You can learn alot about the quality of a wheel from the barrel (as well as the normally unseen inside portions which we’ll get into later). Today, let’s talk about a regular barrel vs. a reverse barrel. You might not be able to tell from the pic, but the face design of both wheels in the picture face to the left. The wheel on the left is a performance-oriented, sports wheel. This particular one has a very shallow, regular barrel. The wheel on the right is a luxury-based wheel. This particular one has a deep, reverse barrel. True sports wheels tend to use regular barrels meaning that the well of the wheel tends to be towards the face side of the wheel. Usually, this is meant for better caliper clearance. Luxury wheels tend to use reverse barrels meaning that the well of the wheel tends to be towards the back side of the wheel. Usually, this is done for aesthetic purposes to make the face design look bigger. The width and depth of the well is accurately calculated for maximized balance and strength. Regardless of the well placement, barrels without a well are for the most part, flat and tend to be thicker and heavier. The well of the barrel creates strength, similar to the thought that a piece of paper that is folded as opposed to not being folded, is stronger. So, a barrel with a well is both usually thinner and stronger while a flat barrel tends to be thicker and heavier. And of course, similarly, the barrel constitutes whether the tire should be regular-mounted or reverse-mounted. Pardon the funky pic.
Come check out the grand opening of Fast Eddie’s Garage on Saturday Dec. 2nd. One of the first to blend fashion and automotive. Only in LA..
Come see some of your local heroes.
Peep this. Good article. No fluff. Click Here.
Thanksgiving weekend was almost too long for me. Did mostly nothing, but clean. Couldn’t make it to Fred’s party on Wed. night, but Happy Belated Fred aka The Rookie! Did get a chance to peep some boutiques this weekend for the first time like Grey One, UNDFTD, Stussy and Union LA. I like the Original-Fake stuff, but at $82 a tee…craze. ($99 for some pads doesn’t seem so bad anymore does it?) I don’t collect shoes, but I wanted these and they recently arrived. The colors are awesome and pretty out there, but these shoes don’t have that loud, gaudy, kiddy feel to ‘em which I like. They have that grown-up, playful feel..
CR8xEM ..been an avid reader of Evil Monito as well as a fan of Cr8tive Recreation for quite some time..
Random shot of an SC just before VIP Auto Fashion. I’m tellin’ you, White is the new Black when it comes to body color. Not for wheels though. Love the lines.
Another peep at the AME x Original-Made NSX.
When we started this blog and decided that we’d include the various food spots we visit, this place was the first that came to mind. Remember my entry in which I mentioned the spicy Orochon ramen was my 2nd favorite? Here it is, number one, Shin Sen Gumi. I’m sure most of you have already been there given it’s ever rising popularity, but since it’s my favorite I had to post it anyway.
Great side dishes. Takana fried rice and their special gyoza. It’s hard to explain how the rice tastes, but just know it’s very good. The flame they cook it over is insane.. The gyoza’s good too. Very garlicky or garliquey, depending on what part of the world you’re from.
And here’s what makes Kent call me a ramen-head. Hakata ramen. The soup base takes 15 hours to make from pork bones. It’s also known as Tonkotsu soup. The soup is actually pretty hard to make given all the different factors involved such as temperature, flame and water. The difficulty is evident because on rare occasions it doesn’t have the amazing taste is usually does. Nevertheless, we’ve had Hashiba and Dave try it and they both agree that it would definitely hold up to Japan’s standards.
I’ve wanted one of these for a long time. Another gift from Japan, this is one of our dope front license plate brackets that allow the license plate to dissapear under speed. The little instructions included said it’d dissapear completely at 70km/h and sure enough as soon as we hit about 40mph it was gone. Should someone you know want one we’ve got them in very limited quantities on GRYMRKT. “Great for vehicle aerodynamics at the track” says the little paper in Japanese. Haha, right.. SBC cover for my rear plate is next.
