These are for a used set 5 SSR GT3 wheels. They have been driven across the country twice and have approximately 30K miles on the wheels themselves. The wheels have some use on the them, and are currently on my car. My new wheels just arrived today, so these will be off the car and ready for sale within the next 1-2 weeks.
More specifics
- Set of 5 wheels (bought as a full sized spare and one is bent a little on the inner most lip)
- 18x8"
- 5x114.3 lug pattern
- 48 offset
- 3 piece design
- (2) currently have 225/45/18 Toyo Proxy 4s on them with less than 1000 miles of wear
- (2) currently have 245/45/18 Toyo Proxy 4s on them with less than 1000 miles of wear
- wheels have wear on them (will post detailed pics within next few days)
- color is Graphite Gray
These are some of the most lightest wheels on the market. Semi-solid forged and very nice. Great eye catcher for sure. These are Genuine SSR wheels manufactured in Japan by their parent company Speed Star Racing, which went Bankrupt and is no longer around. Since, availability of these wheels has dried up. Original set of 5 where close to $3.5K, and I am willing to unload these for $2000/BO WITH tires. :fry:
An image of what the wheels look like:
About the process of production on these wheels
In a specialized process perfected by Alumax, a leading aluminum manufacturer, uniquely structured alloy billets are heated to a semi-solid state (the consistency of soft butter) and molded in a specifically engineered forging press. The positive aspects of this process found applications in the aircraft and automotive sectors. Through an exclusive contract with Alumax, SSR conducted additional research and development and built their wheel manufacturing plant in Japan to produce alloy wheels using Semi-Solid Forging (SSF) technology. They further developed SSF technology, were granted a patent, and are the first and only SSF wheel manufacturer in the world today producing Semi-Solid Forged alloy wheels. This ultra high tech forging technology creates a very strong and lightweight wheel ideal for street or track.
In the 1980s, SSR researched and developed magnesium and titanium wheels in an effort to improve upon cast aluminum wheels that had reached their performance potential. SSR studied the feasibility of bringing magnesium and titanium wheels to the market and found several drawbacks, among them high cost and limited production capacity.
SSR knew, though, that higher quality, lower cost, well-designed wheels were what the customer wanted and in 1991 learned of the advanced technology of semi-solid forging (SSF). This technology was being used to produce parts for the aircraft industry where low weight and reliability are crucial. So, SSR obtained a license to use SSF technology from Alumax Laboratories and after one year of research and development built their now-patented wheel manufacturing plant in Nara, Japan.
The Advantages of SSF
Semi-Solid Forging (SSF) Manufacturing Technology
Extracting the best qualities of casting (unlimited design possibilities) and forging (lightweight and high strength) and combining them in the uniquely new mass production manufacturing process of SSF.
Forging is the process of forcing a solid billet of aluminum alloy between forging dies under an extreme amount of pressure. This creates a finished product that is very dense, very strong. Less aluminum alloy is used to meet the strength requirements for the intended application resulting in very lightweight wheels. The costs of tooling, development, equipment, etc., limit the designs available and usually demand a high price in the aftermarket. Many racers have been willing to pay the premium price required to acquire strong wheels that are lightweight.
The casting process, pouring molten metal into a mold, offers a very reasonable production cost and is a good method for casting designs that are more visually oriented or when reducing weight is not a primary concern. The high heat used introduces impurities into the metals and results in a more brittle, branch-like microstructure that is more susceptible to breakage along its weak points. Cast wheels can be equal in strength to forged wheels but, in order to meet the demands for use on a vehicle, more alloy is used resulting in a heavier wheel. Cast wheels offer consumers the greatest variety of designs at the lowest price and are adequate for most street use applications.
Further research led scientists to develop a process whereby mechanically agitating (stirring/mixing) alloys during the solidification process changed the original microstructure of the alloy from a branch-like structure to a globule granular structure. Alumax then perfected the aluminum stirring process, Magneto-Hydro Dynamics (MHD), and created the basis of SSF technology which results in a pure cylindrical alloy billet consistently free of non-metals, gasses, oxides and other impurities. This MHD billet, when heated to a specific temperature, attains a semi-solid form (consistency of soft butter). After pressed into a mold at a very high rate, the shaped product retains the preferred globule granular microstructure. The end product is very dense and strong allowing the manufacturer to use less aluminum alloy and still meet the engineering criteria for the intended use.
Today, SSR is the only wheel manufacturer in the world to produce SSF aluminum wheels. SSR continues to research ways to further develop SSF, creating beautiful, lightweight and strong wheels that benefit the customer via function and beauty as well as enhanced performance—all at a lower cost than forging or casting.
…SSR was bought by Tanabe only after 2 years of arguing with Tire Rack in the bankruptcy courts for the rights.
