I had a set of 15" Greg Weld Motorsport wheels that were on my SN-95 that were a nice wheel for the cost. After Greg Weld Motorsports went under due to Greg Weld's death, the GWM wheels ended up with the guys at Racestar. They tweaked a few things and made them fit the big brakes of the newer cars. So I bought a set for my 2005 GT. Let's take a look and review them.
I bought a pair of polished 17x4.5" for the front and a pair 17x9.5" wheels for the rear.
I had to buy the fronts from our site sponsor Blow By Racing as they were the only shop I could find in the country that had them in stock. I called like 5 other shops before finding them at Blow By. Service was outstanding. Fast. Friendly. Easy. Thanks Blow By Racing!
I ended up buying the rears from another site sponsor because nobody else seemed to have the 17" rears in stock. I got them from HTP Motorsports. Their service was also outstanding. Fast. Friendly. Easy. Thanks to you as well HTP!
Our site sponsors kick ass!!
Now to the wheels. I do not care what anyone says or thinks, I will tell you Racestars website is straight up wrong about the offset/backspacing on the 17x4.5" wheels. What they say it is, is not what they actually are and the difference is not minor. They say it's -13mm offset/2 1/4" backspace. The box arrived to me with -25mm on it and the actual measured backspace was 1 5/8". That's a big difference. About 1/2 an inch! I called them about it. They know the website is wrong. They still haven't corrected it. So plan accordingly. I'll cover how I fixed that later. The back wheels were right on the money as listed on the Racestar website.
Now if you are looking for show car quality polished wheels, keep looking. These are not show car quality polishing jobs. They look good and you could buff them to near, or maybe even, show quality. But I don't own show cars and I don't care that much, so they are good enough as is for me. If you are looking for a nice looking, reasonably priced, lightweight wheel, you may have found them. If you hate the multi-lug deal, call Blow By Racing. They have a way to supply them as single pattern for an extra charge (and probably longer lead time). Uni-lug is ok, but had I known Blow By could supply single pattern, I would have paid the extra cash and waited.
Returning to the front wheels and their inaccurate advertised offset. I noticed right away the numbers didn't add up, so I put one wheel on my car sans tire to eyeball it up. I found it too far out in the wheel opening for my tastes. It needed the offset it was advertised with if I was gonna run it. Surveying the way the wheel was cast and machined I was absolutely sure in my feeling that they could be further machined down to provide another 1/2" (my brother said go 3/4") of offset without doing anything negative to the wheel. Still has over 1/2" inch of caliper clearance. If anything it would make them stronger by bringing the center line of the wheel closer to the mounting plane. Less torque moment effect is a good thing. I found a local CNC shop that would cut them for $50 bucks per wheel. I had them cut. Should have gone 3/4".
Next item...center caps. I got two different heights of center cap. Two shorts and two talls. Come on!! Really?!?! Luckily I still had a pair from my Greg Welds. They were even shorter, but much closer to the new short caps. So a little mix and match and viola I'm rather happy with them. If I could get two more Greg Weld centers I'd be really happy. On the plus side, the shit attaching bolts that the Greg Welds came with that rusted immediately have been upgraded to stainless by Racestar. Good call Racestar!
Next item...lug nuts. OMG, are you F'n kidding me? I wouldn't run these hunks of shit on my lawn mower. Throw them away. Throw them at the neighborhood bully. Do something, but just get rid of them. They rust the first time you get them wet. They are worse than Gremlin's. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. Go buy a good set of McGard lug nuts with offset washers. They are triple chrome plated and have stainless washers. Lifetime finish guarantee. Made in the USA. If you run the wheels as they are out of the box you need the part number 63000. These are the correct size shank style, open end lug nut you need. They have black plastic caps in them if you have OE length wheel studs. You can remove the caps if you run 3" wheel studs. They are about $22 bucks per 4 lugs. So your looking at another $100 bucks or so. I had my wheels cut so I had to get three part number 61005 for lug nuts (shorter) and a package of 10 offset washers, part number 78714. Racestar really ought to just sell the McGards.
Next item...valve stems. Valve stems are the bane of a wheels existence. An ugly necessity of a wheels operation. A pimple if you will. All too often someone stuffs a plain old ugly ass stem that's way too long into a wheel and says good enough. I can not accept that, so I bought four Rocket Racing part number C504S. These are super short valve stems. The shortest I could find. Oops!!! They don't fit. They are not the right size for the valve stem holes. Oh well, break out the drill bits and open up the valve stem holes a bit. Stock valve stem hole is for 5/16" valve stems, I needed 7/16". Problem solved. But alas even these didn't live up to my standards of appearance. They look like bolts sticking out of the valve stem. So I am on the hunt for a rounded dome set of aluminum valve caps. I've seen them, just have to remember where.
Next item...hub centric rings. Optional. I said F these things. The shank lugs will center the wheels. I've thought my cat might like them as they look like giant milk jug rings and she loves playing with those. Maybe she won't keep getting these stuck under the couch or hutch or any other low hard to get at piece of furniture. Doubt it though. I find cat toys in the damnedest places. What the hell does she do all day?