I’m so behind in what I need to do at work, but this takes a lot of priority. Thus, here I am blogging yet again. Anyhoo, we recently stuffed another car into our tiny garage. Here we see both of them side by side the night the new car arrived. Any guess as to what it is? I’ll give you a hint: It’s Les Wong’s new project car.
It arrived Wednesday night and Thursday we immediately started working on it to get all the footwork installed. We ran into mad issues because the stock suspension wouldn’t drop all the way down and also with a few stripped nuts on the brake hard lines. In any case, here’s what it looked like when we finally got everything in. Function-Xs and the front 6-pot mini in alumite silver.
We finished everything really late Friday night and woke up 4 hours later to drive it to the LA Convention Center where the VIP Autofashion show was. On Friday we took the FD to Japan Expo. More on the VIP show in a bit, first J-Expo.
Being that VIP didn’t start until noon, we ate breakfast on Melrose at this dope lil cafe next to a scandalous little store called blue balls. I was so tired I forgot to take pics of the food. In any case, we rolled to Japan Expo first.
Les’ FD stripped of all most of it’s vinyl. Gotta love the cleanliness of it. They insisted on sticking a silencer in the exhaust which did quiet it down but I really liked it without it.
The FD was at Japan Expo because Ken Miyoshi was in charge of a mini show there. Here’s Kent voting for himself. Okay, so it wasn’t really for himself but I’m speaking metaphorically.
The Japan Expo itself was kinda smaller than I expected, but cool in it’s own right. Here’s a small little booth selling some dope trinkets…………
My favorite part of the show was the fact that they had these dope massage chairs. I’ve been on massage chairs before from like Sharper Image and all that crap, but these were something else. Trust. You had to experience it to believe how good they were. Here’s Kent taking a load off.
Did you really expect that we’d go to Japan Expo and not see something like this? I gotta hand it to them though, pretty accurate. I never watched Naruto but my old roommate was enthralled. He even had the little headband things they’re wearing.
With nothing else to do at Japan Expo we headed over to VIP. I don’t know if it was because we were tired or what, but we ended up sitting on the ground outside the entrance for a while. Maybe I was tired because I started ranting about the show in general. I’m about to be real so beware, harsh words follow.
The VIP Autofashion show had it all wrong last year and this year was no exception. At most there were 40 Japanese VIP cars there and the rest, the majority actually, were exotics. What bugs me about that is that the show is called VIP Autofashion. Where does that title come from? VIP cars, Japanese VIP cars. And I’m tired of people misinterpreting what VIP is. There’s a difference between adding your own flair to VIP and mis-using the term entirely. It’s not DUB and it’s not exotic cars. Straight up. So instead of a true VIP show, we had an exotic car show with all the VIP cars in the JTuned hall next door.
Respect to Falken, JTuned and Auto Fashion for bringing out true VIP cars (with one or two exceptions). What I’m ultimately getting at is that if it’s a VIP show named “VIP Autofashion” you must have true VIP cars there. What they’ve done instead is produce a show that homogenizes VIP and cars that simply aren’t.
I recognize that it takes a lot to put on a show and that there really aren’t enough true VIP cars to have a whole show on their own. But if it’s not going to be a VIP show with VIP cars, then be real and call it something else.
On a happier note, Fred’s 5-series had sick fitment. The photo doesn’t do it justice but trust me. If you saw this bimmer rolling on the street you’d take notice. Mr. Chang does it right.
Les was kind enough to get us reservations at Fogo de Chao, a Brazillian BBQ place in Beverly Hills.
For those of you who have yet to partake in the Brazillian BBQ experience, you have a salad bar with veggies and stuff and then you have waiters who periodically bring you one of dozens of meat they have prepared that day.
At Fogo de Chao everything was insane. You see the lil coaster looking thing in the upper right? If you turn it over it’s green which tells the waiters you want meat. I’ve been to a Brazillian BBQ before but when I turned over the coaster at Fogo I was bombarded with meats. They’re quick to say the least. In any case, the veggies were fresh and crisp. The meats were insanely good. But by far the most impressive thing about Fogo was the service. Again, it’s one of those things you gotta experience for yourself to understand. The experience as a whole was exactly what you’d expect of a restaurant in Beverly Hills.
