rudypoochris

I am 95% sure I saw these a week ago at Rota's HQ for North America. I could inquire if you have something specific you are wondering, or you could message Kim Bong, the representative for Rota USA (kimcosmic@juno.com). As for why people use knock offs? Because they are cheaper... Because sometimes the knock offs look nicer... Because they are available in other sizes so that they ACTUALLY FIT... additionally the knock offs can often outperform the originals. The list goes on. As for quality and Rota. They have a pretty good record - from what I have seen. I am currently organizing a Rota group buy. IF the there are wheel failures (which would be surprising to me coming from such a large company that supplies OE wheels...) I am quite confident the representative will fix it at absolutely no cost to us. I have a Rota RB sitting right next to me right now, it looks pretty solid (obviously this means near zero in terms of whether or not it actually is...). In fact I asked Rota to reduce the weight as much as they can while maintaining what they consider a safe amount of material for street use.

I am not sure. Either way it is a 3.54. I would just look at the case when you go to check the car out, let us know.

Whoops! Stock heads ARE aluminum on the 93 Cobra. I say go for it. I would go for turbo with quick response and good power all around. More area under the curve than an NA 302 will ever have. EDIT: Arg. I think they are iron actually. I am not sure. I would want aluminum heads with a larger chamber any way.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103512&page=3 post #52.

I would go for aluminum heads with a larger chamber size, other than that - sounds awesome!

RS-Watanabe R-Types feature ~.75" of clearance at I do not know what distance from center. I have specified 1.25" at 7.5" from axis of rotation. This will give us a bit of a safety margin at the expense of some dish. We will not have the same amount of dish as the Watanabe's... but we will have more than the prototypes AND the rears will have more dish than the fronts (ie. staggered), which is a significant difference compared to the way is is now. I am glad you are happy - I just can't wait until these wheels come in.

Nothing. At the same time I doubt that will hold up in court.

I would imagine so. Contact the representative with this question. There should be a 17x8.5" +4 IIRC. You will probably need to run a spacer for that wheel.

This seems cool, but I would really worry about my insurance not covering my car. If the insurance company found out that I was using my car as a daily driver or for a non-historical reason, I figure I could be in a lot of trouble. Especially if I hit, or worse killed, someone else. Really not sure it is worth it for that reason.

Yes sir. Go ahead, also make sure to specify if you want the 17x9" front or 17x9.5" all around.

A run of the RB-R straight spoke profile with 3" lip is not planned unfortunately. Only the deep lip RB-R will be making it to production (besides the RB's of course). That being said, I have no clue how deep the lip will actually be... it might not be much deeper at all due to the brake clearance specification and since the spokes no longer bend which was providing more lip. At the rear it should be significantly deeper though as I requested offset to be changed by moving the center section inwards and outwards rather than merely adding material to the back of the mounting surface.

Yes. I have specified 1.25" behind the spoke to the face of the wheel mounting surface. You should be able to check that distance using a tape measure on your own car. The RB-R will hopefully be lighter and of a deeper dish. I will let you all know if the specifications are do able as soon as the rep. gets back to me (I don't see why they wouldn't, but one never knows). It should not upset Rota. At least that is how I understand it. That is why Rota is unwilling to do another 4 molds (RB deep and RB-R deep front and rear) but they are willing to do another 2 (RB-R front and rear) if it makes us happy. ------------------------- I just called the representative. He has let me know that the design specifications have been forwarded to manufacturing. They should let us know in the next day or two approximately how long it will take and if there are any necessary clarifications and edits. The final specifications which were sent to the rep. who forwarded them to manufacturing is below: http://www.autolounge.net/Rota RBR.doc

No sir, $750. No extra cost - in fact back in December I was told same price or $25 less per set. Realistically though, prices tend to go up and not down. I can't seem to find out how to delete that poll.

Center caps ARE included. The Rota RB-R is basically the same as the RB, but the spokes are flatter. I will search for a picture that shows the difference well. It is quite difficult to notice the difference on the more common 15" and 16" sizes. EDIT: Post #23 details the difference quite well. Unfortunately the poster got the two wheels mixed up. The RB - which we just received (the prototypes that are now going to production) are the ones with more curvature to the spokes. The RB-R's are the ones with the "flatter" looking spokes. They both look great imho, but if we are going to pick up more dish we might as well go the distance on the Watanabe R-Type duplication and get the correct spoke design. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=123531&page=2

Brilliant suggestion. I will include it. I am terribly sorry about the outcome of the deep dish RB's. I know you really had your heart set on them. Hopefully if all goes well, and these RB-R's take off, we (HybridZ) will have more buying power with the representative. I think inevitably what will happen is that the RB-R deep dish will sell much more than the RB standard dish which might lend us the upper hand in getting the RB deep dish. That is all in the future though. Once again - I apologize. I am really hoping these RB-R's come out great and that you receive sets of wheels you enjoy.

On brake clearances - the JSK Wilwood setup protrudes ~.5" to .75" from the face of the wheel mounting surface. Stock brakes do not protrude at all. Other brake setups I am unsure of. Thus I have specified a minimum of 1.25" to provide a safety margin and flexibility. I decided 1.25" was a satisfactory compromise between brake clearance and wheel dish. EDIT: The specifications for the wheel buy have been sent!

