Banpei's two door panda Trueno from Japan

[oldskull]

Silver ftw!

[Koen]

I'm wondering if the sizes they listed in your auction actually match with your wheels because mine fit a lot less wide although they are supposed to give more poke.

Did you fully load the suspension? I see you put blocks under the wheels so I suppose you did. Otherwise they will camber in a bit when you put the car on it's wheels.


This is silver formula mesh on a silver panda car. Size is 14x7 ET-3


This is the front fitment with 185/60R14 tires. It's supposed to poke 3mm more than your wheels if I compare the specs (you have 6mm more due to the 1/2" extra width, but 9 mm less due to offset so the difference should be 3mm)


Also picked up a set of Watanabe's in 14x7.5 ET-10 (according to seller, did check it roughly and it seems to be correct)


This is the front fitment with 185/60R14 tires. It's supposed to poke 16mm more than your wheels if I compare the specs.

The car only has lowering springs (40mm). The Watanabe's are a bit too aggressive without more suspension and fender mods I guess, but with 16mm less it might just clear.

[banpei]

Thanks for sharing those photos, those are very helpful! I must say, both look great on your car. Also, these have now convinced me that mine should become silver as well!
I did put the wheel on wooden blocks to compress the suspension with the weight of the car, so they were fully loaded.

Oldskull also sent me his specs, and according to that, mine should fit without an issue.
The wheels were sold as SSR Formula Mesh 7.5J Type B, and no offset was mentioned. Type B means they have an inner barrel of 4.5 inches and an offset of 6. This is where the offset of 6 comes from, just me reading the SSR spec sheets. But your photos lead me to believe these wheels are definitely not Type B.

There are no marks on the wheels that could identify these as Type A, B or C. Usually there are SSR quality control stickers with the width and offset. It could be that the seller measured from the outside and then assumed it was a Type B, while it actually is a Type A. The Type A has an inner barrel of 5 inches and an offset of -6. This would be much more in line with your Watanabe set, and the Wats at the front appear to be closer to mine.

Another possibility is that these wheels actually once were Type B, but have been rebarreled to 8 inch wide. The inner barrel may still be the same, but the outside has changed. This could make them wider than the original and change the offset. I don't think it's likely to be more than 8J as the photo of these wheels next to the 6.5 inch Impul Mesh wheels doesn't show a dramatic difference in width.

So, in the end, I'll just have to measure them myself and then calculate the actual offset myself.

[Koen]

That would make sense. I did some digging and found the spec sheet of SSR Formula Mesh on the internet from ~2004. They say it could be either -9 (A) or +3 (B) for 14x7.5

If they were B, then the outer lip would fit the same as my 14x7 type A. If they are A, then it would be similar to the Wats. My guess is that they are A .. maybe the other two are different when they show up

You could try to trade these wheels (or barrels only) for a pair of B-types? Usually the wider and more aggressive, the more expensive so it would be a good deal voor both

I visited DJexor once to buy some 15" SSR's and I think he collected a lot of stuff over the years. He might just be able to help you.

[banpei]

Right after work, I measured the wheels:


196mm from rim to rim and including rims, it's 208mm in total width.
The backspacing is 110mm measured from where the wheels mount to the hub.
The offset therefore is...(insert drum roll here)...-6!
Exactly as Koen predicted, judging from those photos.

I measured both wheels, and both are Type A and not Type B. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the other two wheels are Type B. If not, I can always try to swap them with someone else who has the correct offset. I'm not sure Custom Car Alloys (Djexor) has a lot of choice in 14 inch as that's not their usual customer base, but who knows...

[The Doctor]

Also it's not easy to swap the inner or outer barrels, as they're welded togetger.

[banpei]

(07-14-2026 01:05 AM)The Doctor Wrote:  Also it's not easy to swap the inner or outer barrels, as they're welded togetger.

Correct. Djexor has machining to cut them in half again, but it would require significant effort to do so. I'll just have to see what turns up in the mail in a few weeks. If those turn out to be -6 as well, I could always put some aggressive camber at the front.

[DJexor]

[Sorry for the late reply. I agree with Ivan about the color. I think i like the centers to be in the color of the car.
From the looks these are 14x7.5 -9 type A, meaning 4 inch inner lips and 3.5 inch outer lips. I had 15x7.5 -8 at the front with toyo proxes t1r 195/50 tires and it was rubbing already a little. I changed them to 8 -2, same outer position, but becausr the wheel was wider it stretched the tire a bit more solving the rubbing problem. I think it still might work using 185. I currently have only 14x3.5 lips in stock. 3 inch i can ship in at the next bulk order.
I dont take the effort to split anymore. The barrels are quite often already shit (pitting, not straight so i use new inner lips and make them real 3 piece wheels.

[banpei]

Today, on 86-day, the second set arrived!


The rims inside this box measure 180mm between the two rims (and about 200mm from the outside), so they are 7 inches wide. I also measured the backspacing, which was about 97mm. I would say the offset is about 0 in this case (or -3 as Koen's SSR Formula Mesh), which also makes it a type A. This would push them out about 31mm compared to my current wheels (6.5 +25), which is exactly what I measured last year as the ideal wheel at the front.

It's also clear these wheels have predominantly been used at the front by the previous owner: they have a couple of small kerbing marks, and a thicker layer of brake dust has caked on the inner barrel. The lips and centre seem to be in better condition than the ones on the 7.5-inch-wide wheels and the wheels appear to be straight. They are a bargain for what I paid for them, but the amount of elbow grease necessary to make them look great is still a lot. Captain hindsight says I probably should have skipped them.

[Koen]

Happy 86 day! that's a great present to receive

So basically you've got the perfect set by accident. They don't look that bad, the lips are quite ok. I would probably remove the centers, have them blasted and painted (I've tried powder coating once, but layer thickness is an issue) and just polish the lips.

A friend of mine once bought 4 crates of beer and invited 3 friends to watch a movie and drink. Then gave them all a wheel instead. They were done at the end of the evening (also the beer was finished )