rondog

iTrader: (1)

Ok, so here are some new pics of the first samples off the assembly line, the RonJon Sport Design Legend wheel in Hyper Black Finish , in 19" x 8.0" with a 45mm offset, built specifically for the RL. The finishes are experimental for now, but we are leaning towards the full Liquid Graphite shown in the 2nd pic... We will have actual images of these wheels mounted on a 245/40/19 tire and on an RL by next week.












here's the 19" with a diamond cut face and gunmetal paint. I think the other finish better already...

UW RL

wow.. those look nice!

Davan

NICE!!! What does Raven Black look like?

rondog

iTrader: (1)

Imagine the last two pics, but instead of anthracite paint with a mirror face, its Raven black paint with a mirror face. Kinda like the Inspyre in Raven black, here:

neuronbob

(Mod hat on...)Will sticky on main page for now as 2G RL needs good wheel choices...just for you Ron....(Mod hat off......)


Um.....

Can't wait to see pics on an RL.

Anticipated price range? 19s only or will there be an 18? Weight, compared to the stock 17 or A-Spec 18s? More details please.....

The Inspyre in Raven black also wouldn't look bad on a celestial silver RL, as well, but I understand the market demand thing....

bmerton

Nice wheels! Another vote for 18's here...and the full graphite treatment works for me. Might as well, with Carbon Grey.

Same question...How much do they weigh, compared to the stockers? I'd love to get some SSR Comps in a 17 or 18" wheel, but TireRack doesn't carry them and not sure of their availability. If you made a Comp-type wheel (anthracite with polished lip), I'd be all over them!

rondog

iTrader: (1)

Right now they will only be available in 19". but since we are starting production on the 26th of this month, I can add the 18" to the line if we get preorders.

Pricing on the two is as follows:
-18" x 8.0" with a 45mm offset: $270 each
-19" x 8.0" with a 45mm offset: $345 each

the weight will be posted as soon as the prototype samples arrive, but they will be lighter than the comparable OEM wheel, I just don't know by how much until I weight them myself. And they are strong, strong enough to support the weight of an MDX and some.

Reson we aren't making a lip style wheel is that the lip would be very small, since the BBK in the front is so large and the offset is so high.

skiunow

How about 20"? I'll preorder a set right now if you can do a 20" set.

rondog

iTrader: (1)

At this pooint, there is no 20" made to fit the Rl, we wanted the 20" version to have a deep lip, but we had to settle for no BBK clearance, so it would make it on the RL. We have one guy who is going to use spacers to make it fit, I'll report back to see how that looks and rides when its done.

Ry4an

Count me in for a set of the 18s. Let me know what I need to do to pre-order 'em.

neuronbob

Can someone Photoshop these onto an RL as we await Ron's pics?

VOdoc

Are those bad boys suitable for 2006 Tech (CMBS-PAX) with 18" non-PAX tires? Will the TPMS still work?

skiunow

Ron, this wheel is perfect, I do not want a lip. If there is any chance a 20" size is possible, count me in. PM me and I will send payment in full immediately.

Chas2

I have confirmed with my Acura dealer that the TPMS parts numbers are the same for PAX wheels as for standard wheels. So that should work. The RonJon wheels appear to be narrower, by more than 1 inch, when compared to the PAX, so they should work fine. I do not know what impact the narrower wheel would have on a 245 mm section tire.

Does anyone know?

What I have not been able to confirm is the wheel width,which is why I said "appear to be narrower" above. Indications from Michelin are that the wheel width on the PAX system is 235 mm or 9.3 inches. I believe for our PAX tire, the allowable wheel width is 235 to 245 mm.

The 9.3 inches seems to be confirmed by just a physical measurement (very imprecise, just sticking a ruler through the spokes), which shows the physical wheel width to be near 10 inches wide. It is hard to get a precise measurement without taking the wheel off the car since the wheel has an inner diameter that is about an inch smaller than the outer diameter of 460 mm (18.1 inches).

Wheel width measurements on standard wheels are taken inside the lip that the bead sits on, so the near 10 inches overall width I measured would seem to support the 9.3 inch width on the Michelin spec sheets. Of course Acura will not confirm that there is a mistake in their press release on the RL chassis features.

Can anyone else shed light on this?

synth19

wow, those are nice!

