Xmas came early for my Vantage! Renown wheels, VAP headers + springs + ECU flash!!
Xmas came early for my Vantage! Renown wheels, VAP headers + springs + ECU flash!!
Loving it when a plan comes together!
I feel like I spent months looking for wheels for the Aston. Dead-end after dead-end....I was trying to get some nice cast wheels, like Vorsteiner, but it turns out they like to do stuff like make a one-off wheel for the Vantage and use it for poster-ads but never actually make or sell that wheel.
So, my buddy Ray Fong from Renown Auto Style (RAS) stepped up and recommended a set of his RU52-SF FORGED wheels at a price I couldn't refuse. And I'm glad he did because these things are BEAUTIFUL. They fill the arches perfectly. This came out way, way, way better than I had even imagined.
At 20x9 front and 20x11 rear with Michelin PSS (245/35-20 front & 295/30-20 rear) the setup is 10lbs lighter per corner than stock! (wheels were 20lbs each before tires). Graphite finish is just perfect, perfect, perfect!
Lug nuts by Otis Inc LA! Thanks to Phil for getting me set up there. You'd be surprised how many places want to sell you the wrong lug nuts. Highly recommend Phil for wheel hardware!
With wheels come springs, so I made a call to Stuart @ VelocityAP for their lowering springs. But by the time he was done with me I had also bought a set of headers and the ECU flash. Now I was really getting excited!
The ECU flash has some nice seat-of-the-pants effect, but I haven't put it on a dyno yet. Combined with the headers, and the VAP race cats and exhaust that were already on the car when I bought it, and she feels really, really strong now. Pulls real nice, and a nice CRACK from the pipes on overrun between shifts. Couldn't have hoped for better! The exhaust note is thunderous. Totally mellow at cruise, which makes it all the more surprising (and fun to see the look on people's faces) when I open it up!
The springs are fantastic. If you're on the fence for springs and are worried about making the car "too pimp" by going too low or worried about ride quality issues then VAP springs are what you're looking for. I was leaning towards H&R at first but all the pics I saw showed more lowering than I really wanted. And with wider wheels incoming I didn't want to risk rubbing issues. The VAP springs + 20" tires are a perfect match. The ride height is very sharp, and the ride quality is, IMHO, better than stock. It feels much less bouncy now and more connected. And, empirically tested on the horrible overpass transitions here in Louisiana; absolutely no rubbing and no bottoming out. It's juuuuust right.
All install work was done by Vinnie's Exotics in Baton Rouge. Vinnie has worked on a number of Astons, amongst many other exotic brands, so I knew he would be up to the task. No over-inflated dealer costs for me! In addition to the above work Vinnie got me set up with oil and filter, alignment, brake rotors, and pads, all freshened up! It's great knowing I'm no longer tethered to Houston for service.
A few pics attached. More to come!
I feel like I spent months looking for wheels for the Aston. Dead-end after dead-end....I was trying to get some nice cast wheels, like Vorsteiner, but it turns out they like to do stuff like make a one-off wheel for the Vantage and use it for poster-ads but never actually make or sell that wheel.
So, my buddy Ray Fong from Renown Auto Style (RAS) stepped up and recommended a set of his RU52-SF FORGED wheels at a price I couldn't refuse. And I'm glad he did because these things are BEAUTIFUL. They fill the arches perfectly. This came out way, way, way better than I had even imagined.
At 20x9 front and 20x11 rear with Michelin PSS (245/35-20 front & 295/30-20 rear) the setup is 10lbs lighter per corner than stock! (wheels were 20lbs each before tires). Graphite finish is just perfect, perfect, perfect!
Lug nuts by Otis Inc LA! Thanks to Phil for getting me set up there. You'd be surprised how many places want to sell you the wrong lug nuts. Highly recommend Phil for wheel hardware!
With wheels come springs, so I made a call to Stuart @ VelocityAP for their lowering springs. But by the time he was done with me I had also bought a set of headers and the ECU flash. Now I was really getting excited!
The ECU flash has some nice seat-of-the-pants effect, but I haven't put it on a dyno yet. Combined with the headers, and the VAP race cats and exhaust that were already on the car when I bought it, and she feels really, really strong now. Pulls real nice, and a nice CRACK from the pipes on overrun between shifts. Couldn't have hoped for better! The exhaust note is thunderous. Totally mellow at cruise, which makes it all the more surprising (and fun to see the look on people's faces) when I open it up!
The springs are fantastic. If you're on the fence for springs and are worried about making the car "too pimp" by going too low or worried about ride quality issues then VAP springs are what you're looking for. I was leaning towards H&R at first but all the pics I saw showed more lowering than I really wanted. And with wider wheels incoming I didn't want to risk rubbing issues. The VAP springs + 20" tires are a perfect match. The ride height is very sharp, and the ride quality is, IMHO, better than stock. It feels much less bouncy now and more connected. And, empirically tested on the horrible overpass transitions here in Louisiana; absolutely no rubbing and no bottoming out. It's juuuuust right.
All install work was done by Vinnie's Exotics in Baton Rouge. Vinnie has worked on a number of Astons, amongst many other exotic brands, so I knew he would be up to the task. No over-inflated dealer costs for me! In addition to the above work Vinnie got me set up with oil and filter, alignment, brake rotors, and pads, all freshened up! It's great knowing I'm no longer tethered to Houston for service.
A few pics attached. More to come!
Last edited by Smoky; Dec 15, 2016 at 01:09 PM.
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We've got the offsets for what Smoky wanted. He let us know that he was eventually going to upgrade his brakes, so we adjusted for that. We don't give our offset measurements out, but we can build the wheels dependant on each individual's needs. Same goes with the centercap, he wanted to run our cap, but we can cut them to the same size as the factory caps.
That's the plan! Though still undecided between doing a V12 freshening or doing GT4 aero.