Desmond Regamaster - marquis promada
Author: Kai Her - Jan. 4th, 2024
Happy new year!
I apologize for the late blog! I have been stumped with holiday and family gatherings consecutively. Therefore, after a physical strenuous day of a lot of eating, talking, and celebrating, I am just too exhausted to actually get on here to write. If you have been waiting, I appreciate your support and I hope I can better deliver content onto here more frequently. Since car show season will be arising in a few months, I’ll have more content to gather from as well, since I have always wanted to bring out my own camera and capture an event through my own lense. Overall, I’m extremely stoked about the new year and cannot wait what 2024 has in store for me and the S2000!
I’ve been pondering over the idea of collecting more wheels this year, but upon some self-reflection and conjuring up a new year’s resolution later last year, one of new year’s intention is to spend less money on the S2000. As you can see, the S2000 is near or at the final stage of my vision. However, we will see how this year takes off. You never know, I may just begin selling a few of my wheels as I realized that sometimes, too much is “too much.”
Which brings us here! The blog about, yet, another wheel from my collection. YES! The Desmond RegaMaster - Marquis Promada edition. Just in case if you want to know, it’s my all time favorite wheel from my collection. I acquired the wheels back early when I recently purchased the S2000. Being new into the S2000 community, I wanted to get my hands on something authentic and knowing it’ll age well.
I purchased the Promada’s from Utah. The previous owner kept it in mint near new condition! You ever get this itch in your skin where you just know when something is meant for you? Well, I knew these Promada’s will be mine when I first saw it for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The wheels were listed for sale for long extended period of time. I guess people weren’t interested in the wheel enough to work out a deal with the seller. To add, the wheels were set at a decent price: $2000. Well, after a few weeks and still seeing it for sale and after receiving my insurance claim from my totaled Civic (EM1), I contacted the seller right away and purchased it. I didn’t know the difference between the Promada and EVO designs, so the seller was kind enough to educate me between the similarities and differences between both wheels.
Anyway, as we dive back into this series about the wheels, may I inform you that the Promada’s are already off onto my tire rack again. I will try to stick onto running the current wheels until the first show I attend and then alter it to another set that has not yet made its way to the S2000; and these wheels have been on my shelf since the beginning of 2023.
I guess that’s one minor issue you run into owning too many wheels, you can’t devote an sufficient amount of time to properly run a set for a good while before changing it up again. Well, without further ado! I present you my favorite wheel: “Desmond RegaMaster - Marquis Promada!”
From the get-go, you can see that the EVO decals are not suppose to be on these wheels, as the Promada has its own distinct decal. Maybe, one day, I’ll slit these out and put the accurate ones on. However, for now, I’ll continue to have the EVO ones placed on the wheel.
The wheel specs are a 17x9 +38. I like running my wheels squared on the S2000. The only two sets I owned that are a staggered set are my Advan RG1’s and the MF10’s.
A few more angles to demonstrate the 5 spoke star design of the wheel. In case you didn’t notice, the “Desmond” decal is supposedly meant for the reissued RegaMaster EVO’s from ICB Motorsport. When Matt had redesign the the version two, he also added this new decal onto the spoke as well. It took me awhile to get used to it, but I can honestly say, now it looks like it’s meant to be there.
Then you still have the iconic “EVO” decal on another spoke of the wheel. Which in my opinion, is ageless!
Is it just me or are the Regamasters light!? I guess the tire size does play a significant role when it comes to weight distribution. I didn’t have a scale to compare, but I remember I purchased my EVO II’s and my Te37SL’s nearly a few weeks apart from each other. From lifting both wheels, I remember the Regmaster was slightly ligther. To my surprise, I thought the Te37’s will be lighter, especially it being the SL model as well.
So…I guess it’s fact and evident that the wheel is “SUPER LIGHT WEIGHT.”
What sets the Promada’s apart from the EVO competition model are the rise center bore and center caps that are included with the Promada’s. Just in case if you were wondering if the center caps will fit the EVO competition models, it does not. However, I have seen plenty of innovative enthusiasts fabricating their own custom caps for the EVO’s.
But if you do own an EVO competition model, whether it be the OG’s or EVO II’s, it looks most original without a cap. Just my words of advice.
You can visually see the whole wheel in these pictures above. As you can see, it doesn’t half as bad with the EVO decals. LOL, trust me, I have contemplated about just running it stickerless plenty of times. Perhaps, if I ever do find an OG EVO competition model set (also in white), I’ll finally remove them. For now, I think it’s best to stick them on.
