| process from considering re-chroming to re-painting. I presently have: Front - Stillen Enkei GTV Wheels 17" x 8" with Michelin Pilot Sport Plus All season radials 245/45/R17, and Rear - Stillen Enkei GTV Wheels 17" x 9" with Michelin
Pilot Sport Plus All season radials 275/40/R17 Because the front brakes are large Stillen (AP Racing) 4 piston clipers with 13' drilled rotors finding a new 17" wheel that would fit over the large brake calipers was next to impossible unless I had custom wheels made. Custom wheels ran $600 plus and was not an option due to cost. I called a place in California that is well known for chroming and their cost to re-chrome each wheel was $500 which again was not an option due to cost. Next I found a wheel shop that offered to "Refinish" the wheels for a reasonable price. Big mistake - After almost two months I picked up the car with the "Refinished" wheels mounted. They did a half-a$$ job. I could do the work to finish the "Refinish" job my self but decided to just get new wheels. I had several viable options to consider: 1. Replace the existing 17" tires and 17" wheels with 18" tires and 18" wheels.
2. Install smaller brake clipers on the front so that I could get new 17" wheels and use my existing 17" tires (Michelin Pilot Sport Plus AS radial with less than 500 miles on them - paid over $1,000 for the tires).
3. Keep the 17" existing tires and 17" rims. Repaint and polish them myself (Low cost option). I like the existing wheels but they are no longer sold by Stillen or Enkie and are fairly rare. They are 17" wheel with low profile metal racing valve stems that were probably custom made for Stillen to fit over their large brake kits. I decided to go with new 18" wheels and new 18" Michelin Pilot Super Sports tires. I plan to sell the four 17" wheels and tires for $500 to move them out of my garage. There is much more to this story but I did not want to turn this into a rant! The existing wheels can be seen in my sig photo below. Once I get the new wheel mounted I will take a new picture for my sig.
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