Team Dynamics 18"x 10" wheel review

[steveespo]

Guys
Just trial fit my new Team Dynamics 18"x 10" wheels from Blowfish Racing.
Steve is great to deal with and had sent me a barrel template last fall to check fit with my 15" GT500 spec Brembo brake setup. Template worked so I finally ordered the wheels about a week and a half ago. They were delivered by Fed Ex on Thursday after a few weather delays here in the North East.
So this morning I shoveled the snow and ice in front of my garage and tried them on for size.


They are well packaged and looked great out of the box in matte black.
Here is the challenge;

Gotta get around that tall 6 piston caliper, no other18" wheel I have tried has cleared the point at the top and bottom of the caliper.
But this wheel does with almost 1/4" to spare;


I was jazzed about it, but there are a few niggles;
1) The center bore is a little tight, no big deal and I will take a little emery paper to it to shave a .001" and then put a light coat of anti-seize.
2) Lug bore holes are small, have to use a thin wall 13/16" socket to tighten lugs, also glad I run extended studs, starting nuts on stock length studs will be a PITA.
3) Clearance to strut and sway link bolt; will have to trim sway link bolt, and there is about 1/4" clearance to the strut body. I am running 275 Continental slicks on the front so I don't know how much bulge there will be on a 10" wheel, but I will get some 1/4" spacers and try with and without them hopefully no rub. Should ask Steve if a 9.5" wheel can be ordered.

All in all I am happy with the purchase, wheels seem pretty light, haven't weighed one yet but I think they are about 23 lbs. Finish is very nice.
Steve

 

[cloud9]

Looks good 8) Envious of that big brake kit

 

[VoodooBoss]

Cool, and it's nice they are NOT made in China. How much clearance do you have between the caliper and barrel of the wheel?

 

[steveespo]

Cool, and it's nice they are NOT made in China. How much clearance do you have between the caliper and barrel of the wheel?

1/4" top and bottom, 3/8"-1/2" at the center of the caliper.
They have made in England stickers in the barrel and cast in the wheel, along with DOT and J designators cast in the inner spokes.
I like them wish they had open lug face like the GA-1 wheels.
Steve

 

[cosm3os]

Very popular wheel in spec racing.

 

[Roadhouse]

Check out some 17mm lugs from Vorshlag. I use them for my SVE Drift wheels which also have small lug holes. Makes changing wheels SOOOO much easier.

 

[pufferfish]

Thanks for posting up Steve!

I am surprised the hub bore is tight. Haven't heard of this before and I haven't experienced it myself.

I didn't experience much of an issue with stock studs and nuts. I didn't much mind using a non-impact socket. But once I added long studs, I had to get open nuts and chose a set of gorilla 3/4 hex open nuts and was able to use an impact deep socket and it works quite well.

I had no issue with my 305 wide conti's with the 15mm spacer you just ordered from me. A while back I posted pics of these wheels and 305 conti's without the spacer and you are right, it would require the lik stud to be trimmed and it's a bit close for comfort with the strut body. But, it looks fantastic with the 15mm spacer and 2.5 degrees of camber.

Unfortunately, 9.5 wide is not an option. You can go down to 9", but it's really not necessary.

 

[neema]

If you haven't trimmed your sway bar endlink stud already (and if you'd rather not trim it), slip some washers or fab a spacer to sit behind the swaybar endlink to pull the stud out of the way. It's good to see the wheels fit over the Brembos. Don't forget to post pics when they're mounted up.

Just an FYI for any other 15" brembo hopefuls, I test fit some prototype Apex 18x10 EC-7s and they cleared my 15" stoptechs with significantly more room than my Enkeis. They have lots of lug nut space (I suffer the same 13/16" deep socket issue with Enkeis) and look better than most 18x10s. The weight (~22lbs) and price (~$1400) are right and they look like BBS 302r wheels. Hopefully they're released in the next month or two, as it will be a welcome inclusion in the S197 track wheel market. They're finally breaking out of the BMW market. I hope I didn't spill any beans that I wasn't supposed to

 

[steveespo]

Neema
Good idea with the washers at the link. Didn't think of that, would rather not lose the hex on the end.
Steve

 

[Orange]

Any opinions about the 18" Forgestar CF5, which also clear the 15" breaks and are pretty light, compared to the other wheels mentioned in this thread?

And thx for the post Steve, stuff like this is very helpful!

 

[steveespo]

Any pics of the Forgestars over GT 500 15" Brembos?
Steve

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Somewhat of an aside but I highly recommend the 17mm Open-End lugs that Vorshlag offers for wheels with small lug bores.

Much more socket grip surface area and lug seat area than the Gorilla lugs.

 

[neema]

Somewhat of an aside but I highly recommend the 17mm Open-End lugs that Vorshlag offers for wheels with small lug bores.

Much more socket grip surface area and lug seat area than the Gorilla lugs.

I need to try these. the 13/16" lug nuts have super tight clearances on every wheel I've tried except for those Apex wheels. And stock brembo 19s I guess.

Any pics of the Forgestars over GT 500 15" Brembos?
Steve

I'm interested too. I'd buy a set if they did fit.

 

[Orange]

It is not the best pic, but the CF5 fit:


I would say you have perhaps 2 - 4mm space between the calipers and the CF5. So you will have scratches from stones that get catched while driving.