d:class Build Battle - Episode 14 - Team Old School

Celica Wheels and Tyres Revealed!

In this episode of the d:class Build Battle, we get to see the Celica wheels return from Lepsons. We also take a trip to Bower Lane Tyres where Kumho Tyres UK have sponsored the Celica with a set of tyres.



For those unfamiliar with Lepsons, and the standard of their work, they are the biggest wheel refurbishment company in the south of England, if not the whole of the country. Refurbishing 24,000 wheels a year, the scale of their operation is admirable and shocked Old School team captain Andy.

The wheels may look familiar and that is because they are the wheels that came with the Celica when purchased for the Build Battle in 2021. In fact, these wheels actually come as part of the APR Performance body kit way back when it was still possible to still buy the kit from Japan. They are a very rare set of Racing Hart CR's with a whopping 19 inch wheel size and a width of 10 inches on the rears and 8.5 inches on the fronts.

We were fortunate enough to be given a tour of the Lepsons facility by Jay, the general manager. Jay went through the process from start to finish starting with the handover. We were shown their wheel wall which displays a huge selection and variety of wheels that have been painted and finished in different styles. This is where customers can pick their colour and finish.

Next up is removing the old tyres, and getting the wheels into the chemical tanks. These tanks only target paints and powder coats, meaning the metal does not get damaged.

The wheels are then straightened and welded, if required, followed by being sandblasted ready for the next step.

Now for the more exciting stages of the process. Primers, paints and lacquers.

Wheels are first heated in one of many huge ovens on the conveyor belt system. They are then put in powder coat primer, baked once again and checked for any imperfections.

They are then wet painted in the desired colour, swiftly followed on with powder coat lacquer, providing that OEM finish. They are then baked for a final time and collected by a member of the team to inspect the final results.

Now for the Racing Hart alloys for the Celica. Believe it or not, these wheels are actually a single piece wheel although you wouldn't think so. As stated by Jay in this episode, the lips to these wheels were too far gone and a solution was planned and seen through. The wheel 'centres' are painted metallic grey to give a more modern and timeless look. At the time of writing this, the car has been painted and it is safe to say the new colour goes very well with the Celica's new look.

Once the wheels had been collected, we took a trip down to Bower Lane Tyres where Craig, the owner, had managed to secure Team Old School a sponsored set of tyres from none other than Kumho Tyres UK.

So a massive thank you goes to both companies for helping the team get tyres fitted to the freshly refurbished alloy wheels.

The tyres we have been supplied with are from the Kumho Tyre ultra high performance range, ECSTA PS91 to be specific. The front wheels differ in size from the huge rears. Because of the width difference, the front tyres are a 235/35/19 and the rears are a whopping 265/30/19. As you can see from the images above, there's quite the contrast.