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I am so stoked that my custom wheels came in over the weekend and wanted to share with fellow F type owners of an excellent and incredibly affordable custom wheel company, BSPK Forged.
I have not seen them mentioned on these forums and I believe I may have the first set of their wheels on an F Type so I wanted to share my experience in case others may want to check them out. John Repucci is the owner and operator and he is such a professional person to work with. Very responsive, concise, and helpful.
Please note: I am not affiliated with the company or owner at all, just a satisfied and repeat customer.
My car is a 2015 V6S with the Superperformance brake package (380/376mm brakes)
Fronts: 20x9 +40 offset; weight 20.5 lbs on my corner balance scale
Rears: 20x10.5 +21 offset; weight 22 lbs on my corner balance scale
Ordering Process:
I was very fortunate to have been referred to John/BSPK through my S2000 Track Community when I needed custom race wheels made to fit class rules. That was my first experience with BSPK and I was so pleased with his product, customer service, and pricing that I knew I just had to get something made for the F Type as well.
Fortunately, this is just another day for John, so we just needed to get some measurements for brake clearance and did some thinking about where I would like the offsets to be for a more flushed look. I wanted to mimic the factory 20" widths and staggers so decided on 20x9/20x10.5 with +40 offset in the front and +21 offset in the rear. That essentially would simulate running a 17mm spacer on the front and 19mm spacers on the rear with OEM wheels.
After I gave him the desired specs, John went to work determining the approriate load rating, approximate weights, wheel design, and finally a rendering. Once I confirmed that I was good with everything the order was sent in and 3 months and 1 week later I received the wheels! Throughout the whole process, John was always on top of communication and sending me status updates. Really appreciate that level of customer service.
He can make you anything your heart desires and I just can't believe his pricing. It's not much more than off the shelf flow formed wheels, but they're fully forged and designed for you. It's rare for me to ever make an advertrisement for a company, but John definitely deserves the awareness.
Time line:
11/20/2023 - Order Placed on website
11/21/2023 - Begin consult with John about desired details, what to measure, vehicle weights, etc
12/3/2023 - John came back with all the specs & renderings to be confirmed for production; Production order submitted
1/29/2024 - Wheels completed at the factory & shipping invoice sent out for payment, then tracking info sent
3/2/2024 - Wheels received at my doorstep
Unboxing:
Wheel and machining details
Test Fitment
Weighing the wheels
Tires should arrive later this week, then I'll get them mounted and take some pics of them on the car! Can't wait!
That's a beautiful color. It must look even better in person/in the sunlight. I'll have to keep that company in the back of my mind since I've been considering changing out my rims for some lighter forged wheels.
That's a beautiful color. It must look even better in person/in the sunlight. I'll have to keep that company in the back of my mind since I've been considering changing out my rims for some lighter forged wheels.
Yes, it looks very different when in direct sunlight, it has a shimmer to it and looks almost like an anodize finished. Aside from the price point, the service and customization alone make these so appealing. You really get a lot of value, IMO.
Originally Posted by ThunderKitty
Nice! Beautiful wheels.
Thank you!! Tracking for the tires shows it'll be delivered today, so I should have them mounted up soon!
I had enough time to mount the front tires on today and also dismount the OEM 19's for some weight comparisons.
19 x 8.5 Front OEM turbine blades - Weight: 28lbs
19 x 9.5 Rear OEM turbine blades - Weight : 29 lbs
So that nets me a weight reduction of 7.5 lbs in the front and 7.0 lbs in the rear, all the while being larger and wider 20x9/20x10.5.
I also have the fully loaded weights, but that's less of a direct comparison as the tires are different and they'll weigh differently. But here's captures for that anyway-
OEM setup is on Pirelli Pzeros = 55lbs fully loaded (Wheel/tire/tpms/centercap/balanced weight)
BSPK setup has Firestone Indyhawk 500 = 49lbs fully loaded (Wheel/tire/tpms/centercap/balanced weight)
In any case, I'm super thrilled to shave 6lbs off rotational mass all the while having larger and wider stance.
I'll have the rears up tomorrow. Fighting a stubborn bead on the rears since it's a 295/30/20 and my air compressor is on the anemic side. Stay tuned!!!!
I am absolutely in love with these wheels. The color is amazing as it changes depending on lighting conditions and the steering already feels more responsive with just street driving. I'll know more when I take it to the track, but I suspect that's from the weight loss and tire profile/sidewall.
I am absolutely in love with these wheels. The color is amazing as it changes depending on lighting conditions and the steering already feels more responsive with just street driving. I'll know more when I take it to the track, but I suspect that's from the weight loss and tire profile/sidewall.
Reminded me to post a quick update after taking it to the track this weekend. Significant improvement in the front end, steering response is significantly increased and it's a lot more communicative. Especially on turn in and trailing.
I can't attribute that to just the weight loss in the wheels, but certainly the combination is working a treat.
Reminded me to post a quick update after taking it to the track this weekend. Significant improvement in the front end, steering response is significantly increased and it's a lot more communicative. Especially on turn in and trailing.
I can't attribute that to just the weight loss in the wheels, but certainly the combination is working a treat.
I can’t wait to replace my OEM wheels, the stock stance looks so damn lame now after I see setups like yours. Makes a huge difference. Well done on the rims bro, enjoy!
I do like the idea of removing unsprung weight from the suspension. Both the custom forged wheels and VAP brake rotors look like worthy improvements, but I hesitate. Not because of anything meaningful. I just tend to be the reluctant sort. I've ruined a few tires and bent a few wheels thanks to several unavoidable pothole encounters on I-84 and I-91 in NY and Connecticut, respectively. I see that the thin spokes held up when you tracked the car. My concern is how many northern potholes can I hit before I ruin a custom wheel. To a lesser degree, wheel alignment with the offset. I might add that the offset looks perfect. I just wonder what would be a good alignment for someone who does nothing more than interstate driving along with the occasional backroad romp. Similarly, will VAP rotors last as long as the OEM rotors? Any insight to the durability question is welcome.
I can understand your reluctance, but from my experience with forged wheels is that they've been significantly stronger and more durable than any non-forged OEM or aftermarket wheel I've ran. Particularly in the area of barrel run out. I've never had a wheel crack, so I can't speak to such a failure.
My experience spans flow formed ("rotary forged") wheels, oem wheels, and forged wheels. I used to like to run flow formed wheels for my race car, because they're affordable and supposed to be stronger than cast wheels. I understand wheels are considered a consumable item in the track enviroment, so I didn't want to invest in anything too expensive.
However they all seem to start getting run out, especially on the inner barrel, after half a season of track use (I do take curbing, but I don't jump them).
My Volk Racing forged wheels stayed straight and true for many seasons and now with my BSPK forged wheels have about 1/2 a season of testing on them are still straight. Same track, same driver, same tires/setup, so although not 100% scientific, they are holding true while the flow formed wheels i had prior didn't (ran 3 sets of those). Moving fwd I will only be running forged wheels for track use.
I'm not suggesting that street driven cars need forged wheels, plenty of cast wheels go the distance for that type of use, but just my thoughts on forged vs non-forged.
In terms of the VAP rotors, that's next on my list. I can't speak for durability without personal experience. For street use, I'd say they would be equal to or greater than the durability of the OEM rotors since Giro disc seems to use quality materials in their rotors (I run their 2 piece rotor in the rear of my race car). However, I am strongly convinced that in an enviroment where you need your brakes to shed heat faster, the 2 piece rotor will be king there.
My new wheels! BSPK Forged Wheels for the F Type
