17" Racing Hart Type C2 3-piece rims

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07-15-2008, 10:23 AM

w1ngman

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17" Racing Hart Type C2 3-piece rims

I believe the following FS post meets with the Carolina rules (unless you include an expectation of brevity

). Just wanted my southern neighbors to be aware of sale

...

17" Racing Hart Type C2 3-piece rims.

Make: Racing Hart
Model: C2 3-piece
Size: Fronts 17x7 ; Rears 17x8
Offset: Fronts +40 ; Rears +47
Weight: Fronts 20# ; Rears 20.5#
Bolt Pattern: 5x114.3 & 4x114.3
Front Tires: Kumho Ecsta SPTs ; 215/45ZR17 ; 50%+ tread
Rear Tires: Kumho Ecsta SPTs ; 245/40ZR17 ; 99.99%+ tread
Price: $1200 + Shipping (+ 3% PayPal fee if buyer opts for that method of payment). I will also accept certified bank check. No personal checks accepted. No shipment will be made until payment clears. No need to 'make offers' - this price is fair, and equally firm.

History & Condition:

Anyone familiar with my wheels appreciates that they are rare Racing Hart TYPE C2 3 piece made in Japan. Do not be fooled by the fake RH Evo 1 piece wheels. These are the real deal.

Personal history for those interested:

In August of 2003, I purchased a set of 4 rims from S TWO K. And as this particular rim had already been discontinued by Racing Hart for over 5 years, to suggest these JDM rims are rare today is frankly, an absolute understatement! S TWO K sold me four 8" rims with +47 offsets and a unique 5/4 lug pattern.

An additional note of August 2003 history: I mounted S TWO K's 8" Type C2s on The Bruised Banana with 60,000 miles on the odo. Today...

...my odo is right at 180,000

. A buncha miles, but as you can see from the original rolling images, these rims still look great

.

After a lot of scouring of the Internet, a couple years later I purchased a matched set of 7" Type C2s with +40 offsets and the same unique 5/4 bolt pattern. This 7" set was in much less favorable cosmetic condition. However, in making that investment, I created an opportunity to blend a set of 7" & 8" to assure excellent fitment, proper stagger, and zero rub

on a well-dropped (but not 'dumped') Bruised Banana. Not to mention extra 'parts' should I ever damage one of the rims down the road :smart:

.

Around October of 2005, I paid Ye Ole Wheel Shop approximately $370 to recondition a properly-staggered set of 4 rims from my 'herd'

of 8

. <-- and again, all kidding aside, my 'insurance investment' in having purchased a 2nd set of these rare rims proved invaluable to enjoying them over these many years now.

Current condition for those interested:

Presently these rolling rims are still in great shape for their age and miles traveled. There is a nick here and there, but not a single one of the rolling 4 rims have curb rash. None of them have bends. All center caps mount well. And all wheels hold air 100%.

The last thing I'll leave you with is some additional info I found in the past regarding these rare Racing Hart rims (and the RH Evo[lution] 'knock-offs' that have since been sold by various vendors):

"...Racing Hart Japan made the Type C2, Type C5, and a few other styles circa 1998. Note the "Type" in front of their names. Type C2 and Type C5 are all multipiece, not single pieces. They were discontinued a few years ago.

When Racing Hart was still producing Type C2 and C5, Dazz Motorsport allegedly copied them, outsourced the manufacturing somewhere in Asia, and called them Racing Hart Evolution C2 and C5. These wheels are one piece and bear Racing Hart imprints on the caps and/or spokes. Dazz at that time also imported (they still do at this time) real Racing Hart wheels to the USA. Knowing that Dazz copied their design and used the Racing Hart name, Takechi Project (I think this company is the owner of Racing Hart, Lowenhart names and a few others) sued or threatened to sue Dazz for brand name infringement (sp).

