replacement airbag wheel

[jleasure]

Someone was working on a deal to get a group buy going on the RAID wheel. Anyone know what happened to that, or if it's still going to happen?

I'm going to Germany in a month and may pick one up and ship back if this is not going to happen.

[karlfranz]

Work on this is going slower than we hoped. The problem is getting a custom hub adapter fabricated. Jim Knowles is working on this. Thanks to Chase, we were able to get a look at a MotoConcept adapter. There is considerable expense out of Jim's pockets to get the required tooling to make the part (the splines in particular). He will be taking a risk that there will be enough wheels ordered to recoup the cost of the tooling. Once this gets sorted out I will provide the rest of the info on getting the wheel ordered. I will say that the price will be significantly cheaper than going through MotoConcept (see below).

Please note that supplies of the Raid Daytona are very limited so it may take a while. Some may be interested in the Raid Freeway which is a bit cheaper and more available.

Out of curiousity, how many on this list are seriously considering ordering a wheel when it becomes available? Minimum order will be 5 wheels. You will get a further discount if we get 10 or more wheels ordered. Assume the price to be between $700-1,000US. We won't know the final proce until we get the final numbers. This is also dependent on the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar. However, for comparison sake, the MotoConcept wheel is about $1,300US with today's exchange rates.

Also, jleasure: good luck trying to ship the wheel yourself from Germany. Ever since the airliner went down in the Florida everglades due to those oxygen canisters, air couriers have been very leary of transporting explosive devices such as an airbag.
Then there are the US Customs issues. Steve F. ordered a wheel and it sat in Customs for about 6 months if I recall correctly.

[jleasure]

6 months? customs sucks...

Regardless, obviously I would prefer to be part of the group buy and save a little cash, so you can consider me "serious" about the purchase.

JL

[chasevdr]

I have several photos of the wheel on my Esprit V8 and it looks real nice. If anyone can host the pictures for me I will be happy to get it on the forum. Alternatively, write me, I will send them to you. Then between this and the last discussion people can figure out how it will look for them (pre-V8 binnacle already exist on this forum from a few weeks ago). Matches perfectly. The silver in the wheel is a exact match for the shifter, and the handbrake. The black leather has the exact same patina as the leather in the car. It looks like the wheel was made for the Esprit. Does not look aftermarket at all.

[dasspoot]

Chase sent me the pics of the Daytona and it too looks great in the V8 interior with the aluminum trim. For me, Im very happy with the Freeway.

Karl, have you checked with Claudius about the adapter? I thought he said he could do it.
Steve

[karlfranz]

dasspoot said:

Karl, have you checked with Claudius about the adapter? I thought he said he could do it. Steve

Hi Steve,

No, I didn't try Claudius. Jim Knowles is looking into making the hub adapter. Of course the other approach would be to get a group buy for the wheel only and let everyone else figure out how to mount in on their cars. I already have a Raid wheel for my car so I'm only doing this to help others.

We need to get a head count of *serious* buyers for this group buy. I was offered a discount if we get at least 5 orders and a smaller additional discount if we get more than 10. The target price will probably be well under $900US (including adapter) which as you might know is quite a good deal for an airbag wheel.

Please don’t reply if you wouldn't intend to follow through with a purchase should we go ahead with this group buy. Also, please note that this is for US buyers only.

[dirk989]

Count me in. I would be interested in a replacement for the GM parts bin look of the original.

Dirk