Anyway, that’s it for now everyone. Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!
Today’s topic: Brake fade. You know that feeling where the brake pedal comes really long, spongy and mushy? That’s not brake fade, that’s vapor lock.
Vapor lock is when your brake fluid starts to boil and you get air bubbles in your brake lines. Brake fade can be described as when the brake pedal becomes stiffer than usual and you lose braking power.
So depending on the feeling you get, take the appropriate action such as getting a higher temp capable pad or getting better brake fluid. Just remember the difference between the two pedal feelings and that most of the time people experience vapor lock and think it’s brake fade.
Endless pads are actually designed in such a way that should you actually reach a temperature in which they fade, fade recovery is superb. Once the pads cool down they’ll work just as they did before they started to fade. Other pads will reach fade temperatures and never be the same afterwards.
This is a promo video for the Advan Neova when it first came out. I’m posting it up not only because the video is cool, but because in my conversations with several people a few of them were unaware of the tire completely. It’s my favorite street tire, period.
Nice to know there are others out there….I copied and pasted this from their About Us section. Peep them here.
Aimed to Educate Consumers, Industry Insiders Launch EXECUTIVE LIFE
SAN FRANCISCO, California (October 19, 2006) – A diverse group of industry insiders scattered across California have recently launched a new project named EXECUTIVE LIFE (EXELIFE.COM) to educate consumers about the ever-growing dilemmas of the aftermarket performance industry, and examine market trends.
“The aftermarket industry is facing a severe problem these days,” says Patel, founder of EXELIFE. “All of us at EXELIFE believe in free-market capitalism. However, when it comes to the blatant disregard for intellectual property, we firmly stick to our values. Today, most consumers are looking for the best bang-for-the-buck modifications for their vehicles, and we don’t blame them. However, we are going to make it our mission to educate the aftermarket consumer base why they should think twice about buying replica products.”
The EXELIFE team consists of entrepreneurs, marketing executives, photographers, and respected tuners who have all been aftermarket enthusiasts for numerous years. The website will feature articles aimed to educate consumers and create customer awareness to product purchasing, industry insider details regarding company product R&D, and technical information for building a top quality street, show, or track vehicle. EXELIFE will also feature a variety of luxury-tuned vehicles and forecast future trends in the automotive aftermarket segment.
——————
About EXECUTIVE LIFE
Founded in 2006, EXECUTIVE LIFE (EXELIFE) consists of a diverse group of aftermarket industry insiders scattered across California. The EXELIFE team consists of entrepreneurs, marketing executives, photographers, and respected tuners who have all been aftermarket enthusiasts for numerous years. Their goal is to educate consumers about the ever-growing dilemmas of the aftermarket performance industry, and examine market trends.
So SEMA was this past week as I’m sure you noticed by Kent’s super duper long blog. Definitely some fun moments, that’s for sure. My favorite had to be the C16 party, Justin hooked it up phat. At the party, me, Kenta from Tokyo Drive and Kent all had a bowing war. My favorite moment out of everything by far! You gotta see it to understand, but it’s SO fun.
In any case, my reason for mentioning SEMA once again was to be real about the show itself. In all honesty, I didn’t think it was all that great. It’s something that you just have to experience to understand, but while you’re there it’s just so hectic that it’s counterproductive. I have this issue with SEMA because from my standpoint it’s a culmination of blood, sweat and tears for nothing but huge dissapointment. Companies spend a lot of time and money investing into the show all to be let down by people from other companies or individuals that can’t handle their responsibilities. With that being said, this year we made some good choices and some bad ones. A great choice was to work with Falken. They have their shit together for sure. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Nick Fousekis is probably the most professional person within our industry I’ve met thus far. Working with him, Mickey and Robert was one of the best choices we’ve made.