Treblig

Hey Ron, why 8" and not 8.5" widths? Very nice wheel by the way

rondog

iTrader: (1)

8" wide is same as OEM width, and allows you to play with the tire size.
245/40/19 for sport or 255/40/19 for comfort, either way, you can upgrade up from the OEM 245 to the 255 without widening the wheel. On a wider wheel, the 245 tires would be much more stretched and would have a less comfortable ride quality. Tires in the 265+ would also start to rise in price substantially. Also, the 8" wide is going to save a little more weight over the wider wheel. We thought about this for a while and came to this conclusion based on the benefits outweighing the cons. If the RL was putting down more power (i drove a few already) then I would say, yeah, it needs a wider wheel and tire, but its pretty conservative with the traction and power.

when you measure a wheel width, you have to do so from the inside of the bead where the tire mounts, not from the outside dimension of the wheel, same with the diameter, since the tire side of the wheel lip is what has to conform to the specs. OEm wheel size is 17" x 8". even A-Spec tire size is 18" x 8", and so we followed the same size since the RL has such a sensitive specification, but we did lower the offset a bit to bring the wheels out a little more a bit of added aggressiveness.

Touge

I like the design, but as I have said before I need 8.5-9.0 for my needs. I love the way a meaty tire setup looks on the RL. Hope you reconsider.

synth19

Are these cast or forged?

Chas2

I wonder if the wider PAX wheel is why I cannot put the A-Spec suspension on the rear of the Tech Package car?

I wonder if I switch to these 8" wheels, if the A-Spec suspension can be put on the rear of the car?

Treblig

skiunow

Chas2, sombody's filling you full of crap about installing the A-spec kit on your car. If your car came with run-flat tires or not, you got the exact same wheel that every RL has been delivered with since it's introduction. They are all 17x8.

rondog

iTrader: (1)

ok, just got the wheels in a few minutes ago and boy are they perty in person, the Liquid Graphite looks absolutely amazing, even myrelatives said that its too hard to capture the finish in a photo because the wheel looks different at every angle.

Here are the wheel weights:

18" x 8" with a 45mm offset- 23.4lbs
19" x 8" with a 45mm offset- 24.6lbs

Even the 19" wheel is lighter than the stock 17" x 8" wheel which weighs in at around 24-25 lbs. I hope this satisfies those who were hopeing the wheels were light.

More pics to come of the wheels on an actual RL. I was sent the 5 x 120 bolt pattern since thats the weakest PCD to be tested with. So now I'm going to test fit the 19" x 8" with a 245/40/19 tire on a White RL. Pics coming soon!

BTW, the Stock wheel is 17" x 8", and our wheels are in no way smaller than the Stock wheels. As for the PAX, I have to wait until my Dealer in gets a set to test fit on their RL with the results.
Our offset will actually put the wheel out 10mm, so it will look more aggressive too without rubbing on the fender.

skiunow

I can hardly sit still in my chair right now! =)

rondog

iTrader: (1)

Pressure Cast, strong enough to support the RL and MDX for that matter, we load rated them to 1600 lbs each wheel, more than whats required. Weight is pretty light too.


And to you guys about the 8.5" vs 8.0", we can't do it now. In all honesty, I can respect your need for an extra.5", but my rational is that if you want that width for added grip, then thats really on the tire not the wheel, since both widths can accept the same tire. a 255 on an 8" wide vs a 255 on an 8.5" wide will have the same traction and pretty much same look. Look at the 2nd Gen CL and TL wheels, those are 17" x 6.5" for the TL and 17" x 7" for the CL, its hard to tell the difference and the same tire is sued on both wheels, 215/50/17. So it doesn't make any sense to us to do that, sorry. besides, the RL will account for only 12% of our sales at the rate we are going now, hardly enought o change the mold whoch costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Chas2

What do you mean by weakest PCD?

Chas2

A little off topic, but...

I have had three dealers, my local and two internet dealers, confirm that the A-Spec suspension cannot be installed on cars originally equipped with PAX wheel system. All three independently cited the A-Spec info sheets from Acura saying the suspension cannot be applied to PAX system cars. My dealer went the extra mile by checking front and rear suspension part numbers on the PAX vs non PAX vehicles, and found different rear spring and shock part numbers, but confirmed the fronts were the same. My Pohanka Acura dealer and Tim at Ray Laks (hondaacuraworld.com) were not able to find out from the Acura tech line why.

As far as I can tell, the PAX wheels are metric 235 mm x 460 mm, (approximately 9.3" x 18.1"). PAX wheels are asymmetrical, the "inner" wheel lip/bead seat being approximately 25 mm smaller diameter than the outside (facing the street) wheel lip/bead seat. The PAX tires are approximately equivalent to 245/45-18 tires.

