I'm the happy owner of a new set of Signature SV703 wheels.
1) I'd like to give another shout out/recommendation for Terrance (50 Deep). He's a great brand ambassador and helped me all the way through the process. During the order process, there was an error and even though I told him I wasn't exactly in a rush to get my wheels, he offered to provide my anti-slip knurling at no cost as a way of compensating for the additional week or so of delay. I thought it was a stand up gesture and really a sign of a great sales rep and a great company that recognizes and appreciates their customer's needs and satisfaction.
2) I selected the 703, because I really like the styling of the R wheels. I had considered the 6GR wheels, but after seeing feedback about the brake clearance challenges and also considering the additional weight savings and added stiffness/strength of a fully forged monoblock wheel, I opted to spend more on the Signatures. The other "R" spec offerings either aren't truly R spec (width) or if they are, they're not as strong or light and don't have quite the caliper clearance of the Signatures. The 703 is about as close to anything traditional in terms of wheel styling and offers a classic 6 spoke with large/wide spokes to make the wheel itself stand out. A lot of Signature's offering feature very small spoke and sub spokes to minimize weight and really show off the large brakes, and that's very popular nowadays, I just happen to be a fan of Cragars and Bullitts and traditional 5 and 6 and 7 spoke type wheels. The 703 is the happy medium between styling and still a large amount of weight savings without TOTALLY obscuring the brakes behind them.
3) The wheels arrived and the packaging is robust and exactly what you want when you spend a lot of money on a set of wheels. I recently bought a set of TRD Pro wheels for my 4Runner and when they arrived, of course the boxes were beat to hell and opening them I was terrified the wheels would be damaged. To put it lightly, the Signature boxing/prep is unmatched and you can tell they spare no expense on making sure the wheels arrive you undamaged or as protected as practically possible.
4) The fit/finish of the wheels is spectacular. The paint finish I chose was Matte Black and 50Deep informed me (ahead of time) that it actually comes out as almost Satin (and it does) which is exactly what I was looking for. It provides the deepest black levels of their darker finishes and goes with my Metallic Grey paint scheme.
5) The "concavity" on the wheels is interesting. I feel like it's a perfect balance between concave (which is all the rage now) and not having them so concave that you don't get to see the wheel design from severe angles. I wanted a design that you can see/notice the 6 star pattern and not just from 90 perpendicular. They're able to reduce weight by extending the hub dimension with a very sunken center section and really optimize the wheel for less material where it's not helpful or contributing to strength which I think makes for a great look as well as saving weight. Obviously the R spec calls for a deeper dimension in the front and the depth of the center well is more pronounced than on the rear.
6) My wheels/tires balanced up very nicely on the roadforce balancer. The biggest weight on any of the 4 was .75 ounces and that's on the far inside edge of the wheel. Almost assuredly due to the imperfections in the tires and not the wheel. Pretty amazing that all of them balanced up with less than 3/4 an ounce of weight adjustment on such large tires/wheels which speaks volumes to the manufacturer tolerances and quality.
7) I took the time to apply CQuartz DLUX to alleviate the pain and sorrow of having to clean brake dust all the time. The detail and ornate surface variations of the CNC cutting became a REAL challenge here and I found myself spending a LOT of time trying to get the whole outside face of the wheel and spokes completely covered. Part of that was my moderate OCD for such things and part of it was just the nature of the wheel. After applying the ceramic coating almost gives the Matte Black finish an even deeper contrast black while adding an ever so slight glaze/wet look to the wheels. Highly recommended for the look, I'll report back as to whether or not it helps with the cleaning.
8) My initial impressions when driving the car on new shoes is interesting. I didn't get a chance to weigh the wheels (I wasn't going to drop a bunch of money on a large scale just for a one time wheel measurement), but based upon others that are similar, the weights are 21 lbs and 23 lbs respectively. That means approximately a 12 lb weight savings on the front and a 10 lbs off the rear OEM wheels. When you add back the additional weight of the tires, it ends up being about 11 lbs and 9 lbs. So 40 lbs total off the unpsrung weight of the car.
I opted to run 305/325 and I replaced the OEM tpms for a TPMS-35, which is the insert plastic (vs. the screwed metal) and black. I also installed a set of black Gorilla lugs.
The car "feels" livelier. I won't use superlatives like "hugely" or greatly, but the difference is noticeable. It feels zippier all the way around, in acceleration (not quite as much) but the difference in braking is pretty substantial, the brakes "grab" more expecially at very low speeds like creeping closer at a stop light.
The only "knock" (depending on your opinion) is that the car is absolutely more rough riding now. You definitely FEEL more feedback from the road and imperfections than before. The best comparison I can give is that normal mode feels like track mode with the stock tires and track mode feels pretty harsh/extreme. It's great for feedback and driving experience and really feeling the conditions of the road.
The other aspect that I'm now a little concerned about is the infamous "poke" and I'll get pictures posted later. I knew about it, I researched it and I went with 325's (in the absence of a 315 option for the sport 4s) and the poke is significant enough to cause me to raise an eyebrow. I had no choice but to drive through some water from a construction crew concrete cutting on the highway and both the front and the rear thew water spatter down the side of the vehicle. I'm hoping that rocks and debris are less of an issue, but keeping the vehicle pristine is now probably going to be MUCH more of a challenge. The splash guards just aren't going to be wide enough. This is the reason I don't have more pics for you guys, had the car all dolled up and ready to shoot and now I need a couple of days to wash and was again.
More photos soon.
Bottom line, is I feel completely confident and happy with my purchase and experience. I'd do it again and I recommend it to others. Couldn't be happier.