But it’s not just people that are lacking. Ask anyone else in the industry or anyone else that attended the show and they’ll tell you the same thing, “SEMA was lame.” Think about the cost of boothing at the show and the manpower needed. Now think about what you could do if you used the same amount of money and manpower elsewhere. Dare I say the cliche, “The ROI just isn’t there.” I think I’m rambling, but what I’m trying to say is essentially that SEMA wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be (and hasn’t been for some time either).
When I finally got back to socal my confidence and optimism was bruised and battered. More meetings with AME and Endless were scheduled, and I was starting to feel like I wasn’t up to it. What changed everything though, was our meeting with Endless Japan.
Before I get to that, peep this Volvo.
Non-descript, non-chalant Volvo stationwagon.. But check the ribbon magnet. Sick.
We started our meeting at the office and at the end of it I got to ask as many technical questions that I could think of. I had so many that we didn’t finish asking them and had to spill over into dinner.
Dinner was at this place called Mangia Mangia off Goldenwest.
Small but cozy restaurant. Authentic if I do say so myself. In the bg there was a TV showing aerial views of Italy and over the speakers was the great one himself, Frank Sinatra. Ambiance was superb.
Instead of regular bread they gave us garlic bread. Insanely good. It wasn’t gooey or chewy or anything of the sort. Instead it was crisp but flakey and soft at the same time. I know it sounds impossible, but that’s what it was.
I got the Ravioli something something. Stuffed with meat in a zucchini and mushroom sauce. Delish for sure.
Over the rest of dinner I continued to blast Mr. Inamoto from Endless Japan with questions. I was having SO much fun it’s not even funny. I guess that’s the nerdy side of me. I was super excited getting to ask all these technical questions and learning about the crazy technology Endless uses. You can be sure that I’ll be posting some interesting reads soon enough.
In any case, the whole Q&A session was what gave me renewed strength and excitement. I was really beginning to feel dreary and drained from SEMA but after the meeting with Endless I felt renewed, reborn even. The passion for what I do and the very reason I got into this industry is back with me and YOU’RE going to benefit. I’m going to bring you the very best and the latest information so that Original Made readers can be on top of their game, be the most informed out there. I have lots of plans for Endless and AME for ‘07 and we’re not even done with ‘06 yet. It’s an exciting time indeed, just wait and see what’ll happen next.
Pre-SEMA, SEMA, SEMA Parties, Post-SEMA…What’s REALLY Important?
Hype Stuff, After Hours, Random Tidbits, Taste Buds
Before going to SEMA, Kyoho had to do a couple more photoshoots and wanted to check out a few places as well so we first rolled to Longo Lexus to get ahold of the LS460.
Fata, up to his crazy antics as usual.
Time passes quickly when you’re goofing around.
So glad Dom got this on video. I hope this is as funny to you as it is to us. If I were on the other end of the phone, I’d probably spit in his food though.
We headed on over to Fletcher Jones Mercedes in Newport Beach to show Hashiba and Aoyama around. Aoyama was in disbelief to see a Fisker Tramonto. I had no idea what this was, but you can tell the base is an SL55 AMG.
Comes standard with carbon fiber goodies like fog lamp surround, hood, bumpers, trunk lid.
See.
The Tramonto comes in a Supercharged V8 and a Twin Turbo V12.
No. 2 of 150. Talk about high-end limited edition. The mid to high 200K range would be a safe assumption.
Fisker. Located in Irvine, btw.
This was inside the showroom along with a Maybach.
Close to half a mil.
MBZ style, McLaren F1 technology, AMG style. I think this is an 06, but I could be wrong. Click here for more info.
This blinged out fortune cookie was chillin’ in the glass case inside the parts department which is very fu~fu~.
Down the block is Newport Beach Lexus which recently opened up.
Newport Beach is something else. I hear this place cost a whopping $75,000,000.00. I could be wrong, but decide for yourself.
Just some wheels. We hope to get ours up there soon.
The entrance. Just opened so it was actually very quiet.
Tommy Bahamas inside of the dealership.
Water falling down glass. Feng shui or something.
Plasmas in the restrooms. Back to the office, a quick meeting, and off to Vegas.
