Didn't know where else to put this. I saw a tire section but no wheel section.
So Hopefully the interested owners will see this.

I chose the 547 R'S for my C5 over the 547's because of the "R" design. Basically, the R series eliminates the 1" lip seen on the Non-R series. The result is a somewhat more aggressive appearance as the spokes extend 1 more inch than the standard 547's. They also have a larger center diameter. So an 18" wheel essentially looks like a 19" wheel. This was very apparent when I was picking up my car at 21STCENTURY MUSCLECAR. As we lined up a 547 which J.P had in stock next to my mounted 547R, it was very obvious that the R was more aggressive and looked like a bigger wheel (Of course I visually saw this in a picture). In fact, HRE told me that the spokes of an 18" R
wheel are that of a 19" standard wheel.

Now for a few drawbacks, most of which I was aware of before the decision.

1. TIRE SENSORS

Forget about them. Initially, There were a couple different opinions from
HRE regarding C5 tire sensors on the R wheels. One stated that the R wheels are not compatible. Another stated that although thats true, the sensors can be banded. With that in mind, HRE suggested that J.P mail the sensors to them and they would banded the sensors on to my wheels before shipment. The problem is the sensors came loose the very first day! Sounded like coke cans were ratling around in my wheels. And I was lucky that it happened immediately rather than driving on the Highway back home. The tires needed to be dismounted and the sensors removed which I was perfectly willing to accept anyway. Heck, if the Z06 guys don't need them, I too could do without them

2. CENTER CAPS

The R series wheels are very new. In fact, HRE said I was one of the first
547 R customers for a C5. When inserting the caps, J.P. noticed that one wheel was not quite machine perfected as one would think for the cap going into that wheel did not fit. Different caps were tried and it was that wheel which gave problems to every cap. SO the cap had to be modified
to fit. You may or may not encounter a similar issue


3. MOUNTING

Quoting HRE, the R series are a bitch to mount as they have no lipped edge and one must lubricate the hell out of them. Along with that I had BFG KD tires, the most non-pliable tire out there which really complicated things. Expect mounting on R series wheels to cost more if the people know what hey are in store for. You are best not to reveal anything.


4. ALLIGNMENTS

No lip means the most common allignment machine cannot grip between the tire and wheel. There are machines out there that have plastic cups which line up against the wheel but use clamps that clamp on to the tire itself rather than the wheel (as on the other machines.) Now not every place has this machine but there are some that do. Fortunately, Kerri Lingnefelter use to work at a Porsche Dealership (close to their business) who encounter exotic cars and wheels all the time and therefore had the necessery machine.
My car is also lowered and before the mod I had trouble finding places who would attempt to get my car on their rack. Once again, however, this did not present a problem to the Porsche Dealership either as they seem encounter this stuff l the time.

The price was $169, which isn't bad for a 4 wheel alignment on a lowered car with $4500 wheels. But the best part came when I picked up the car at the Porsche Dealership. I observed Technicians and a prospective Porsche buyer looking at the Lingnefelter Twin Turbo setup and admiring the Twin turbo fuel rail covers. They were also admiring the wheels That alone was worth the $169 price.

What I have spelled out most likely applies to all R series and not the just the
547R's. If you still desire an R model, you should be aware of the minor drawbacks. With that said, I would not chose the other route. The R's are a very cool design and in the case of 547', I feel the 547R is the most beauitful wheel ever to be mounted on a sports car. They especially look beauitful on 911's as you can see on the HRE WEBSITE.

Hope this helsp people who are interested in the HRE R series.

 

Nice choice of wheels. :cheers:

 

:cool: thanks for the writeup :cheers:

 

Interesting.

For the sensors, they should have been glued/epoxied to the wheel first, and then band clamped. The clamp screw loctited, and the band itself also glued to the wheel in a few places to keep it from loosening. Any threaded fitting on a wheel should be loctited, including threaded valve stems, or they will loosen.

The cneter cap issue sounds like a machining error. Would not consider that to be the norm, and very surprising considering HRE's quality standards.

The mounting...hmmm. BFG's are far from the most rigid tires, in fact they are quite soft to give the added traction they provide. Any variety of a runflat will be far more rigid. Installers ALWAYS bitch about low-profile tires, and I'm definitely not looking forward to carrying in my 30 series 19/20's to get mounted.

The big question is....WHERES THE PICS?! :D We wanna see these :cool: wheels on your car!!

:cheers:

 

:iagree: Let's see the pics!

 

TNT C5...

Is that pic from Tucson Arizona?? Looks like the top of skyline drive in the tucson foothills....hmmmm :cheers:

 

Please----Pics.! I bet they're superb! :cheers: :chevy :flag :chevy :flag

 

:cry Pics please!

 

I'll have some pics by the end of the week. after driving 1400 miles, I'm retsing in between wash-coats! Meanwhile, below are some pics that were takem before the car was picked up. I htink there are acouple of wheel shots although they do them no justice. I'll make sure to have some good close-ups.

http://<a href="http://forums.corvet...?id=484522</a>

 

Mark, awesome.

Can we meet up either this coming weekend or the next one? I would love to get a ride in your car and see the wheels first hand.

 

Sure, we could probably do it this weekend. I still have some cleaning to do after the long drive home. E-mail me and we'll set up a time.

 

Perfect!! I will e-mail you soon.
Thanks.

 

:cheers: