There was always a small bug in me that had issues with my TE-37s. Not bad, but it was nagging…enough that I finally decided to act on it.  Keep in mind, they looked GREAT and where lightweight! What more could you want?  So, fast forward about 2 years and I decided to act on it.

I made a change that I’m sure most will find perplexing.  I wanted NEW wheels!  This is completely irrelevant to the performance, but I was always unhappy about how it “looked”…I think the current vernacular is it’s “stance”, LOL.  It always bothered me that I had to use those spacers and I STILL felt like I wanted more of a concave appearance.  When I was shopping for the TE-37s, at the time, they offered them in 20x11s but I had opted for the 20x10s as I wasn’t sure they would fit.  Well, I wish I had gone 20×11 as I now know the will fit.

When I decided to pull the trigger, I went back to the Ray’s Engineering website in order to do some more research.  The 20×10 was offered in their “Face3/S” concave appearance, while the 20×11 was offered in the “Face4/L” variant with additional offset.  Face4 was their most aggressive concave construction:

Come to find out, Volk no longer makes these wheels in that size.  They had been discontinued about a year prior.  I was out of luck.  The TE-37s definitely were my favorites and I should’ve pulled the trigger on those back when I initially made the purchase.  So what do I do now?

Enter Yokohama Advan.  Another reputable tuner wheel that offers lightweight and stylish, aggressive offset racing wheels.  I started looking around and the only one that came close to attracting my attention was their Advan GT Premium wheels.  I love the simple 5-spoke design and the aggressive concave appearance.

I wasn’t 100% sold on the bright racing gold color, but was the closest I could get to the original look of the TE-37s.  They no longer offered the Dark Bronze, despite it still showing on their page.  I went with the 15mm offset so I didn’t need to use any spacers anymore.

After a long 14-week wait while they shipped from Japan, I finally got them in:

And I REALLY, REALLY like them:

So how much do they weigh? Well turns out, despite them being a larger wheel than the TE-37, they are actually 2 lbs lighter! Winning!

FYI, that block of wood weighed 6.5lbs, so I’m subtracting that to get the final weight.  Had to use it to get the wheel to sit on my mailing scale, LOL.

Now…for tires.  I’m pretty bummed about this part.  I went with some Hankook Ventus ST tires again as they are the only ones that had a size I thought would work: 295/45-20.  Not to many tire companies make that size, and TBH, it isn’t ideal.  The tire diameter is now 30.5″ vs stock 30.0″.  The 275/45-20 I had before gave me a 29.7″ diameter.  The objective for me was to stick as close as I can to stock OD, but if I had to change, going slightly under would be preferred as it is an effective way to change gear ratio slightly.  I’ve now gone in the other direction.  And to make matters worse…

The weight I saved on the wheel was eclipsed by the now-heavier tire…38lbs:

I gained ~3lbs by switching to the new wheel/tire combo! Not winning!:

So, mounted, balanced and riding around, the car is fine, no rubbing at all.  I added the tirestickers again and I actually like the “stance” way better:

There is visibly less wheel well gap and ride height.  Who would think 1/2″ taller tire could look so different.  I will say, I get WAY more looks and snapped-necks with these wheels than I ever did with the TE-37s.

I’m just not 100% happy with the tires (weight). So, I’m still searching for a better one.  My dream tires would be a set of Nitto NT05R, but they don’t make a size I can use (or WANT to use, is a better way of putting it).  To open up my options, I’ve recently been entertaining the idea of going with some 305/40-20s that will bring me closer to a diameter I had with the TE-37s, but I’m curious if I’m playing with fire as far as rubbing issues.  I’ve seen that the ContiSportContact 5P tires come in that size, have more grip than the Hankook’s and, from what I’ve seen online, weigh 35lbs.  That would put me right back at the ~58lbs I had with the Volk’s and bring my OD down closer to OEM as they are a hair shorter than the 295/45-20s…

I’m also liking what I’m reading about the Pirelli P Zero (Porsche Edition).

…but I really, really want drag radials…LOL.  305/35-20s are just too small and nobody makes a taller drag radial.  Anyway, the car is ever evolving…

EDIT: Follow-up to this post with some updated tires!!!