Aluminum Grand National Rims

[Bweavy]

I'll just say the ball is now rolling. We were able to get with a major wheel manufacturer in the U.S. to help us out.

We should have some pics in about 2-3 weeks.

[Yankee John]

Bravo Brian- I'll be watching this thread closely!

John

[mr go fast]

US Manufacters? I wonder who it is. American Racing is no longer a company and even then they sourced their wheels over seas. I would say American Eagle, Ultra or Prime Wheel I hope. I deal with a lot of wheel companys that are in the US but still outsource their castings in China. Im down for a set. Hook it up.

[QUIP'6']

subscribed

[SPOOLFOOL2]

Any word on price?

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by mr go fast

US Manufacters? I wonder who it is. American Racing is no longer a company and even then they sourced their wheels over seas. I would say American Eagle, Ultra or Prime Wheel I hope. I deal with a lot of wheel companys that are in the US but still outsource their castings in China. Im down for a set. Hook it up.

I stated US Company. I'm sure they will be built over seas. We are doing a limited run of 125 sets. If they do well we will move on to GNX wheels.
I spoke with a few different people over the years trying to do this. I finally realized I was dealing with middle men who dealt with U.S. Companies.Once they put in their cut it wasn't feasable for us. Luckily I was able to hook up with one of our supporting vendors who had a close friend that worked for a wheel manufacturing company.

I'll leave the company out of this until we are sure that we have an exclusive. You will recognize the name.

The big problem going from a steel wheel to aluminum is keeping the look. With a GN being 2 piece steel & going to 1 piece ploished aluminum there is more meat needed for the rim. My biggest concern which I have stressed it where the center meats the outside shell we need that look.
We are waiting on the computer drawing showing this is how it will look. I know there will be changes once we receive them.
I'll post pics & we can see the best look.

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by SPOOLFOOL2

Any word on price?

As far as the price we are hammering out shipping. We sell 15 x 7 GN wheels now for $225 each with a core. I'm trying to keep the price the same.No cores will be involved.

Honestly it comes down to how many we buy,shipping, & mold costs.
I know we have to buy 500 wheels. Mold costs are crazy. If I can guarantee sales of 500 in 1 year We will be able to do this.
I think it is feasable due to the fact we have done close to 4000 GN wheels in 9 years.

I'm thinking if we do a pre order on these that will help with our financial strain on the initial costs. It will also save you guys on the retail costs as well. The most important thing is it would give us a definite idea of how may we want. Any thing less then 500 rims we would have to retail them well over $350.00 each & I don't think the would help sell any. The idea here is to get them reasonable & get them out there.

Before we would even think of doing that I would post the pics of what the wheel would look like.

Once we sell the 500 we will be able to put $ towards building GNX wheels hopefully in 17" or 18".
What we have to charge now to re-do a 16" wheel I feel bad when I have to tell the customer he prices. Same goes with the GN steel wheels.

I will be honest I'm sure many of you know we are responsible for building alot of new items for our cars over the years but in the last 18 months it has been hard to do so because we can't make our $ back in a reasonable amout of time.

Any input is welcomed & now would be the time. I did go back & read a poll we had on aluminum wheels so ther was alot of input on that.

[notacarlo]

do you want my credit card number now?

This thread makes my pants tight.

[mr go fast]

Im an 80's kinda guy. I would love a set of 17" GNX replicas. I would bet some people here would be on top of that as well.

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by notacarlo

do you want my credit card number now?

This thread makes my pants tight.

No I have you on file, you just paid $25K for the mold fees
Merry Christmas!

Like I said they will get us some pics of what they can do for us & we can chose(yes all of us) what will be the best way to go.

[notacarlo]

I can live with that.

[SPOOLFOOL2]

Very interested.

[turbogus]

me too

[Squid4life]

Nice, can't wait to see them...

[GNBRETT]

Nice work Bri. They will certainly be on my next GN. When that will be I am not sure but I was just thinking about those rims a couple of weeks ago and wondered if you had made any progress. Apparently you have.

I think those will be a HUGE seller if they can retain the same factory look and still beable to attach the factory wheel caps. Cant wait to see the pics. I am assuming they will be available in the wider sizes 15x10, 12, etc...

[at7we2]

subscribed! very interested! little confused on what style you're planning to offer. from reading previous posts, it sounds like you're planning on offering aluminum '86/'87 style GN wheels first, then 17" or 18" GNX wheels later??

either way, I hope they will be available in 17x9 1/2 and 17x8

[yangiant51]

Subscribed!

[TurboBuRick]

Can't wait to see them.

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by GNBRETT

Nice work Bri. They will certainly be on my next GN. When that will be I am not sure but I was just thinking about those rims a couple of weeks ago and wondered if you had made any progress. Apparently you have.

I think those will be a HUGE seller if they can retain the same factory look and still beable to attach the factory wheel caps. Cant wait to see the pics. I am assuming they will be available in the wider sizes 15x10, 12, etc...

Caps should be able to be used from what we talked about. The issue of lugs came up. Worst case scenario it will be a new round cap installed from the back to look factory.

We are going to do all 15x7 with 3" back spacing. Instead of the 3.5. This will allow us to modify them into 4" back spacing & get 15 x 8".

