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HRE Wheel Question

Joined
10 July 2000
Messages
261
Location
El Dorado Hills, CA
As wheels are a very personnel choice, I have not noticed many HRE's 5-series on the NSX. They are light in weight, nice looking but expensive. Is there a particular reason many of you have chosen other wheel manufactures in place of HRE? Do you have any experience with the HRE product? Pro's/con's?
 
IMO they are the most beautifil wheels I have ever seen in person. I personally love the 547s. I know someone nearby that has already ordered a set for their NSX and should have them soon. I'm sure he'll come to show them off at the next event.
smile.gif

One reason is because they are so expensive. Most Vette owners I knew with them paid over 5K for them. It's also a double edged sword because you become afraid to scratch them anywhere. If you ever plan on going to the track, forget about it and make sure to have a set of beater wheels. It would be like wearing an Armani and going paintballing.
Gorgeous wheels.
 
Well, I finally got my account and get to post. I'll chime in on HRE's behalf.

If you're interested in HRE wheel weights its a little difficult. We don't have a published list. Its tough because we vary just about everything from one car to the next. The widths are different as well as the backpad heights (we hate spacers). Almost all of our wheels are different front to rear to get the offsets that we want. As an estimate most of our stuff is bigger so the weights go from about the mid-high teens to the mid 20's.

Our NSX fitments are in 17/18 and 18/19. For performance you want the 17/18. 18/19 looks killer but with a slight sacrifice in performance. I'm not going to lie about that. No matter how light you make a wheel, a 19" is always going to weigh more than an 16" or 17". But for street use 18/19 is very cool and we do it all the time. We like to go very wide and can accomodate big brake setups as well.

Our 540 Series is very popular on the NSX. I was here the other night and we were cutting 3 NSX orders in a row. We build to order so every car is usually different. Actually, as it turned out the customers had all requested different fitments so the wheels were all different even between those orders.

The 440 Series should be very popular as well after we complete the change to the 3-piece format. They were originally introduced as 2-piece but we're switching to 3-piece for better fitment availability. They're going to be sweet. They'll be initially in 18/19 only. I work here (live here is more like it) so I have to go big and put the 18/19 440s on my new-to-me '94 black/black NSX.

If anyone has any questions or want photos of NSXs with HREs, you should email me at:

[email protected]

I'm pretty sure we have some killer NSX photos that customers have sent us. Our website has the showcase with an NSX, but it needs to be updated and it doesn't really do the wheels justice.

I may have trouble finding the time to get the photos so be patient if you can't reach me. I'm here about 16 hours/day (we're growing like mad) so I'm pretty busy but I find it relaxing to wind down on NSX Prime at night before I leave.

Actually, if people are interested I'll post some photos on this thread. Well... maybe not. I don't want the Forum to be a place for blatant HRE advertising so I'd rather just do it in response to queries on the Forum. Let me know. I definitely don't want to ruffle any feathers with members or the moderator. I want to be welcome here for my personal interests but I think I can offer interesting info representing HRE.

Also, if anyone has any questions for me about HRE I'll be on the forum a lot more from now on, or feel free to email me either at alanp@hrewheels or hotmail. Oh yeah, NSX Prime kills!! I've told them before but I like to mention it a lot.

Thanks,

Alan


Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
Are one of the orders you are currently working on for someone named Sam? He should be getting his set soon and is a friend of mine who lives nearby. Definitely looking forward to seeing them on his NSX.
 
I should get my HRE wheels this week.
frown.gif
it took almost 2.5 months of waiting though. I got the 547 series 17/18. I was tempted to order the 18/19 for the looks but I heard that wasn't really good for the NSX. I will send pics when my NSX is done.


Blade
 
Thanks, Alan! I started this post due to the fact I rarely see the HRE wheel on the NSX and was curious if other NSX owner are using the HRE wheel.

I have spoken to I think Bob (?). He sent a few pics of the HRE on an NSX, but the pics did no justice for the wheel.

I am interested in what you plan (size/offset/finish) to install on your car (NSX).

18/19 setup I was told will rub in the front? True?

What do you recommend based on what has been produced and was successful in mounting?

Thanks, for the follow-up as this post was buried along time ago.

Regards.

