I have to be honest, I was a bit leery of this venture. There are a few things about this undertaking that had me nervous, the first being that the final product would, quite simply, not be original. It would not be the original Rays Engineering finish. Of course this dilemma is not the end of the world and I do not categorize myself as a "purist," (I do not like that term when referring to automotive modification), but I do pride myself on the fact that I respect the original designs and the true innovators of the aftermarket world. It took a bit of convincing, but I eventually agreed that simply changing the color of a set of wheels is hardly blasphemous or hypocritical. I desired certain sizings, offsets, and a certain finish and I was able to obtain that combination without cutting any corners.
The second predicament I brought upon myself was the issue of the Rays Engineering stickers found on the inside of the barrel of authentic Volk Racing wheels (seen in this post). Well, this issue was addressed as well. I believe these wheels came back to me looking as though they came directly from Mackin this way. I think the only way you might know that this is not the original Rays finish is if you actually ran the serial numbers on these wheels.
The final "issue" I had lay with the Volk Racing TE37SL spoke decals. I was informed that the colored decals (or at least the color I desired) are no longer offered. Thus, I received the traditional red spoke decals. With the help of my friend Brian I was able to track down a good decal shop to develop an exact template of the Volk Racing decal and create new spoke decals in the color this project demanded. Boom.
Some pictures…
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| The obligatory "box shot"... |
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| It was a challenge capturing the true color of these custom stickers... |
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| Sans decals... |
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| Decal as it will appear when properly applied... |
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| Notice the identifying stickers on the inside of the barrel... |
I know this combination will not meet the approval of everyone. That comes with the territory. However, I think once everything is installed, many of these parts will complement one and other nicely and the identity of this project will be a bit more apparent. We shall see… I am anticipating the arrival of a few additional parts within the coming weeks and do not see these rollers being mounted any time soon. I am in no rush. However, I think the wait will be worth it. Stay tuned…
JDMphasis… Innovation over Imitation
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