Squidward

sunlight silver metallic

Squidward

brilliant black clearcoat

Digisan

I think the polished aluminum looks the best.

Nice work Squidward.

D-san

sun stroke

Great job Squidward!

I am going to have to agree, silver does look the best. Although, the gunmetal looks pretty good on the brighter colors blue, yellow, and red.

Kuf

Wow squidward's photoshop skills far surpass mine!!! Nice job! :D

I actually like the gunmetal better. To each his own.

Speed Racer

Paul,
The more that I see the wheels the more I like the design but I do have a couple of suggestions.

First the shell looks a little thick where the tire seats. Is there any way to reduce the height of this lip without compromising the strength of the wheel?

Also instead of painting a blue Yaw Power logo why don't you try to mill the logo into one of the spokes. We use this technique on one of our upscale torches and I think it looks pretty good.

yawpower

What the hell was I thinking???

I just posted pics of the wheels on the car in natural aluminum, and they look completely different!

I like them MUCH better. They look bigger, and the lip dimension doesn't stand out anymore.

The fasteners even look better. At least I think so.

The rim shells are brushed just like before. I tried something a bit different on the centers, and I like the way it turned out.

We have an automatic blast cabinet here used for removing paint, carbon, etc. from engine parts. Instead of glass beads, we use stainless steel shot. The shot gives it a nice shiny look, and it is dimpled slightly. The dimples are small enough that it looks like sparkles in metallic paint. You really don't notice that it is dimpled unless you get right up next to it.

The cabinet is automated, so the process is quick, and that will probably be our standard finish.

We will engrave the logo as seen in the Hypertherm picture. Originally I thought that a splash of color would look cool, but I think you guys have the right idea. It looks a bit too trendy for a classy car like the RX-8.

We will get some professional photos taken, but we might make a few more pieces with the logo engraved, and possibly change the fasteners before we do that. That could take a few weeks.

If anyone in Phoenix would like to see the wheels on a different color car, let me know. We can arrange to have you come by, and swap them on to your car.

We are targeting November 15th for a ship date.

I'll get back with you guys next week with more details. I have to run for now.

Please let me know what you think, and thanks for all of the input. It has been a big help, and we can offer you a better product because of it.

yawpower

Forgot the link!

http://www.yawpower.com/wheels.html

Speed Racer

Paul,
I really like the silver finish because it makes the details of the wheel more apparent. Good job!

The next time you are taking pictures can you get a close-up of the wheels so we can see what the dimpled finish looks like? Thanks!

mikeb

thanks squiward for all the colors

Efini 8

its cool that they have a rx8 specific wheel and all, but the price ?
The weight 3 lbs lighter, so 19lbs since stock wheels are approx. 22.5lbs without tires. Volk racing forged alloy wheels are race proven and look better. Props for makin those rims and all to Yaw Power, but I went Volk TE-37s cuz they are the 19lbs and extremely awesome lookin wheels.

M-ster

You probably would have miss the 'click here for more pix' link, any way here's the close up.

M-ster

The price was mentioned in one of the other thread. I think it's somewhere around $580. (per piece of course)

Good Duck

This wheel reminds me of the RX-1 wheel.

From BryanH site:
RX-1 Wheel

mikeb

580 is steep IMO

Squidward

well not really if you consider that these rims are designed specifically around the RX8's requirements. I would expect it to be pricer for that reason alone, much less the fact that they are exceed the OEM specs by being lighter and more rigid.

sun stroke

I think Squidward is right most of the wheels I have looked at start at about this price range. Add to these wheels the fact that they are engineered for racing performance (much stronger) and they seem like a pretty good deal. I was reading another thread where they were talking about race wheels that cost around $900 a piece.

mikeb

you guys make some good points
but its still 2400 without tires

Squidward

2400 is alot of money to spend, especially wheels, no doubting you there.. but as a comparison, the YP's are within an 'expected' price range, when compared to competing wheels of the same caliber...

SleepR1

yawpower,

What's the widest wheel/tire combo that will fit up front? I'm thinking 9 x 18 with 255/40-18 with a 40 to 45 mm offset? I see you're offering the 9.5 x 18 with 255/40-18 in back. I'd like to run same width wheels/tires all around, to preserve the wonderful handling (ie, NOT add additional understeer by going with skinnier wheels/tires up front). FWIW, I completely agree that 19s add no performance advantage over the stock 18s. BTW, what wheel/tire combo are you running on the Speed World Challenge Rx8?

ProToolsKid

I like them they look really clean I would compare these in quality to an HRE 5 series w/ the stepped lip. I kinda wanted a straight but I understand that you cant do the straight lip with the sensors and I'm not about to give them up. The $500-$600 pricetag isn't bad at all since I paid $4000 for my HRE's that are made the same way. I want to see them with a high polished finish tho and a different center design I'd like to see a 5 or 9 spoke design too next to the mesh look.

Also will you offer replacment parts so if we curb a lip or crack the inner barrel, on a crappy downtown pothole, we can order a new lip or barrel and pull the wheel apart and replace ourself. I would definitely like to see an 18x9 or 18x9.5 size too. Not a fan of 19's anymore


Don't want you to bite off HRE's designs but something like these for the centers



I had these on my old car and loved the design...


These are kinda european looking!!!

yawpower

Thanks for the input Pro Tools

"I want to see them with a high polished finish"

We will offer them polished for an additional charge.

"a different center design"

We have plans for a second design, similar to the last picture you show, but that is a ways off.

"Also will you offer replacment parts"

We will have replacement parts, but you will have to send the wheel in for repair. We don't want someone to put their own wheel together and ignore the torque sequence, or assemble them with an uncalibrated torque wrench, etc.

If the wheel has been damaged, we want to inspect the center and be sure that whatever bent the rim didn't damage or weaken the center section.

"I would definitely like to see an 18x9 or 18x9.5 size too"

We are working on fitment of the larger wheel right now, with the goal being the largest wheel/tire combo that will fit the car with no interference.

We looked at a 5 or 6 spoke design because I have always really liked the look. While doing stress analysis, we found that in the case of a 3 piece wheel, we had to make the outer edge of the center quite thick to give support between the spokes. The end result was a fairly high moment of inertia.

I'm not saying that HRE or anyone else is building a bad wheel by using a 5 spoke. It's just that in our case, we set a fairly high standard for rigidity, and to achieve that with a 5 spoke, we ended up with too much weight at the outer perimeter.

We designed the wheel to work well in a racing environment, and that had quite an effect on our priorities.

Hopefully we have met our performance goals, and designed a piece that is unique, and visually appealing to most potential customers.

I really appreciate you taking the time to post the pics, and offer input. If you have any further questions, just let me know.

ProToolsKid

I'll take the Wheel center design of the last pic in 18x9 all around

SleepR1

Oh, I like it. It will great on a silver 8. 9.5 x 18 with 255/40-18 S-03s for me

yawpower

We're trying real hard to make the 255/40 on a 9.5 fit front and rear. It's a piece of cake with stock ride height, but clearances get tight when the car is lowered.

Right now I'm 90% sure that it will work. When I say work, I mean lowered or not, and no rubbing.

Thanks again for the input.