The BRM wheel was introduced in June 1966 between EMPI and Speedwell. The cost of the wheel was $50 each. It was cast out of 90% magnesium which made it light and fragile. It was highly prone to corrosion so that if you polish it on a Friday afternoon it would look horrible for cruising that night. This was solved when a VW driver polished his wheels to a mirror finish with wire wool. They looked so good that soon everybody had to have a set of BRMs. Adaptors were required which some drivers looked down on. Then in 1968 when Volkswagen introduced the 4-lug wheel which BRM's could no longer fit. EMPI came up with the GT Spyder wheel which was a two-piece cast aluminum wheel. Other popular wheels were the 5-spoke, 8-spoke, and the Rader.
In 1991 Flat 4 a Japanese engineering firm aquired the rights to reproduce all Empi / Speedwell wheels and have been supplying them for 17 years and whilst you all are nerdishly correct they are now considered by some to be the standard.
However there have been a couple of Chinese entries onto the market recently which produce a convincing COPY they lack the quality of the flat4's (
www.flat4.co.jp) especialy when it comes to Chromies.
Flat4 also produce the Enkie an American Racing replica, Sprintstars and The Rader which is yet another replica of an Empi wheel. Some people think this is a new wheel design as it has bounced back into popularity following the availability of cheap Chinese copies.
So unless you have about 4000euro in your pocket for an "original" Empi set it is much easier to convince yourself that the Flat4's are good enough !
Any further questions ?
The BRM (British Racing Motor) " The rarest of the rare " wheel has long been considered the prize set of the wheel to own among the California Look crowd. In 1991, FLAT-4 proudly introduced the reproduction of 1966 EMPI/SPEEDWELL designed BRM wheel. In 2002, to give BRM's old school look to every Air cool VW, we designed 4 lug (P.C.D. 130mm) BRM based on the design the SPEEDWELL. LTD produced for mini cooper in 60's. Also, FLAT-4 BRM 6.5J X 15 wide BRM was made to meet today's high performance demand. All FLAT-4 BRM is cast in aluminum and will provide years of use and maintain a beautiful finish for your everyday street use or show car.
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