So here begins SEMA from our eyes..landed on Friday without much of a plan. Luckily, my good friend Koot who recently moved here called just in time remembering I’d be here. He picked us up and hung out with us for awhile at the townhouse we stayed at off the strip with Terui, Kat, Ishii, and Dave from MLJ. Thanks Dave!
Side Note: I can’t believe how easily a manufacturing plant can look you straight in the eyes, do business with you, begin to produce products for you, and then backdoor it to someone else when an exclusive agreement is set into place. It seems to have quite often in China from what I hear..shady. Sucks!
So anyway, we tried to get inside the Modified magazine party at the MGM (I forgot the name of the club). Got there around 11PM, but was told it ended at 10PM. So we ended up having some steak at Terrible’s with David and Duey from Hybrid.
Off to our first day at SEMA.
Aside from doing the things we needed to do, the SEMA show as a whole, really wasn’t all that great. I hear attendance of the Japanese has decreased. The people I talked to didn’t seem too impressed either. I guess it’s just different cultures. Sure, you’ll see a wheel with diamonds in it, but it’s so…blatantly blinged out. Nothing really left too much of an impression.
The highlight for us was the Falken Tire booth and to see a company as big as they are define what we feel represents automotive luxury through their “Auto Luxury” theme and through an understanding of high quality products showcased on choice platforms with meticulous attention to detail. Finally. Someone big who gets it. The booth was straight midnight black VIP style platforms with Nick Fousekis’ FD3S and Mickey’s S13 being my favorites.
Gangster fitment.
If this isn’t Hella Flush, I don’t know what is.
Nice.
Robert from Falken.
Nick’s FD3S got alot of attention from media at the booth. Both this FD3S and Mickey’s S13 will be used in Falken’s promotional campaign for 07.
I truly see long term success and great things ahead for this company, led by a great growing team.
Here’s the panel of individuals that spoke at the Falken press conference which included Junction Produce, Air Runner, Tein, Alpine, and of course, AME wheels. Dom did a great job. Look how happy he looks with his chucks.
Right across from Falken, Yokohama had a couple of our wheels on display.
This is our Modelart GRACER, currently the only one on the planet.
Read below.
I know.
Had to check out our favorite total tuning company. The booth was considerably smaller. Alot of other manufacturers weren’t even there. HKS USA.
F-CON.
Went to eat at Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse with MLJ peeps. Sorry, no pics, but all I can say is that American desserts are WAY too sweet for the average Japanese palette. It really is. Thought this pic was funny because it says “Less Smell.” Very Japanesey-English.
Had to stop by the RIDES Magazine party to ensure a few of our people got in.
Got there SUPER early as you can probably tell, but nonetheless took advantage of the open bar.
Got a chance to briefly meet Sphere of Influence who is the younger brother of Zeebra, one of the most popular rappers in Japan as well as Saruyama from Speedworx Japan. They helped put together a collabo wheel between Lexani and Zeebra. Actually very nice. Photos will come later.
We’ve never been to the TAO Nightclub inside the Venetian so when we found out C16 Magazine was hosting a party here, it was on. C16 throws great parties. Thanks to Justin Lim for making sure we didn’t have to wait in line.
That’s how it looked inside.
Ken Miyoshi is the undisputed pioneer of import shows. We go way back.
Schikane/Falken Tobin Honda, Kipp from Green Bottle Hawaii (he really is holding a green bottle), John P. from The ID Agency, KentaOne from Tokyo Drive, Arnell aka DJ A1 from Falken Motorsports Sound, and Terui San.
RJ De Vera and friend.
Terui San.
More Terui San.
Toyo Tires Stan and even more Terui San.
*Blink*
Mark Arcenal of FatLace.That concludes the name dropping at the C16 party. On to the Falken party.
Here’s Mark Arcenal’s Grip Unit Solstice on one-off Shallen FX’s.
19’s.
Stop by Capriotti’s if you want decent quick food.
