Enkei is among the largest builder of alloy wheels in the world, providing everything from original equipment to the forged magnesium wheels used by the McLaren F1 team. At SEMA, Enkei showed the RC5 wheel in sizes just for Porsche 911s. It is not as light as the most expensive forged wheels, but it uses hollow-spoke technology to achieve significant weight savings. A simple, clean design, it's more for track enthusiasts than boulevard profilers; we love the look. A forged magnesium centerlock version is also available for racing. Other Enkei wheels for European performance applications include the RPF1 and NT03+M, which is used extensively in Japan's JGTCC.
Enkei
(817) 490-5600
www.enkei.com
Velox Performance introduced the Zeta 8, Zeta 5 and Zeta K wheel designs, a line of wheels designed especially to clear "big brake" upgrades from StopTech, Brembo and Endless. The wheels are also lightweight, no more than 1 lb per in. of diameter, while being high quality, affordable castings. All Zeta-line wheels maintain a 690kg load rating. The Zeta line debuts a bronze clearcoat finish that offers excellent corrosion resistance and the look of bronze anodizing at a much lower price. The Zeta lines are available in 17- and 18-in. fitments for mostly Japanese vehicles at first, but Volkswagen offsets are next on the to-do list.
Velox Automotive Group
(909) 598-8989
www.veloxperformance.com
Someone was going to be the first to do it, and BFGoodrich decided to be the one, showing a MINI with 225/30-20 g-Force T/A KDW tires. The point was that smaller cars, including Civics and Golf-platform vehicles, can now make this styling statement. The g-Force T/A KDW2's tread pattern has a unidirectional design with awesome water evacuation capability and excellent dry performance, as well as long tread life and excellent ride quality. The latter is key when fitting 24s on large SUVs. The 225/30-20 has a Y-speed rating, good to 186 mph.
BFGoodrich Tires
(864) 458-5000
www.bfgoodrichtires.com
Bridgestone's Potenza RE050 is an ultra-high-performance tire with a ribbed tread pattern inspired by F1 tire designs. It is already in use as original equipment on Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi and Ferrari cars, including some run-flat applications. An engineer we interviewed relayed that the Potenza RE050 will offer dry performance near that of the premier Potenza S-03 when new, but that performance will fall off more as the tire ages. This is due to the use of the UNI-T technology family, whereas the much more expensive S-03 has more advanced UNI-T AQII. The Potenza RE050 will be available in 25 17-, 18- and 19-in. sizes, as well as eight 16- to 18-in. run-flat sizes. Bridgestone also introduced the Fuzion ZRi performance tire for enthusiast and tuner markets.
Bridgestone/Firestone
(615) 391-0088
www.bridgestonetire.com
www.thefuzionzone.com