Having been on the hunt for some rims recently I found an increasingly large amount of wheels with an old school slant - either in terms of size, design or both. Clearly the manufacturers have seen a market and think that there's a niche for them. Some are new, some are inspired by rims from the past and some are re-releases...here's a brief round up of a few:
Axis Banzai:
More than a hint of the classic Hayashi wheel here. Sizes range from 15x8 (0 or 25mm offsets) to a jolly un-retro but interesting 17x9. All the images of the wheel I've found so far are a rather unnattractive boring offset version...but if the 0 offset variety have got some more dish then it'll be a very good looking rim. 4x100 and 4x114 options cover a plethora of 'our' cars.
Axis OldSchool:
Someone at Axis likes his JDM rims! This time the influence is the Work 03. These appear to be available in one size only - 15x8 with a +25 offset. The only PCD available is 4x100, intended fitments being Honda and MX5 owners chasing some old school cred but I can see the design working well on Golfs too.
Axis OG Racer-X:
Crazy! The Racer-X is insane enough already with it's slim in the 38mm offset four-spoke design, but in what appears to have been an accident in the design stage they've produced a -27mm offset 15x8 option with a gigantic five inches of dish. These are 4x100 too - quite what they are planning on fitting them to is a mystery to me! Excellent!
Konig B-Bomb:
No, they're not SSR MkIIIs! Hey, if a design is good, why not? We'd all rather have the real thing, but you can get 'the look' and save money with a set of these - according to my research these are available in two sizes - a girly +38 15x7 and a much more macho 15x7.5 with a dishy 0 offset. Both sizes are available in 4x100 and 4x114.3 PCDs but old school Mazda (and a few Toyota) fans will be amazed to see a 4x110 7.5x15 in the line up.
Konig Rewind:
Konig got in on the old school act with the Rewind wheel a few years ago - a Watanabe/Minilite/Superlite style rim available in 14, 15 and 16 inch sizes with 'proper' offsets made this a popular wheel for the AE86 boys when it was first released.
Work Equip 01:
This time it's the real thing! These are a remanufactured version of a JDM classic, available in masses of sizes thanks to their three-piece construction. Diameters of either 14 or 15 inches with rim widths ranging from 5 to 11.5 means you can get the arches filled to perfection - but you'll have to get your wallet out!
Work Equip 03:
Hang on...are they fake Axis Oldskool wheels? Of course not...these are the real deal. Available in the same sizes as the 01 (above). Bolt patterns appear to be the usual 4x100 or 4x114.3.
That's it for now folks....next time: Sportmax, SSR, Hayashi and anything else I find between now and then!
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