I do not know why the PAX system changes the rear suspension set up, and no one can tell me why.

I do believe that I can "de PAX" the car given enough money for new wheels, tires, TMPS, compact spare and compact spare trunk mounting hardware.

I do not know if once de PAXed, I would also be able to fit the A-Spec suspension.

There are stories in this forum of an 06 not originally equipped with PAX, running PAX for 200 miles with no problems, and of a dealer trying to install the A-Spec suspension on an 06 Tech Pack, and the rear pieces not fitting.

Now if you meant the rest of the A-Spec kit, the appearance mods, the 18" wheels, I do believe those items do fit on the PAX originally equipped cars, although I do not know of anyone in this forum that has actually dumped the PAX system in favor of A-Spec wheels and say, Pilot Sport A/S or Sport PS2, etc.

I suspect you will be seeing a lot of that happening in a year or two as all of us Tech Pack owners come to that fork in the road where the 2 year/50% treadlife replacement warranty from Michelin has expired, and the time comes to replace the PAX tires, at around $500 a piece for Pilot MXM4s because there are no other PAX tires that are made to fit the Acura RL (except the Michelin X-Ice).

BbPhaeton

Chas2, if I recall from reading a post from Qatar, the PAX rear suspension is different due to PAX system packaged with the Tech package (for 2006).

I think the CMBS requires a bracket in the rear suspension for the CMBS brake.

Search for Qatar's post. Unfortunately, there is no pictures on how it looks like, so I am not sure if it's possible to weld the bracket to the A-Spec supsension.

Of course for 2007, Acura made the Tech package the middle options, and the PAX/CMBS package use a different name which package name I don't recall now (see the sticky topic).

treky11

any chance on doing the diamond face cut? i think that it may look better on the silver rls.

neuronbob

Man, if only you'd had these out when I bought my RL a few months ago.

I am hoping they lood good on a real RL. If so, I have a big, expensive decision to make.

Damn you, Ron!

rondog

iTrader: (1)

hard to explain, but the further apart the bolt holes are, technically, the wheel is structurally weaker. Like testing the wheel for an MDX and then knowing that when it's bolted up to an accord, it'll pass for the load rating. just some testing procedures, nothing more.

neuronbob

PCD=Pitch Center Diameter. It is the diameter of an imaginary circle made by the center of the lug holes, so it's also called "bolt circle" or "bolt pattern". The PCD on wheels for the RL is 5 (the number of lug holes) X 120 mm.

is my friend.

Now where are those pictures?

Roy Cya

What he said!!!

rondog

iTrader: (1)

OMG, just test fitted them on the CL, only thing is that I had to drill out the 5 x 120 to a 5 x 114.3 just to measure caliper clearance,
Keep in mind, this is a 19" x 8" with a 45mm offset and an RL Specific 245/40/19. Pics on an actual RL coming tomorrow. ANd this finish is temporary, the real finish will be coming along with the first batch, its a finish called Liquid Graphite, its pretty cool, almost like a lighter version of hyper black.

Ry4an

Those look great! How does one pre-order for the 18"s and how many of us have to do so for you to order them when you order the 19"s?

Thanks!

bmerton

I'll be in for a set of 18's...

rondog

iTrader: (1)

damn, I never thought 18" would be more popular than the 19". Either way, I think we will be making the 18" if we have at least 5 preorders. Call in now so we can add them to the production schedule. with 18", you would need a 45 series tire btw.

neuronbob

If I do it, I'd have to go for 18's too, the ride quality and handling are perfect at that level; with 19's the ride would be compromised and the wheels more susceptible to pothole damage.

It will really help me to see these on an RL, so you get the official:

on an RL.

EDIT: forgot to ask....dumb question, I know...is there room for a set of TPMS sensors in these wheels? If I buy, I'll just purchase another set of sensors.

vishnus11

astounding beautiful wheels that should REALLY help accentuate a RL. Those stock wheels are a major let down, but with these wheels its not a problem.

Can't wait to see it fitted to an RL. Major props to RonJon for all the work and effort he's put in

rondog

iTrader: (1)

Well, show your interest by calling in or preordering the 18", but in all honesty, the 19" with 245/40/19 will ride fairly comfortable, like 18" on any other regular car. But if you guys want 18", let me know.