These are our 2 most popular sellers.
Normally we get all 7"
The 2nd most popular is 7" front & 8" rear.
3rd is 8" all the way around.
Next casting we do after these will be 15 x 8.5 & that will allow is to go to 9".

I doubt we will ever do a 10" We never sold a whole bunch of these because of the internet saying it can not be done.I think we sold a total of 60 of these over the years, me having 6 of them.

notacarlo Not the reaction I was expecting but you are good

[notacarlo]

Like you Brian, I aim to please.


Pants are still tighter.

[BlackMetal]

Great work with the aluminum GN rims, but I'm drooling over the possibility of 17 or 18" GNX wheels!!

[GNBRETT]

Originally Posted by Bweavy

Caps should be able to be used from what we talked about. The issue of lugs came up. Worst case scenario it will be a new round cap installed from the back to look factory.

We are going to do all 15x7 with 3" back spacing. Instead of the 3.5. This will allow us to modify them into 4" back spacing & get 15 x 8".

These are our 2 most popular sellers.
Normally we get all 7"
The 2nd most popular is 7" front & 8" rear.
3rd is 8" all the way around.
Next casting we do after these will be 15 x 8.5 & that will allow is to go to 9".

I doubt we will ever do a 10" We never sold a whole bunch of these because of the internet saying it can not be done.I think we sold a total of 60 of these over the years, me having 6 of them.

Sounds good Bri. Will 15X10 or 12 be available thru special order? Im sure they would be expensive but would they be available is someone wanted to spend the extra money?

I like the installation of the cap from the rear idea. Atleast they won't fall out.

[at7we2]

Originally Posted by BlackMetal

Great work with the aluminum GN rims, but I'm drooling over the possibility of 17 or 18" GNX wheels!!

X2!!

[6APPEAL]

Originally Posted by BlackMetal

Great work with the aluminum GN rims, but I'm drooling over the possibility of 17 or 18" GNX wheels!!

X3!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John

[turbojd]

Originally Posted by BlackMetal

Great work with the aluminum GN rims, but I'm drooling over the possibility of 17 or 18" GNX wheels!!

X4! Sounds sweet

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by turbojd

X4! Sounds sweet

I was just speaking with a GNX owner who is ordering a set of rears to replace his factory rims. He already bought the fronts. He asked would we be doing 17' or 18". My response is it will depend on the tire market 2 years ago there were alot of 16" tire options. In a year or so there may be more 17 or 18" Tire options we're not sure.

I do think we will be doing 17 or 18 x 9.5" we will just have to cut down to 8.5" for the fronts.

[GNBRETT]

I guess as long as the centers look correct and center caps are available one could always have them widened on their own. I had my GNX style Aluminum rims widned about 7 years ago.

[thrlskr]

Sign me up for a set of GN style wheels...looking forward to the pics.

[BlackMetal]

Originally Posted by Bweavy

I was just speaking with a GNX owner who is ordering a set of rears to replace his factory rims. He already bought the fronts. He asked would we be doing 17' or 18". My response is it will depend on the tire market 2 years ago there were alot of 16" tire options. In a year or so there may be more 17 or 18" Tire options we're not sure.

I do think we will be doing 17 or 18 x 9.5" we will just have to cut down to 8.5" for the fronts.

I'd say it's a safe bet that as time goes on it will be much easier to find 17" or 18" tires than 16".

17x9.5" sounds awesome!

[Boston GN]

Still interested in an 18" GNX wheel!!!!!


Subscribed

[olds443]

I don't think you'll have any problem selling the GN wheels, besides to GN owners, I don't know how many El Caminos I have seen with GN wheels.

[olds443]

Oh.... is it too early to ask for T Type wheels in 17"? I never cared for them much until I got my T Type and then they grew on me.

[GNBRETT]

Originally Posted by olds443

Oh.... is it too early to ask for T Type wheels in 17"? I never cared for them much until I got my T Type and then they grew on me.

That would be kool I agree. T-Type aluminum wheels 15x10. That would be the ultimate sleeper look. They do kinda grow on ya when your lookin for that nostalgic look. I was going to entertain a set for for my Turbo-T before I sold it.

[Bweavy]

Originally Posted by GNBRETT

That would be kool I agree. T-Type aluminum wheels 15x10. That would be the ultimate sleeper look. They do kinda grow on ya when your lookin for that nostalgic look. I was going to entertain a set for for my Turbo-T before I sold it.

I have a set of 15 x 9.5 on one of my 86 wh-1's now. Looks pretty sweet. Used an old set of 8.5" Vector wheels & added an inch to the back of the rim.
You can see the weld in the back of the 1 rim. I have better pics installed This was just easier to find

They are actually working on the GN wheels right now as far as what they will need for a center section. We sent them a complete wheel & just the center section cut out.

As far as the 18" GNX wheels the centers are being sent off. Building them in 17" then can modify with a 1/2" band to make them into 18". We have done a few 17" already with a 1/2" band around the 16". Just pretty costly & labor intensive. It adds about $100 to each 16" rim. Easier to make the center 1/2" bigger not so easy to cut it down 1/2".

[jdpolzin]

If you made an 18" GNX wheel, hey would definately sell. It's not 1986 anymore, people like bigger wheels now a days. Thats a fact. 16's were cool 12 years ago. Plane and simple.