For some reason, we always eat at Hamada of Japan. Mr. or Mrs. Hamada may be Japanese, but not sure if the food is “of Japan”. No pics of the food. Too much food on this blog.
Scott from Kumho Tires, JayOne from Schikane, KentaxOne, HerbRock of Driftwell in the back and Soichi Kageyama, chief editor of Daytona Magazine at the Falken party.
Antonio from CGM and Daijiro Yoshihara from Team PacRim Drift.
The Falken crowd at Body English inside the Hard Rock Hotel.
Nick Fousekis of Falken, Daijiro Yoshihara of RockStarxNittoTirexPacRim Drift, and the beautiful people.
Always good to see DJ Chops movin’ the crowd.
Fred Chang of JTuned and Medium Giant/XeroTalent.
Freddie from Auto Fashion.
Steve Demmitt of JTuned and Rockerface Jay of Usual Suspects.
Rick and David from Status.
The Auto Fashion GS chillin’ outside in front of the Hard Rock hotel.
19×10 -6 in the rear.
Things began slowing down on Friday since it was the last day of the show. I had a chance to finally meet Frank from
RBK for the first time in person thanks to Mark Arcenal. It was nice to be able to put a face to a name. Frank was super down to earth and knowledgeable both in the shoe and car game.
Before leaving, ran into Phi of Auto Produce Boss and Ezekiel. Crazy how his Japanese got so good. Ha, about as good as my English.
Bye SEMA. You weren’t all that great.
Our last night, we had a short, but philosophical discussion over some Crepes at Paris about what lies ahead. Got back to LA by around midnight only to have to wake up to an 8 hour meeting on Saturday.
Monjiro in Torrance on Hawthorne Blvd (near the Del Amo Mall) is the bomb, if you’re into eating a variety of different yakitori style foods. Highly recommended. We picked up Mr. Inamoto from Endless Japan and took him here to meet with the Kyoho people.
Hashiba, Aoyama, Nakashima, Fujii, Inamoto, Chen, Minami, Chen. In any case, it was the conversations before, during, and after SEMA with our counterparts from Japan that were really valuable. We finally got a chance to link up Endless, AME, and MLJ together during dinner. Listening to the conversations from people who have been in the industry for many years in some of the largest companies, let alone from an entirely fresh and different perspective is both a learning and inspiring experience. It’s a different thought process that can’t be described perfectly in words. It’s great to know that these older folks are both knowledgeable, open-minded, and in tune with both their generation and ours. Without that, there’d be no bridge to gap. We’re in such a unique position. Can’t wait until Tokyo Auto Salon. I’m retiring from blogging. This is the longest post. Ever.
Ahh, Pasadena. The other town of rich white people, cept these are older and further into retirement. Newport Beach definitely has an edge on the cool factor. Nevertheless, still a great place to chill.
This time we were in town to visit Mr. Dave Fujii of MLJ. He has this dope apartment above a mall in Pasadena and flew in a few days early before the SEMA show to get things properly set up. I believe it was called Paseo Colorado. You never know who you’re gonna see in Pasadena. The streets are literally alive with people. Looking for Dave’s building we saw Tabu of the Black Eyed Peas walking by.
In the clip Dave mentions this lil’ device sitting next to his TV. Apparently it’s called a “Roku Raku” or something. I’m probably spelling it wrong. In any case, it records Japanese TV shows.
We finally made it to Hooters after a few rounds of water-beer at Dave’s place. Pitcher of Hef, Sam Adams and 50 wings. Good stuff. Notice the folder? Had to go over a bunch of stuff for the ensuing SEMA trip.
Dave’s on the Atkin’s diet in order to win a bet. Some serious cash involved I must say so I can’t entirely blame him, but a salad at Hooters..
Impossible to have a meal at Hooters without being solicited for something. All good though. Dave bought his employee Terui a calendar and here she is signing by her pic.
A proper photo of Terui and the calendar girl. After the pitchers of beer and wings (um, salad too) we walked the streets for a while. A brief moment to relax before the long week ahead of us. SEMA starts next.