Back in May when I put the decal down the sides I decided it needed some bling wheels to finish it off. 13“ wheels in a front wheel drive friendly offset are few and far between and I wanted to avoid the popular wheels that are on most fiestas.
So I ordered some Image split rims, after trawling the website I decided on these.
I wanted the center's to match my seats and decals but I had only got my imagination to tell me what it was going to look like.
They wanted extra money for any red other than pillar box red which was obviously no good. So if I wanted a different red I needed to supply a RAL code.
I ended up buying a colour chart so I could put it next to my decals to try and get as close a match as I could.
So RAL3003 was my pick.
I was in luck as someone had just paid the extra for that colour and the guy I was dealing with said he could probably do mine out of what was left which meant "NO EXTRA CHARGE"
So I ordered a set of 4 which required a 50% deposit.
12-16 weeks I was advised but I couldn't do anything other than wait.
Not as quick as I would have liked but 16 weeks later they phoned me to tell me they were ready. I only live about 10 miles from the factory so I collected them to knock the £50 delivery charge off.
I was now suffering open wallet surgery and that is where they sat for about 8 weeks as I was still building my shed and patio which was also hoovering up my disposable income (see my other thread).
Over those 8 weeks I had been looking for a deal on tyres and frustratingly Toyo's like I had on the XR2 steels were out of stock everywhere, why not swap the tyres off the steels I hear you ask. Well if I have to use the car to go to work as an example in winter the steels would go back on.
So the only non ditch finder brand in my desired size of 175/60/13 was yokohama and were ranging from £80-120 each delivered then there would be fitting on top.
In the end I got a deal of basically free fitting at ATS on a black Friday deal and they worked out at £275 fitted for the 4. Not as wallet friendly as the Toyo's were but £50 cheaper than Demontweeks who were the cheapest up until the ATS deal came along.
So I had them fitted on Friday and after doing some running repairs on my wife's car this morning I thought I would put them on the car.
First thing that happened was they were catching the caliper on the front.
It was the bolts in the rim causing it which had excessive thread through the nut.
I had 3 options here, dress the caliper or cut every bolt down or get shorter bolts.
I decided to dress the caliper and touch the paint up.
But I may get some shorter bolts as if I put new discs and pads on the issue may return due to the calipers moving outwards due the extra material.
Considerably later in the day than I thought, I had them on.
Apart from turning it around in the street I have not driven it but I like the look of them.
