This is a westward view of downtown LA heading down the 101 South around 4:30PM, Sunday. Surreal. In other news, the AME site will beta launch March 1st for a first glimpse.

Today was Chinatown Showoff. Good to see a gang of industry cats once in a while. Here, Chew strikes again. Kent never stood a chance.

In other news, check out my flash card that I picked up in Japan during my trip to Auto Salon. I almost lose this thing everyday.

Before you get your panties in a bunch, realize I’m half Filipino (or Pilipino for the patriotic), and that I’m merely exaggerating. What I truly mean is ROTA copies everything. And it just so happens that ROTA is a Filipino company “led by [some punk] Romy Rojas.”
Many of you may know this already, but I just heard that ROTA made a copy of the RE30. I’ll be honest and straight up in saying that I do indeed like Rays wheels despite the fact that I work with Enkei (Kyoho). I’m angry, yeah, but I’m more saddened than pissed. If you’ve clicked on the link to the forum post on evom, you’ll notice that more cats replied to the post asking for pricing than bashing the fact that ROTA made yet another cheap copy. Whack.

What really pisses me off is that ROTA has the cajones to say that their shit is ”A world-class quality wheel, meticulously designed, and superbly engineered. A product that can compare with the best in the world.- both in style and in performance,” as quoted from their website. And then to the left we see evidence of their quality in their Work Emotion copy (not that the Work Emotion is a good wheel to begin with).

Further more, it sickens me that companies like Subydude so actively promote ROTA. It’s their f’ing FAULT that so many Subaru’s are infested with those crappy excuses for wheels. Come on people, those are wheels you’re putting on your car. It’s a f’ing safety hazard. I guess it could be worse though. At least we’re not flooded with Chinese copies of everything. Damn, Chinese and Filipinos stealing the intellectual property of the truly creative and gifted.. Fuck, I’m Chinese and Filipino..

I’m predicting that World War III will be fought between the aftermarket Enkei and Rays camps using high-end, Japanese performance wheels as WMD’s being flung upside each other’s heads! Droppin’ TE37’s on Enkei plants and FS-01’s and Spec-R’s on Rays plants. As for those that desire both..well, they’ll be droppin’ bombs all over China, the real foe!!! I saw this SEMA article that was sorta funny to me. It was written awhile ago, but nonetheless, it’s somewhat lavishly written and…quite possibly instigating a friendly rivarly?? Anyways, read the paragraph about 1/3 of the way down where Mr. Dan Frio “quotes” Dominic. Click here for the article. The timing of seeing this was perfect (for me at least) considering this past weekend was spent chillin’ w/ a couple of the Mackin homeys. The irony! I’m not hatin’ on the article (nor the Chinese…hell, I’m half Taiwanese!) at all. All I can say is there is no monopoly on the truth. That’s the beauty in what we do. The future is bright for the high-quality makers. On a side note, I thought this was also sorta funny. The “DUB” part. Click here to read on.

This past Saturday was a busy one for Kent and I. But it ended up being pretty chill rather than stressful and annoying. Figured I’d show y’all some of the shots I snapped.

Check out the 19″ Spec-R’s on this 14.. 19’s!

Marc Fata and Luis rolled through Huntington. Here’s Fata havin’ fun with Kent.

In Kent’s Harrier. Shooting Fata shooting me.

Beach weather in the middle of February. Only in Southern California.

On a mission.

Fake photographers.

Here’s the view from my lense.

Back at the show, Robert from Falken greets Kent from behind.

Marc’s CSIYM party in Cerritos.
After this we headed out to Pasadena to chill with Eddie Lee of Mackin, Fred, RJ, Jerry and my favorite neighbor I never see, Sharon.

Brake pads are typically glued on to the backplate. In the Endless lineup, our gluing process involves high temperature, high pressure bonding. This high standard gluing process is used on Vita Nuova ~ CC-A. For racing applications however, we do something a little different.

Above you see a brake pad cross-section. The pad material is shown with half of it removed revealing the backplate and our special bonding process. You can see the mechanical means to which the backplate is secured here. So in addition to the glue, we also employ this “barring” mechanism which makes sure the pad material stays on the backplate. The “barring” system is patented by Endless. This system is employed on compounds CC-X and above. Endless Racing Technology and Development firsthand.

Ross over in Hawaii was able to fit 19×9.0 +19 and 19×10.0 +22 Diamond Cut CX’s on an IS250. Soooper clean.

Another IS, but fitted with the Tracer FS-01. Take your pick. VIP CX..or the sporty, mature, performance-oriented 1-piece FS-01. The photo has obviously been rendered, but the wheels and fitment are real. The new AME site will be up soon! Keep a look out for it.

Here’s a completely random pic..J-Girls in school uniforms on an…LA Metro Bus?? A friend of mine was filming for 3 days straight and sent me this image..looks fun!

Weld S14 at California Speedway. Props to the J-On-Demand guys also. The motor is pushed back quite a bit for a better weight balance ratio. It’s crazy.

More wheel photos for our gallery sect. For Scion xA/xB lovers, this is the perfect wheel. 15×8.0 +25 Shallen LX w/ black face against a linoleum floor.

Close-up. Quality you can see!

Diamond Cut CX’s..19×9.0, 19×10.0..perfect for a Z or G35.

Last we have Mickey from Falken’s S13 on chrome CX’s. You can’t tell from this photo, but his fitment is like..stupid gangsta crazy hella flush.

Weld’s Super Gold Spec-R’s x Advan A048’s.

I <3 Strawberries.

So last weekend was my birthday. Thanks to Cheryl I was able to spend the weekend just chillin’ out. Went to Aoki’s for some shaved ice.

“The local.” Can’t remember what it is exactly but I think it’s pineapple, mango, and li-hing. Had mine with azuki on the bottom. Yum.

The Quiksilver house.

Sorry for the ghetto arrow but I figured I’d save y’all some time.

Damn good. Get two plates and a beer if you’re ever there.

Stopped by the In4mant to grab some gear for Kent and I.

A year older is a year wiser, or somethin’ like that. I dunno if I’m wiser, but it was definitely good to take the time to catch my breath. Much appreciated.

Enkei believes that the water used in the casting, manufacturing and machining processes is crucial in ensuring high quality wheels. Enkei has a separate water filtration facility at each plant to provide a consistent water standard throughout the entire manufacturing process. Filtration helps to eliminate much of the chemicals, minerals and other impurities that may lead to physical and cosmetic quality issues. Filtration eliminates the possibility of impurities inside the water that can clog the machinery, nozzles, etc. which are extensively used in aluminum alloy wheel production. It is an enormous cost to maintain the water filtration, but nonetheless a necessity in maintaining the overall quality for Enkei wheels, which of course benefits AME as well.

Japanese eggs are individually date stamped with these stickers or ink jet to check freshness. The same holds true for high-end US eggs also.