BYT will always will give it to you straight. No fluff. Maximum product rating equals 5 stars . We rate the products on performance, quality, fit, appearance and price/value. Do you have something you would like us to review? Contact us and we'll see what we can do!

SPI Aluminum Racing Wheels

Now the first thing you may be asking yourself is “Why the heck is BYT doing a review on racing wheels”? Well, the answer to that question is simple, they look AWESOME and SPI promised they would add big time stability to our truck. Anything that adds handling and stability can be appreciated in the bashing world just as much as the racing world. And for a mere $90 for a complete set of four aluminum rims, shipped to your door, it is a hard deal to pass up. Better yet, they are made right here in the USA in Madison Heights, Michigan.

SPI offers a wide range of aluminum wheel styles, 15 in total. They also add new designs 3 times per year. They also accept designs from customers and if your design is chosen to be made into a production wheel, you get a free set! How cool is that?!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: We opted for the “Bio-Hazard” design. When compared to some of the other SPI designs, this particular pattern is not made with the thickest, strongest spokes but it looks very, very cool. If you end up picking up some of these for some hardcore bashing, we recommend looking for a wheel with more and/or thicker spokes for additional strength (like the “Twisted” or “Clover” styles).

Each SPI wheel is made from billet 6061-T6 aluminum and the mounting is 14mm hex drive. They will fit any truck that can accept the standard 14mm T-Maxx wheels. Manufacturing the wheels is a 9 step operation to go from solid 3-1/2 diameter, 6061-T6 aluminum bar stock to the finished product.

When the wheels arrived, we were extremely surprised at how lightweight the package was! I thought perhaps they forgot to include the wheels. Fortunately, they were inside and each one was individually packaged to keep them looking their best (at least until we hit the rock piles). Each wheel had an individual serial number etched on it and SPI included a registration form to activate the warranty. Take a few minutes to record the serial numbers and your info, drop it in the mail to make sure you are covered in the event of a bent or cracked wheel.

QUALITY: The machine work on the wheels is very nice. No burrs, only clean cuts. The aluminum appears to be of a very high grade. No flaws or ugly spots like we have seen on other aluminum parts from different companies. The quality of the wheels is very apparent in the hex mounting area. Extra detail like the smooth, radius edges are given in that area and it is a welcomed, strength giving feature.

FIT / FINISH/ APPEARANCE : The hex mounting area is super beefy and is a solid, snug fit to the 14mm axle nuts. The bead area is perfectly cut and ready to accept the tire of your choice. Any tire that would fit a stock T-Maxx or Savage rim will fit on these wheels. The overall polish of the rims is outstanding. Be sure to keep a pair of sunglasses handy on sunny days. They SHINE! A+ in the fit and finish department.

The edges of the design cuts are all at a 90 angle and our only comment here is that a slight bevel might add some depth and perhaps a slightly better appearance to the finished product. Don't take that the wrong way. They look GREAT as is. The addition of a chamfered edge on some of the mill work was really the only thing we could think of to make them look better.

SPI wheels feature a “Super Stock” offset that makes your truck 2-3/8" wider! Talk about some added stability. On the track, SPI claims that cornering speeds can go up 30%. The wider stance also helps keep your truck with the roof facing towards the sky rather than shoveling dirt.

We chose a set of Hot Bodies Death Grip tires and Pro-Line Maxx Impact Ultra-Firm tire foams (part number 6199-00) to get things rolling (I know....bad pun). Delivering 6" of height, the Death Grip’s are a mix between a Chevron style tread with some added knobs at the edges. They appear to be a good all around bashing tire and worked well with our testing. Our choice of the Ultra-Firm Pro-Line foams was an easy, it is all our LHS had in stock! To secure rims this gorgeous, plain old wheel nuts would just not be sufficient (stock nuts work....we just wanted more bling) so we grabbed a set of SawTooth RC SawTooth Knock-offs to compliment the package(how sweet do those blue knock-offs look?!?!). Please note that SPI only sells rims. We purchased and installed the tires, foams and wheel knock-offs separately.

PERFORMANCE: While these are “racing” rims, we do not have access to a full blown RC racing track so we hit our favorite bashing spots (this is Beat Your Truck after all). Several local construction sites were chosen to put these rims to the test.

High speed handling in the dirt was a blast with the extra 2-3/8” wide truck. It was pretty tough to flip it over (check the picture to the right to see how WIDE it is!!). In fact, it was a ton of fun trying to get it to roll on big sweeping corners. It was very easy to punch it hard on big sweepers and watch the Death Grip’s struggle to get a hold of anything. The truck loved to slide (rather than flip over) and we quickly saw our T-Maxx turn into a monster truck drifter! The added width is a big bonus in the stability department and with our testing, they lived up to everything SPI said and then some. It’s nice not having to worry so much about running after your truck to flip it back on its wheels! A great comparison is when the T-Maxx went from the “old style” to the “Wide Maxx” version. These wheels will take your Wide Maxx to the next level!

General bashing and light to medium jumping (5’ and under) was a treat with the added stability of the rims and a fresh set of meats on the Maxx. The turning radius was slightly reduced with the wider stance however this was quickly overcome with a change of driving style. The added stability allows for a quick blip of the throttle to get the truck loose and you can easily get the truck pointed in the right direction.

We took the truck over a few big jumps, one dirt pile in particular would give the truck 8’-10’ of air on a regular basis. We did not bend any rims but to be perfectly honest, we believe the possibility is there. These are racing rims and are not really designed for massive amounts of air. As we all know, aluminum does bend. Again, no problems were experienced but if you are looking to grab a set of these rims for heavy bashing, check out the beefier designs as they will be much more resilient to bending. And it should also be noted, if you were to bend a rim, SPI will replace it for free. You just pay the shipping and handling! That is an awesome warranty and really shows the confidence level that SPI has with the products they manufacture. We plan on ordering a set of “Twisted” style wheels for our Savage as they have a meatier design element and should handle the bigger stuff.

COST / VALUE: Like we mentioned before, $90 will get you a set of four (4) rims shipped to your door. Prices like that are unheard of when it comes to aluminum rims. What do you get for your money? A great looking and performing set of rims. SPI claims these rims will shave your lap times and after the handing benefits we experienced, we totally believe it. If you are a racer looking for a way to make it to the finish line a little faster, this could be the best $90 you have spent on your truck in a long time.


THE VERDICT: Almost everyone loves the look of aluminum rims and the extra bling they give to your ride. The SPI rims not only deliver more bling, but could make you look like a better driver. $90 gets you there and it is a small price to pay for a beautiful set of rims. Heck, send in your own design and see if you can land a free set!

Like we previously mentioned, we plan on getting another set for our Savage. That should tell you how much we like them!

Last but not least, the SPI warranty is ROCK solid. Per the SPI web site, “You bend it, break it, or strip it, send it back, and we replace it for FREE. You pay S&H ONLY”.

Visit the SPI Racing web site, check out the designs and get your rims on order today!

Tell them that the guys at Beat Your truck sent you!