1) I'd like to give another shout out/recommendation for Terrance (50 Deep). He's a great brand ambassador and helped me all the way through the process. During the order process, there was an error and even though I told him I wasn't exactly in a rush to get my wheels, he offered to provide my anti-slip knurling at no cost as a way of compensating for the additional week or so of delay. I thought it was a stand up gesture and really a sign of a great sales rep and a great company that recognizes and appreciates their customer's needs and satisfaction.
2) I selected the 703, because I really like the styling of the R wheels. I had considered the 6GR wheels, but after seeing feedback about the brake clearance challenges and also considering the additional weight savings and added stiffness/strength of a fully forged monoblock wheel, I opted to spend more on the Signatures. The other "R" spec offerings either aren't truly R spec (width) or if they are, they're not as strong or light and don't have quite the caliper clearance of the Signatures. The 703 is about as close to anything traditional in terms of wheel styling and offers a classic 6 spoke with large/wide spokes to make the wheel itself stand out. A lot of Signature's offering feature very small spoke and sub spokes to minimize weight and really show off the large brakes, and that's very popular nowadays, I just happen to be a fan of Cragars and Bullitts and traditional 5 and 6 and 7 spoke type wheels. The 703 is the happy medium between styling and still a large amount of weight savings without TOTALLY obscuring the brakes behind them.
3) The wheels arrived and the packaging is robust and exactly what you want when you spend a lot of money on a set of wheels. I recently bought a set of TRD Pro wheels for my 4Runner and when they arrived, of course the boxes were beat to hell and opening them I was terrified the wheels would be damaged. To put it lightly, the Signature boxing/prep is unmatched and you can tell they spare no expense on making sure the wheels arrive you undamaged or as protected as practically possible.
4) The fit/finish of the wheels is spectacular. The paint finish I chose was Matte Black and 50Deep informed me (ahead of time) that it actually comes out as almost Satin (and it does) which is exactly what I was looking for. It provides the deepest black levels of their darker finishes and goes with my Metallic Grey paint scheme.
5) The "concavity" on the wheels is interesting. I feel like it's a perfect balance between concave (which is all the rage now) and not having them so concave that you don't get to see the wheel design from severe angles. I wanted a design that you can see/notice the 6 star pattern and not just from 90 perpendicular. They're able to reduce weight by extending the hub dimension with a very sunken center section and really optimize the wheel for less material where it's not helpful or contributing to strength which I think makes for a great look as well as saving weight. Obviously the R spec calls for a deeper dimension in the front and the depth of the center well is more pronounced than on the rear.
6) My wheels/tires balanced up very nicely on the roadforce balancer. The biggest weight on any of the 4 was .75 ounces and that's on the far inside edge of the wheel. Almost assuredly due to the imperfections in the tires and not the wheel. Pretty amazing that all of them balanced up with less than 3/4 an ounce of weight adjustment on such large tires/wheels which speaks volumes to the manufacturer tolerances and quality.
7) I took the time to apply CQuartz DLUX to alleviate the pain and sorrow of having to clean brake dust all the time. The detail and ornate surface variations of the CNC cutting became a REAL challenge here and I found myself spending a LOT of time trying to get the whole outside face of the wheel and spokes completely covered. Part of that was my moderate OCD for such things and part of it was just the nature of the wheel. After applying the ceramic coating almost gives the Matte Black finish an even deeper contrast black while adding an ever so slight glaze/wet look to the wheels. Highly recommended for the look, I'll report back as to whether or not it helps with the cleaning.
8) My initial impressions when driving the car on new shoes is interesting. I didn't get a chance to weigh the wheels (I wasn't going to drop a bunch of money on a large scale just for a one time wheel measurement), but based upon others that are similar, the weights are 21 lbs and 23 lbs respectively. That means approximately a 12 lb weight savings on the front and a 10 lbs off the rear OEM wheels. When you add back the additional weight of the tires, it ends up being about 11 lbs and 9 lbs. So 40 lbs total off the unpsrung weight of the car.
I opted to run 305/325 and I replaced the OEM tpms for a TPMS-35, which is the insert plastic (vs. the screwed metal) and black. I also installed a set of black Gorilla lugs.
The car "feels" livelier. I won't use superlatives like "hugely" or greatly, but the difference is noticeable. It feels zippier all the way around, in acceleration (not quite as much) but the difference in braking is pretty substantial, the brakes "grab" more expecially at very low speeds like creeping closer at a stop light.
The only "knock" (depending on your opinion) is that the car is absolutely more rough riding now. You definitely FEEL more feedback from the road and imperfections than before. The best comparison I can give is that normal mode feels like track mode with the stock tires and track mode feels pretty harsh/extreme. It's great for feedback and driving experience and really feeling the conditions of the road.
The other aspect that I'm now a little concerned about is the infamous "poke" and I'll get pictures posted later. I knew about it, I researched it and I went with 325's (in the absence of a 315 option for the sport 4s) and the poke is significant enough to cause me to raise an eyebrow. I had no choice but to drive through some water from a construction crew concrete cutting on the highway and both the front and the rear thew water spatter down the side of the vehicle. I'm hoping that rocks and debris are less of an issue, but keeping the vehicle pristine is now probably going to be MUCH more of a challenge. The splash guards just aren't going to be wide enough. This is the reason I don't have more pics for you guys, had the car all dolled up and ready to shoot and now I need a couple of days to wash and was again.
More photos soon.
Bottom line, is I feel completely confident and happy with my purchase and experience. I'd do it again and I recommend it to others. Couldn't be happier.
