I came home today to find 2 nice big surprises! 2 huge watanabe boxes with my nice shiny new wheels in them!!

I ordered a set of 16x8 (0 offset) and a set of 16x8.5(-6 offset) Watanabe R wheels. The wheels were ordered as magnesium coloured with machined silver rims

Unfortunately when i pulled them out of the box (man are they LIGHT!) they are all magnesium (so no silver finish). Not sure what is going to happen yet, i have emailed the guy who ordered them for me to see what the best course of action is

anybody know somebody in sydney who would be able to machine the rims and polish them up? i have no idea what it would cost to do, but it may be an option to fix them rather than send them back to japan and wait a month for them to finish the wheels at the factory, but ultimately it will be up to the company i bought them off.

I didn't have my camera with me today, but i will get a photo tomorrow of them and post it!

I had been waiting to see the wheels before trying to decide between painting the car red or grey... let me tell you it still hasn't helped!

Kent

Pffft!

Pictures first!

Yeah would love to see a pic or two, Im trying to decide if I should get some of these or widen what I have already

I have a simple solution for you Kent, don't have a polished lip! They look so much nicer without (no offense Lachlan )

Hi Kent,

There was a mob in Kings Park (Valediction Rd? western side of Sunnyholt anyway) that specialised in Mag wheel repairs. Straightening, polishing welding etc.They did work for NRMA and such. I'll have a dig around when I get home to see if I still have their details.

Jim.

...Failing that there is this crew as well, not too far away.

..Thornleigh

I know i know... and i forgot to take photo's yesterday too i will try and get my friend to take a picture of one of the rims tonight

as for polished vs not polished, i don't agree.. polished rims always make the wheel look a lot fatter (well in my opinion), which is ALWAYS a good thing and besides, i paid extra for the "special finish" so it should be sorted out..

i was surprised how brown and golden the "magnesium" colour is, i would have expected it to be more of a gun metal grey..

Thanks Jim, i will give the thornleigh guys a ring and find out how much they estimate it to cost, i could easily imagine it costing over $100 a rim though

I have to say, so far the guy who ordered the rims for me has been very curtious, polite and professional, once the problem with the wheel finish is resolved, i will post his details online here for future reference

Hey Kent, don't be too worried, I would expect just to polish the rims probably $40-$50 per wheel. Mine were $400 to paint the centres and polish the lips.

And I agree in regards to polishing (which is why I had it done I suppose ). It depends on the colour a lot, but with C110's I think generally the polished lip is good. They look a bit weird without it IMO. Though without flares, I'd definitely have all gunmetal.

Best of luck sorting out the little problem!

i just spoke to the guys at the wheel centre repairs @ thornleigh, they say it is hard to tell without looking at them, but if they can do it it would be between $100-$150 a wheel

so i guess they will be going back to japan sometime soon!

here you go!!

it is pretty overcast today, so the colours don't quite look as bronzed that they do in the sun

I would like a set of Watanabes for my 240z (in the future). Personally I think the Gunmetal or Black colour without any polishing looks the best. My Z is metallic green and I think the dark rims would give it a tougher look... so don't be in too big a hurry to have them polished!

if you don't mind me asking, whom did you order from and how much did they cost?

two companies at kings park

virgin wheels

unit 11/20 Valediction rd

ph 9679 9999

custom painting and wheel repairs

unit 11/ 11 romford rd

Kings Park

9621 3355

both within two km of each other

suburb of blacktown 2148

new south wales Australia

hope this helps

robert