My to-go tire brand is Falken! I paired up the Promada’s to a set of Falken Azenis RT615k+’s. Although, the Promada’s are a squared set, I’m running the tires with two different sizes: 215/45’s in the front and 225/45’s in the rear.
You will clearly see the differences as seen below on the S2000.
Here is a side angle of the S2000. The car sits lower up front due to the smaller tire size. The car arches up to the rear giving it that “hot wheel” aesthetic. In case if you’ve been pondering in cutting into your panels, I hope this picture can convince you the S2000 OEM bodylines still ages so well, especially the car being more than a few decades old.
Side note: My S2000 never has never seen track day in it’s life, so if you must drill and cut into your panels to run wider and beefier tires, by all means, don’t let me stop you!
My rear diffuser sits extremely low with this set up! The diffuser has seen its better days. Perhaps it time to remove it and try to find something new for it. Or take it off entirely? It picks up so much debris and gravel on the road.
What do you think?
The 17x9 +38 does give the Falken RT615k+’s a bit of a stretch. With the Down Force fenders equipped on the S2000 currently, I can ideally run something with more meat, but hold on your horses, let me wear these tires down, then I’ll swap over to a bigger size. Which will probably be years from now; evident on how often the swap in between wheels.
The front tucks and the bottom of the bumper is about two fingers off the ground. This is still achievable with the stock OEM fenders. With it rolled and shaved, of course. Cambering is highly recommended as traveling over an undulation or dip could possibly breach the fenders; depending on how fast you’re driving.
I have access to air due to the air cups installed in the front. With ease and a push of a button, I can conveniently raise the front upon steering right or left and driving up and down a driveway.
If you’re looking to see which camber specs to run, especially lowered close to the ground, and not give you that excessive stance appearance, anywhere between a -3.0 to -4.5 is what I have played around with. The tires camber out, but just enough to where it’s not “butterflying?”
Side note: Please do your own thorough research if you want to figure out the most optimal geometry of your suspension set-up ideally for track. All of that is foreign to me as I have little to zero knowledge on the best suited suspension equation for tracks/time attacks.
In order for me to execute in running the Spoon Sport monoblock’s with the Promada’s, a 3mm spacer is required. It sits exceptionally tight, however, I assure you, from my personal driving experience, both the caliper and wheel has never come into contact.
Just in case if you were wondering what lug nuts I am utilizing, these are the Project Kics titanium coated heptagon lug nuts. In my opinion, they compliment the Spoon Sport calipers real well.
The rear sits tight with minimal tire gap. However, with the 225/45’s in the rear, there is no rub. Last time I checked, my rear coil overs are bottomed out.
Something to take note of, if you are a “true OG!” That’s what the NnovatioN brother and I would will call it. The OG and reissued RegaMasters are plenty different.
The OG design has the stepped lip. The spokes meets the a lip as it angles up to another lip. That is the best way I can explain it. LOL. Compared to the reissued design, as the spokes meet the lip, it shallows downward and then meets the lip.
The 5 star spokes on the OG designs are linear. The spoke stretches out in a straight formulation as it meets the lip of the rim. If you ever get a chance to observe the reissued designs in the same angle like the picture above, the EVO II spokes slightly curves downward as it reaches the lip. My theory is that, in that way, it can comfortably clear big brake kits without the need of spacers.
If you can spot any more differences between the two, please let me know! Still both beautiful designs, and I am glad ICB Motorsports stuck true and near to its predecessor.
A few more angles of the S2000 in it’s best form, in my personal perspective. Maybe I should have gone with these wheels during my Super Street/MotorTrend feature earlier last year. What are your thoughts?
One last peek of the S2000 on top of the Promada’s.
I will continue in trying to post up a blog weekly. I genuinely appreciate anyone keeping up with me in my build and continually showing support in getting onto my site to read my blogs. This is still very new and peculiar for me.
From one day last year, I just thought to myself, I’m going to begin blogging about something I enjoy. So here I am, writing and explicitly showing you the few of many things I have done with the S2000. I’m here to stay, so I hope one day, the blog will evolve into something that would help the car community, especially in the S2000 automotive realm.
I anticipate to collaborate with other enthusiasts in the future. Perhaps, in the near future, I’ll also be comfortable in vlogging, so it’ll be much easier to dive into my content, rather than reading it.
I still have plenty of JDM parts and wheels to show you all, therefore, drop by and visit whenever you get a chance! Thank you again for your support. I’ll be checking out! I’ll see you in the next blog series!