So in conclusion, the Racestars are decent wheels. They are light. They look good. They have a few minor annoyances, but nothing you can't change or fix. For the money they are a great option. My only recommendations are buy McGard lugs and pay the extra for the single pattern option through Blow By Racing. Other vendors may offer it. I don't know. But Blow By has said they can get it in threads here on our board.
I bought a pair of polished 17x4.5" for the front and a pair 17x9.5" wheels for the rear.
I had to buy the fronts from our site sponsor Blow By Racing as they were the only shop I could find in the country that had them in stock. I called like 5 other shops before finding them at Blow By. Service was outstanding. Fast. Friendly. Easy. Thanks Blow By Racing!
I ended up buying the rears from another site sponsor because nobody else seemed to have the 17" rears in stock. I got them from HTP Motorsports. Their service was also outstanding. Fast. Friendly. Easy. Thanks to you as well HTP!
Our site sponsors kick ass!!
Now to the wheels. I do not care what anyone says or thinks, I will tell you Racestars website is straight up wrong about the offset/backspacing on the 17x4.5" wheels. What they say it is, is not what they actually are and the difference is not minor. They say it's -13mm offset/2 1/4" backspace. The box arrived to me with -25mm on it and the actual measured backspace was 1 5/8". That's a big difference. About 1/2 an inch! I called them about it. They know the website is wrong. They still haven't corrected it. So plan accordingly. I'll cover how I fixed that later. The back wheels were right on the money as listed on the Racestar website.
Now if you are looking for show car quality polished wheels, keep looking. These are not show car quality polishing jobs. They look good and you could buff them to near, or maybe even, show quality. But I don't own show cars and I don't care that much, so they are good enough as is for me. If you are looking for a nice looking, reasonably priced, lightweight wheel, you may have found them. If you hate the multi-lug deal, call Blow By Racing. They have a way to supply them as single pattern for an extra charge (and probably longer lead time). Uni-lug is ok, but had I known Blow By could supply single pattern, I would have paid the extra cash and waited.
Returning to the front wheels and their inaccurate advertised offset. I noticed right away the numbers didn't add up, so I put one wheel on my car sans tire to eyeball it up. I found it too far out in the wheel opening for my tastes. It needed the offset it was advertised with if I was gonna run it. Surveying the way the wheel was cast and machined I was absolutely sure in my feeling that they could be further machined down to provide another 1/2" (my brother said go 3/4") of offset without doing anything negative to the wheel. Still has over 1/2" inch of caliper clearance. If anything it would make them stronger by bringing the center line of the wheel closer to the mounting plane. Less torque moment effect is a good thing. I found a local CNC shop that would cut them for $50 bucks per wheel. I had them cut. Should have gone 3/4".
Next item...center caps. I got two different heights of center cap. Two shorts and two talls. Come on!! Really?!?! Luckily I still had a pair from my Greg Welds. They were even shorter, but much closer to the new short caps. So a little mix and match and viola I'm rather happy with them. If I could get two more Greg Weld centers I'd be really happy. On the plus side, the shit attaching bolts that the Greg Welds came with that rusted immediately have been upgraded to stainless by Racestar. Good call Racestar!
Next item...lug nuts. OMG, are you F'n kidding me? I wouldn't run these hunks of shit on my lawn mower. Throw them away. Throw them at the neighborhood bully. Do something, but just get rid of them. They rust the first time you get them wet. They are worse than Gremlin's. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. Go buy a good set of McGard lug nuts with offset washers. They are triple chrome plated and have stainless washers. Lifetime finish guarantee. Made in the USA. If you run the wheels as they are out of the box you need the part number 63000. These are the correct size shank style, open end lug nut you need. They have black plastic caps in them if you have OE length wheel studs. You can remove the caps if you run 3" wheel studs. They are about $22 bucks per 4 lugs. So your looking at another $100 bucks or so. I had my wheels cut so I had to get three part number 61005 for lug nuts (shorter) and a package of 10 offset washers, part number 78714. Racestar really ought to just sell the McGards.
Next item...valve stems. Valve stems are the bane of a wheels existence. An ugly necessity of a wheels operation. A pimple if you will. All too often someone stuffs a plain old ugly ass stem that's way too long into a wheel and says good enough. I can not accept that, so I bought four Rocket Racing part number C504S. These are super short valve stems. The shortest I could find. Oops!!! They don't fit. They are not the right size for the valve stem holes. Oh well, break out the drill bits and open up the valve stem holes a bit. Stock valve stem hole is for 5/16" valve stems, I needed 7/16". Problem solved. But alas even these didn't live up to my standards of appearance. They look like bolts sticking out of the valve stem. So I am on the hunt for a rounded dome set of aluminum valve caps. I've seen them, just have to remember where.
Next item...hub centric rings. Optional. I said F these things. The shank lugs will center the wheels. I've thought my cat might like them as they look like giant milk jug rings and she loves playing with those. Maybe she won't keep getting these stuck under the couch or hutch or any other low hard to get at piece of furniture. Doubt it though. I find cat toys in the damnedest places. What the hell does she do all day?
So in conclusion, the Racestars are decent wheels. They are light. They look good. They have a few minor annoyances, but nothing you can't change or fix. For the money they are a great option. My only recommendations are buy McGard lugs and pay the extra for the single pattern option through Blow By Racing. Other vendors may offer it. I don't know. But Blow By has said they can get it in threads here on our board.
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