97-T @18K (looking at HRE Wheels for my X)
 
As far as my car, I'm not sure yet. Most likely 8" front, 10.5" rear. I'm going to be putting 440 Series wheels on my car. We're in the process of switching to 3-piece format for that line for better fitment availability. Its going to be a little while before I have those bolted on as we're still in the process of switching to the new format.

I haven't even chosen the style yet. The 440s weren't available for the NSX before so I don't have any photos. The designs are mine, so I'm not overly partial to one or the other, I'm more interested in what looks best on the NSX.

I will probably go with our brushed/cleared finish with a polished outer lip. I love our full polish, but the brush/clear is very cool. We do the brushing by hand so its not quite symmetric. We used to send this out and it was very symmetric and looked similar to stock brushed wheels. We decided to do it ourselves because we liked the way it added a look to the wheel that let you know that a person and not just a machine had to spend some time on it. It looks very unique and adds and even greater hand-crafted look to the wheels than they already have. The clear adds just the right amount of gloss to it to make it stand out. Its very hard to describe. I like it because it looks more aggressive than other finishes and you won't see it at every car show. It has more of a motorsports feel to it. I don't know how to describe it. Its just cool. Bob here at HRE used to have the silver paint on his 549s and he recently changed them to brush/clear and it looks just killer.

As for rubbing I'm not aware of our 18/19 setup rubbing but if anyone has any feedback concerning this I can research fitments and figure out if its a current problem or not. If the car is lowered there is a bigger chance they'll rub so that's another variable that may affect it. I know we've done lowered NSXs before with 18/19 no problem so we should be okay. My car isn't yet lowered so I can't help much there yet.

As for those of you (Blade and others) with orders for wheels that are taking some time, I apologize for any delays in orders. We are continually improving to handle the incredible growth and our ability to get the best products to our customers on time.

Just to give some idea of our workload, my usual day is from 6:30 am to at least 10 pm and usually later. Sat is usually only an 8 hour day. So I'm not kicking back sipping martinis or anything. I spend my free time with my new car and the rest trying to convince my girlfriend not to leave me. Just joking. Seriously, we're working extremely hard to meet demand. Its my responsibility to see wheels ship on time so if you want to be pissed at anyone its me.

We shipped several NSX orders at various times in the last week or so I'm not sure about status of particular orders with people on the Forum. Most sales are through our dealers and not direct so customer names don't usually help.

As for seeing HREs on NSXs I know we sell a lot of them. For that matter we sell a lot of wheels on a lot of very nice cars and I rarely see them. All the wheels we sell and I still hardly see any. As seldom as I see an NSX I know I'm not going to see one with any HREs anytime soon.

You need to live on the Westside in L.A. That's where all the cars are. I miss living there. BMW E46s and Boxsters seem to be as common as Civics down here. My friends say they see NSXs all the time up there. They say they see HREs too. Mmmm. I've seen 2 NSXs down here since I got mine.

I do know that we sell a lot of NSX wheels to guys in Miami and Tampa. Its sort of the thing where people see them on other NSXs and decide they have to have them. When you haven't seen HRE wheels in person its tough. I'm going to join the NSXCA so I'll be bringing the car to at least some Southern CA events after its got some cool things added and I find some free time. Some of you at least will get to see HREs in person. I'd love to get the feedback.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. Thanks for everyone welcoming me to the Forum.

Alan


------------------
Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
Wow. Sorry for the long posts. Why would anyone want to read all that? Blab. Blab.

Alan



------------------
Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
Wow. Sorry for the long posts. Why would anyone want to read all that? Blab. Blab.

I think they're very helpful and provide us with the inside scoop. I'm enjoying them.
 
Our wheels do fit over the Brembos. In fact I'm hoping to put some on my car. Where I'll find the money is another matter. The NSX seems to be very underbraked for its performance level.

Alan



------------------
Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
Hey Alan,

My rims arrived today. I won't be able to get my NSX until next week, but I hear the rims are really nice.
Wow, and I though I worked alot of hours a week. Well I am sorry to hear you are so busy. You better get more help. After I saw a couple NSXs (Scott from Tampa '94 green @ Nelson from Miami '91 Black with 547 and 546 respectively) I was sold. I am sure there will be plenty of orders coming in when they see my NSX as well. You guys make impressive, high quality rims. In any case, the best things take more time right???

Thanx for all your help HRE

Blade

[This message has been edited by BladesNSX (edited 10 August 2001).]
 
Blade,

What HRE 5 series wheel did you decide to go with? What are the sizes/offsets you plan to run. What tires and what tire sizes are you planning to run?

Any idea what the largest offset will fit on the front and back of an NSX? Sounds like Alan is looking at this as we speak.

I bet you are excited to get them mounted. That is great!!

97 Red/Blk.-T @ 18K
 
Originally posted by NSX4U2:
Blade,

What HRE 5 series wheel did you decide to go with? What are the sizes/offsets you plan to run. What tires and what tire sizes are you planning to run?

Any idea what the largest offset will fit on the front and back of an NSX? Sounds like Alan is looking at this as we speak.

I bet you are excited to get them mounted. That is great!!

97 Red/Blk.-T @ 18K


I got the recommended size from the HRE site (front-width 7.5/17s, rear -width 10/18s). I plan on running SO2s. I honestly don't recall the size I have for the front. I think I have 225/45 front. I plan on getting 285/35 rear. I don't really know if I am getting the right size tires. There have already been alot of tire posts on here so I won't start that again. :p

Blade
 
Blade, is Nelson running 17/18 or 18/19? I was looking at the photos on Todds sight earlier, and they look huge! I think I'm ultimately looking in the 18/19 direction, so I'm hoping to hear some success stories with this setup.

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95 T bl/bl @ 39K
DC Headers
RM DTM Exhaust
CT Strut Tower Bar
 
We would recommend going with 225/35ZR17 and 285/30ZR18. 225/45-17 is too tall. 285/35 is okay, but 285/30 is much better. Its very close to the original overall tire diameter.

Use this calculation to match tire sizes to the stock tires:

(width x profile) x 2 / 25.4 + diameter = overall diameter

Example:

285/30-18

(285 x 0.30) x 2 / 25.4 + 18 = 24.73

Stock Rear 245/40-17

(245 x .40) x 2 / 25.4 + 17 = 24.72

These are very close. The one problem of course is that those sizes are a little more difficult to find, but they are available.

I haven't looked for tires lately so I'm not sure who carries them. You want to find tires that match the original diameters as closely as possible to minimize speedometer error, problems with the TCS, and fitment issues. I'm sure most of you already know this so I apologize if I'm stating the obvious.

Alan



------------------
Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
Thanx for the calculations Alan. I thought my tires were too large. However, I already have the front tires. I am going to get the rear tires later....If they are wrong, well, there is next time
frown.gif
. Unless someone want's to buy my tires :p.

Blade
 
Originally posted by NSX4U2:
As wheels are a very personnel choice, I have not noticed many HRE's 5-series on the NSX. They are light in weight, nice looking but expensive. Is there a particular reason many of you have chosen other wheel manufactures in place of HRE? Do you have any experience with the HRE product? Pro's/con's?

I have a set of HRE 540s on my white '94 NSX. The fronts are 17X8 w/225X40s and the rears 18X10 w/275X35s. The most noticeable physical quality is how light the wheels are; it is almost spooky. You immediately notice that there is no ride penalty despite the lower profile tires - probably because of the light weight. They are easy to clean and have flawless machining for no sharp edges. Make sure you tell the HRE people what future plans you might have for brake fitments so that they specify the correct offset and hub machining program. You mihght also want to consider going down to 7 1/2' fronts if you are specifying for large aftermarket brakes and/or lowered suspension.

 
Sheldon,

Glad to hear you like your wheels. The 540s are a huge hit. The proportions are so beautiful. Hard to beat. They seem perfect at times. We put some really wide 19" 540s on a new MBZ C320 today. Wow. What a difference. It changed the character of the car completely. It made it look so much meaner.

Sometimes I have to remember how nice they look once they're on someone's car. I see them everyday going from a blank forging to a beautiful wheel being put in a box, but I don't usually see them on the cars very often. That's really where they amaze people. Even me.

I can't wait to get some HREs on my own car. I'm busy coming up with another style for the 440 Series tonight. I think this new style might look very nice on my NSX. I'll have to see.

Anyway, good luck with your wheels. We appreciate the good words.

Thanks,

Alan



------------------
Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com
 
<<
I can't wait to get some HREs on my own car. I'm busy coming up with another style for the 440 Series tonight. I think this new style might look very nice on my NSX. I'll have to see.>>


Alan>>

Alan, have you finalized the 440 wheels for the NSX since your post in August? The web does not appear to show any .....

Thanks,

Hrant
 
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