Can any of you 'Mericans widen rims?

NYSpeed Automotive
21

Found this on TTNET and thought I’d xpost it here. The guy is Canadian too who took it to a Canadian shop:

I have been planning this forever. I like the style of the wheels and simply wanted to have them widened as they only come in 8 or 8.5 inches.
I had a set of the fronts (18 by 8, 30 offset) widened by 1.5 inches making it a 18x9.5 with a 49 offset. The rears (18x8.5, 33 offset) will move up front. (Hankook Ventus V12 EVOs going all around)
I wanted to send them to Weldcraft in the US but after a couple of conversations with UPS I had zero confidence that they could pull off the shipping without me incurring massive duty and brokerage charges on wheels that I already own.
I tried to get them done locally at Alberta Wheel Repair. Long story short: They really suck now! Family owned business, father/founder seems to have had a stroke, place is run like crap.
After lending my wheels to Alberta Wheel Repair for over two months, I retrieved them and shipped them to Greens Automotive in Vancouver. All I can say is the work was decent and the turnaround was less than two weeks including shipping.
I am no welder, but the welds look decent to me. We’ll see how they balance on the weekend.
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/b/4/219916/dsc00675-0.jpg
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/b/4/219916/dsc00676-0.jpg
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/b/4/219916/dsc00677-0.jpg
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/b/4/219916/dsc00678_2-0.jpg

22

350z track wheels? I heart them too

23

that looks like a decent job.

24

Damn I thought this thread went dead, lol

Those track rims gain offset in the wrong direction :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve been doing a lot of research and ended up just saying “fuck it, I’ll do it myself”…
I’ve been looking into getting a lathe for a long time now anyway.
I’m more than confident in my TIG skills…

I had one bite. Quoted me around $1700 after everythign was said and done, taxes, shipping, blah blah blah…
Or just buy a lathe…

Building a new TIG set up that will be uber speedy and uber awesome. So fuck it I’ll do it myself…

Thanks for all the help guys. Much appreciated.

25

Hey, maybe if you can do some good work there is a business in it for ya. Good luck…

26

It’s an idea I toyed with. But I’d have to get in contact with a few people who have modified lathes. Since there wouldn’t be much of a point in getting into that business unless I could widen rims up to, say, 19-20’’ rims?
If I can’t modify one to accept even 18’s, at the least, I’ll just either do it for myself and use the lathe for other projects. Or just scrap the idea of buying one and have a machine shop cut my rims.