Because of this, Dazz changed the name to RH Evolution and still markets the C2, C5, and later launched C3, S15, and so on. These are all one piece wheels and still made in Asia. It was believed that the wheels are made in Taiwan, Thailand, and China. Lately, RH Evo launched more styles and some of them are 2-pc wheels.

So in short, Racing Hart made Type C2 and Type C5, both multipiece. RH sells C2 and C5, too (without "Type"). The styling is very close, except RH Evo C2 and C5 don't have rivets.

It's easy to distinguish between RH Evo and Racing Hart. Racing Hart wheels will say, naturally, Racing Hart on the center caps and everywhere else on the wheels. Most if not all Racing Hart wheels are multipiece.

RH Evo will say RH or RH Evolution, except those early produced ones. Some of those early produced ones carries Racing Hart names. Only RH Evo "Pro" line wheels are multipiece, like J8, J5, etc. The rest is 1-piece.

Due to this confusion, a lot of wheel shops take advantage of their customers by saying that RH=Racing Hart therefore giving the false confidence that their newly purchased RH Evo rims are made by Racing Hart."

Well...that's about it I guess. I hope this information assures any prospective buyer of these rims' pedigree. And provides ample appreciation for the money I've invested to keep a piece of history alive, while offering their next owner a rare opportunity to stand out at any S2000 get-together

. If interested, I would be willing to sell the [additional] 'insurance set' of 4 rims as-is for another $300 (same payment expectations as noted above for the 'rolling 4'). However, understand that I have no interest in selling this 'insurance set' of 4 rims until the advertised 'rolling set' of 4 rims is purchased.

Best Regards & thanks in advance for your interest

- Dave

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07-15-2008, 10:23 AM

w1ngman

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Join Date: Nov 2001

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I received an inquiry into the 'insurance set' of rims and while I replied to that PM personally, I thought it worthwhile to post my response here as well for additional clarification ...

To understand one piece of history I didn't worry about getting deeply into, keep in mind that my original purchase from S TWO K was for 4 8" rims (non-staggered). While I *did* roll on those rims as-is, I was rubbing in the fronts due to the +47 offsets. So as indicated in the FS thread, I looked for an 'insurance set'...and what I didn't really clarify I guess is that I 'lucked into' a set of 4 7" rims with +40 offsets. They proved to offer a great 'mix'...taking 2 of the 7"s for fronts & 2 of the 8"s for rears (leaving me a second ['insurance'] set with the same stats/dimensions). As noted in some historical s2ki.com thread links, I then took all 8 wheels to Ye Ole Wheel Shop in Ellicott City, MD and had 4 staggered rims repaired/reconditioned...leaving me with 4 staggered rims in disrepair/un-conditioned (make sense?).

So that said, and to answer your questions, the 'insurance set' is also a staggered set...with same 'stats/dimensions' as described in 'rolling set' of my FS thread except the 'insurance set' has no rubber mounted, and cannot be overlooked that they have never seen a lick of

by previous owner(s).

Of those 4 'insurance' rims...one of them definitely took an hard in-out through a pothole, and its chrome rim side of the 3-piece cannot be mistaken for having a bend. However even with that bend, and all other 'general cosmetic' issues, I was assured by Ye Ole Wheel Shop that they too can be repaired/reconditioned (I just had no interest in investing any further at that time...opting instead to be pleased to know I had backup rims/parts should I ever damage my 'rolling set'. Fair enough?

All that said...as you can see...a $300 purchase...plus ~ $100 each for repair/reconditioning if so desired (still $700, right?) would allow a buyer an opportunity to own great set of rare rims.

But again, make no mistake, this 'insurance set' is not ready-to-roll. Personally, I'd have all 4 'insurance rims' reconditioned if I were going to run them...just to be sure

Does this information help? And again...all this said...

I can appreciate that a buyer of the 'rolling set' may well want to gain the 'insurance marker' of the 2nd set for backup (similar to my own thinking). <-- But that's just cuz I think I know everything