The Cal-look Lounge

Trying to decide on which direction to go with a set of wheels.
Love the simplicity of Centerlines, but then always been a fan of BRM's!

Did some photoshopping to help decide. What do you think??

[attachment=2]

I don't post much on forums but am regularly snooping around to see whats going on in here.

Thanks for any opinions. :)

I think the chop suits the centerlines better. More race-y.

Centerlines! But not the 3.5" bubbles on the rear  ;D

Beautiful  chop, and just like your wife buy the car two pair off shoes  ;D

I have taken the bubbles of the back. Thought they would be a bit of fun in the wet! :o

It's so difficult, the wheel decision makes such a difference on a dechromed flat coloured car. I think the centrelines are suiting the overall look.

Thanks for the thoughts!

I'd go for the brms

The two tone wheels give some contrast to the lotus white paint work

I've the same colour car and tried a lot of wheel combos  ??? ;D I've now settled on og empi 8 's as the have some contrast between the grey mag and the bright polished edge

I think fully polished wheels are a bit too plain against a light coloured dechromed car

But hey it's your car and you need to be happy with it

Good luck and regards Ron

I'm with Ron, the BRM's suit a white paint job better I reckon 8)
Cheers
Kev

Fleming/Aaronson had it right all those years ago. Carry on

x2

Berm's  ;)

Thanks for all the opinions! I think Centerlines may be the way for me. Bit more purposeful and not so much the obvious choice for a street car.

Bit more photochoppin
[attachment=1]

Very nice!

That car is fantastic.  I'd go for the centerlines.

Who did the chop?  It's very, very nice.   :)

Thanks for the compliments. Simon and Shane did the chop at the Paintbox. It was an amazing process to see, it was almost a shame to paint it. I couldn't recommend them more highly.  :)

Agreed, quality work & the nicest bunch of guys you could hope to meet! I say centerlines too, looks awesome dom!
Matt

I just completed a similar wheel search last year and ended up choosing CMS wheels (they look similar to Centerlines).

The Centerlines that I looked at are quite heavy (which may not matter to you on a basic street Beetle), whereas the CMS wheels are made in two weights, both of which are much lighter.  I chose their heavier/stronger 0.190"-wall aluminum "street" wheel which weighed only 4 KG (6" width), as I like to drag race periodically and appreciate the weight savings.

Here's what the CMS looks like and they can make almost any width and backspace that you want.  They are located in California, but I found Walt Jenkins to be great to deal with and he shipped to my home in Canada without any issue.  There are also a few retail vendors who carry the CMS line:

http://www.custommetalspinning.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CMSbolttogetherwheel

Hi Neil, thanks for the link. I will drop them an email and see whats what. I am running the CSP wide 5 disk kit on the front so need to make sure the calipers clear the inner shoulder of the rim. They are nice looking wheels. :)

Walt is the MAN -- He will make your rims anyway you want --- And he even offering several differnt cutouts now that look really cool -- he custom built the Fiats rims for me

(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss306/Fiatdude/Panic9-08.jpg) (http://s586.photobucket.com/user/Fiatdude/media/Panic9-08.jpg.html)

I had a wonderful experience with Walt #1 and Walt #2 and love my CMS wheels customer service is top notch with those guys.

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/YAVE123/newrims2.jpg) (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/YAVE123/media/newrims2.jpg.html)

If it were a drag racer I'd like the Centerlines.
However, and this is coming from a Porsche alloy guy, if this is a street car I would leave the BRM's on the car. They look great with the color, suspension height, chop height, everything.
No doubt BRM's. They just work well on that car.

I´ve heard that CMS also does the Erco wheels. Any truth in that at all? Or are they spinning their own halves?

 There's only room for so many Bugs on repro BRMs! CenterLines are a classic wheel, part of the Cal Look scene (esp in the 1980s) and look very cool. Good choice!

CMS produces ERCO wheels yes.

Thanks for the input. CSP have assured me of the brake clearance with their disk kit so I think the centerlines are my safe option.

I have measured everything up taking into account rim spacing, widths and offset and think this is what would work best.

5 inch fronts with an 86mm rim space gives a +23mm offset. I think this is similar to the 20mm offset radars that are on it now which look right with 145 tyres.

6 inch rears with an 86mm rim space gives a +10 mm offset. I think this offset will push the rim out by 10mm from the radar, then the extra inch in width will push the rim out a further half inch equalling 22.7mm further than the radars in total. This leaves 10mm of clearance between the rim and arch if all the workings are correct. ???

The 3.5 inch rim only comes with a 50mm rim space creating a 5.5mm offset. i think this leaves an almost identical amount of rim on the face of the wheel as the 5 inch wheel making them look very similar.

I had no idea how many options there were when you move away from the stanadard repro wheels. Hope my workings are correct. ::)

Thanks again! :)

Play around with this...

http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp