Back in March of this year, we came across a set of wheels we'd never heard of during a late night browse of the auctions. We're by no means the biggest wheel nerds out there when it comes to the obscure stuff but we recognise a lot of the classics and always love to soak up knowledge. It was purely the design of these wheels that initially caught our attention though.
At first glance, they almost look like a plain old steelie but then you notice the split construction and staggered fitment. Japanese cars have always been my first automotive love as part of the Gran Turismo generation, but I have flirted with the VW and Euro scene and the similarities between these and the classic G60 steelies tick some boxes for me, personally. The current bid was intriguing enough for us to take a punt anyway.
A quick scroll through google soon revealed we'd bought something obscure. Other than a handful of adverts for more used wheels, none of which were of the same design, and one decade old thread on stanceworks by someone in our exact shoes, the internet seemingly had very little to tell us about the Sieg company. Never the less, we like a challenge...
Here's what I've been able to dig up on this almost forgotten brand over the last few months, for the benefit of any interested wheel nerds, or anyone else trying to find some info on the Sieg wheels they own. Thanks to our overseas agents and in particular Oikawa-san for the archive scans in this article and translating bits and pieces. Feel free to email us if you have more information to contribute of course!
Many of you with JDM cars will already be familiar with the confusing world of Japanese trading 'chain companies', and I'm still far from sure I've grasped it besides it being some sort of tax dodge somewhere, but for the uninitiated, Japanese manufacturers often set up several sub division companies to sell different ranges of their products. Honda and Toyota are particularly fond of operating like this; on any given day you could walk into 2 different dealerships and buy 2 completely different cars based on the same chassis, exclusive to those dealers.
Sieg, or Super Sieg as it occasionally appears, was one of many chain companies spawned by Bridgestone in the 70s and 80's, alongside better known brands like Cockpit and Potenza. Sieg started producing split wheels in 1985 and thanks to Bridgestone's existing connections and considerable financial muscle, even managed to be briefly offered as an optional extra wheel through some Asian market Datsun dealers before Nissan completely pulled the plug in 86, from what I can gather. Bridgestone's motorsport connections also lead to Sieg forming a short sponsor relationship with promising driver Akira Hagiwara before his tragic death at Sugo in 1986. The Sieg logo appears prominently on several of Hagiwara's Formula 3 cars as well as the newly established Team Leyton House JTCC Mercedes he was driving at the time of his death, pictured below wearing a set of Sieg splits.
Sieg would continue producing split wheels primarily for the Japanese and Asian markets throughout the 90's, though perhaps due to the intricate politics of sub division trading, or perhaps due to Japan's worsening economic situation through the decade, the company never quite managed to obtain the sort of popularity enjoyed by several of it's competitors like SSR and Advan, despite having arguably similar origins. The majority of Sieg's wheels were in smaller diameter constructions and slowing sales in the face of the late 90's trend for oversized wheels lead to the company being folded by Bridgestone in the year 2000. Thus the Super Sieg company managed to almost completely miss the digital era, and the early days of internet social media that has elevated some of those rivals to such legendary and desireable status. Instead they have faded into relatively forgotten obscurity, despite their racing heritage and split constructions.
A few weeks after we came across the first set, another set of Sieg wheels in a different design and interesting fitment came up for sale and the completist in me just couldn't resist. After exchanging some messages with an Indonesian chap who collects Sieg wheels but didn't seem keen to tell me much, and eventually Bridgestone themselves, I've been able to glean the 2 designs are 9D and D02, produced between 1991 and 1994.
Both sets of wheels are amongst the widest and largest diameter produced by Sieg at 16x8 whilst still being very lightweight, and in my opinion are a great style design to accompany an era appropriate 80's or 90's flavour JDM build. Can't get much cooler than really obscure JDM splits with racing heritage if you ask me. Look out for the 9D's making an appearance under my own CB3 Accord next season after they've had a full strip down, rebuild and maybe a pair of turbofans to do them justice.
I did say earlier we're not the biggest wheel nerds out there, but still big enough to be buying wheels in PCDs for cars we don't own lol. The D02s therefore, will be up for sale as soon as they arrive from the motherland, so feel free to email us at sales@y62.uk if you're interested in negotiating a good price before they land. Specs are 5x114.3 - 16x8 ET51.
Or click https://www.y62.uk/wheels-aero to see our currently available UK parts stock.
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