Works and New Tyres Installed

After a long three month wait I finally received a call from Goh Swee Hin on Tuesday. "Your rims are here". I promptly made arrangements to install them on Wednesday to lay to rest all those corny "your rims must be undergoing extensive tests for radiation hence the delay" jokes. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize if I unintentionally offended anyone. My heart goes out to the Japanese people in lieu of what happened recently.

These greeted me on arrival at GSH. "17" should be self explanatory.

Closer inspection of the packaging label reveals the rim/wheel size and specs. For some reason my crappy Olympus camera decided to screw up the colour turning everything a pinkish hue. As can be seen above the box should be white. MGM stands for "Matt Gun Metal".

One box holds 2 rims. Here's one of them. These are the real deal and not some crappy knockoff from the current land of knockoffs. You know where I mean. Fantastic casting and finish quality! Unlike my Rays Gramlights 57S the decals are all already applied to the Work Emotion CR Kai.

These were also in the box. Every rim gets a certificate!

I was initally going to go for Federal 595 RS-Rs but the kiasi + logical side of me prevailed. The Slowtra is still a daily driver and the thunderstorms nowadays is beginning to take on more and more typhoon like intensity especially on the Penang Bridge. Wet grip and handling is critical! I settled on the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TTs after discussion with Mr Goh whom recommended them over the PRC made Goodyear F1 Assymetrics. Tire Rack also highly recommends these tyres and the review can be read here. The SP Sport Maxx TT came in first when compared to the famed Continental ContiSportContact (CSC) 3, Advan Sport and Pirelli PZero Rosso. Picture below of my tyres.

The Dunrop SP Sport Maxx TTs feature kevlar reinforced sidewalls which should hopefully result in a stiffer sidewall and ride compared to my now previous tyres - the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (PS3). While the PS3s gave excellent grip in both wet and dry conditions I really don't dig the soft and numb feeling sidewall. Speed rating is "Y" or 300km/h for my size - 215-45 17". UTQG is 240 while traction is rated "AA".

Me old rims and tyres awaiting to be delivered to a Bro. Please come and get them real soon.. :)

Picture of rim + tyre installed. Am retaining my old Rays lugnuts as the rims are gonna be off plenty more times to install my brakes, coilovers, etc. The problem with big rims is that the stock brakes now look puny! This will change soon though.

You know the tyre manufacturer wants the country of manufacture to be known when it is embossed on the outer sidewall as opposed to inner sidewall for many Tom Yam Land made tyres.

Bling blue anodized lightweight aluminium valve stem and cap. I prefer the understated black ones from Rays as these have practically proven to be thief proof.

Despite being the same width and offset as my previous Gramlights, the Works have more meat and the design of the spokes means there is even more clearance for big brake calipers. Hope my new rims will clear my new brakes as-is without a spacer. One can even run extended length lug nuts without these sticking out like pimples like my previous rims.

The Slowtra getting its alignment done. I'll publish the alignment data in another post.

I've driven for 50+ kilometres the past two days and the initial feel, ride and handling are pretty good. I do not detect any increased tyre roar/noise despite the wider width. Dry grip appears to be as good as the Michelin PS3s. However without the power from the new engine to exploit the tyre's performance I'll be hard pressed to tell. And yes, the sidewalls are stiffer giving a more reassuring ride and more feedback. Have yet to drive on really wet roads so can't report the wet handling at this point. Will provide updates in future. Steering feel appears pretty good and again it feels like I've upgraded my suspension. Pixs of the Slowtra with new wheels and shoes. Pardon the wet sideskirts. I just hosed that a bit after driving on a typical sandy, muddy half wet half dry Penang road after a downpour an hour or so before.

I initially wanted to go for bling blue anodized Work RS lugnuts to match the valves but now feel black looks better. What do you think?