Heres the news: 1. For the people wanting the RB style just like the prototypes (3" lips front and rear), they are ready to go into production right away. Simply email the representative (Kim Bong) at KIMCOSMIC@JUNO.COM. Let him know your on the HybridZ group buy and want the RB style. Please do specify if you want 17x9.5" all around, or 17x9" front and 17x9.5" rear. These wheels SHOULD clear the socket for stock lug nuts. If they do not, Rota recommends running "tuner" lug nuts as that is their standard. Sorry guys, there wasn't much I could do about the bolt holes - at the same time though, it shouldn't be an issue for most (unless you have larger lug nuts like me). As for production time, "in as soon as a month" was the time estimate I was given. That being said, expect 3-7 weeks. 2. The RB-R will go into production and will feature the deep dish style. The bolt holes will accommodate 30mm diameter sockets and there will be at a minimum 1.25" of brake clearance from the hub mounting surface. I am writing a document tonight that basically lays out the specifications for these wheel as crystal clear as possible. I will ask the manufacturer to remove as much weight as they deem safe as well. Manufacturing time will be known to me sometime tomorrow or the day after. 3. This is the bad news. Unfortunately the RB deep dish style will not be an option on this group buy. The representative believes it to be simply too large an investment/risk to make another 2 molds (that will have put us at 8 total, so I can understand where he is coming from). I naturally inquired as to what it would take to have an RB deep dish made and the answer is another 25 sets. That is about the worst news possible. I am terribly sorry for those of you who had their eyes set on the RB deep dish. Hopefully if all goes well and a decent number of these wheels are sold (so the representative gains a bit more confidence) I can help coordinate a future buy on the RB deep dish. Once again - terribly sorry guys. We have a mix of good and bad news here. All in all though it is great that production can start right away on one of the two styles. Stay tuned for the RB-R. As for 9.5" on all fours being an option. It most certainly is! Please though tell the representative if that is what you want (and likewise for the 9" front and 9.5" rear setups). I do believe the 9.5" -19 will fit on the front fine in respect to the T/C rod, perch, and frame rails. The only real possible issue I see is interference with the air dam, but that still may be unlikely.

Out of curiosity - is the butterfly not installed on both sides as a fail safe? I would think a setup similar to the primary/secondary linkage in a 4bbl carb would be the hot ticket here...

Nate - those Rota RB's looked awesome on your car! Thank you immensely for letting us (HybridZ - Me) test fit them. I hope to go to that meet as well.

I am pretty sure Rota will go for an additional set of molds. I will try and do all that I can to get an additional two sets of molds, both styles in deep dish, but that might be pushing it. In all honesty, I am going to push for the RB-R in deep dish as I think it is most in keeping with the original spirit of this group buy. BUT - I will do my VERY BEST to try and get the RB style set to deep dish as well. I will see what I can work out. I know you want the deep dish RB badly coyboy510 - I hope not to let you down. Happy Easter to you all!

Gollum pretty much covered it. Stock spring perches clear. There is no interference at the frame rails full lock either direction, no interference at the t/c rod, no interference at stock ride height. T/C clearance was around .3-.5" clear. It was really nice getting to test these wheels out on an aligned 280z WITH an air dam. There is no rubbing anywhere. Which is great news. The ZG flares are only needed to cover the wheels, not to provide anymore clearance than is provided stock with an air dam. Another plus is that the stock - I believe they were - lug nuts are usable and accessible inside the wheel. I will still talk to the representative tomorrow about getting a wider bolt hole since I think this is cutting it to close for comfort personally. As for the deep dish. I agree, I would like more. There is no such thing as too much (sarcastic)! Lastly, I checked stock brake clearance... turns out the calipers are pretty much fully behind the hub so it is a non-issue. I think the S12W setups will be the real tester. I no longer have one of these... anyone running the S12W's? Below are some pictures showing off the wheels for those of you requesting more pictures. Brake clearance, perch clearance (~.25" on one side ~.375" on the other), and acceptable lug nuts.

I love everything about the 1-series, BUT, it is only 100-200lbs lighter than the 3 series. At that point I think I would rather have the 335i honestly. Which is sad, because the 1 series is a nice compact.

What do you mean by "side shots". As in taking a picture of the car from the front so the side of the wheel in relation to the car body is visible, or a straight on shot? The current lip is 3" front and back. I am going to try and have the lip increased by recessing the spokes further. Which brings me back to brake clearance... Can anyone comment on how much their caliper protrudes from the mounting face of the hub? Please specify brake setup. Thanks! Any information you guys can provide me about your setups is much appreciated.

Me too!

I just took some more measurements and adjusted the alignment. I am now clearing the T/C rod by ~.3 to .43" depending on compression. To set it up what I did was measure the distance full lock right from the rotor to the frame, then adjusted until the distance was the same at full lock left at the back of the rotor. The results were within 1/8" of each other. Clearance was fine at that point. EDIT: Tomorrow (Sunday) evening I will be visiting my friend with a running - aligned 280z. I believe he has stock suspension. This will be the real test to see if all goes well.