip based in LA as he sources through Triangle Hard Alloys. This website shows their current inventory.
https://www.amcrimhalves.com/inventory.php

 

Thank you for that!

 

OK, I thought they might be, but look better than the ones I have seen. I guess you attached the Z06 logo?
How do they feel?

 

Quality is great, but without the shaved base option they sit rather high. Snug fit for a smaller body size, definitely not big boy friendly. They are awesome for holding you in place while cornering.