New FTE Wheels

Well so far this season all the FTE cars have the gold wheels.

Yes, until this car hits the pegs.

I am wondering how racing leagues (including the one I am in), will handle this. Right now its pretty easy to know if a car is a FTE or not by looking at the wheels and then they get it into the appropriate division if entered incorrectly. Now it won't be as easy, especially if they continue down this path. Although, all other cars on the HW poster show the typical gold wheel/axle.

Hah, on the poster I found online it shows the 370 with gold wheels but the Corvette concept with silver wheels.

I don't think they are going to make FTE's without gold wheels. What would be the point?

If you go to the Wiki of 2011 Hot wheels they don't even list the 370 in the FTE catagory, they have the GT-R...which I would rather see with FTE's.

You can still inspect the axle to determine if it's an FTE or not. One thing I realized with finally figuring out how to build my own axles is that I don't have to use gold rims at all. It was a big "no duh" moment for me because you just see gold rim and think "FTE" but the axles makes the FTE, not the wheel. So as I start modding I don't plan to use gold rims all the time...I'll use what I think looks best.

Looks like non-gold FTEs will still sport the 5-spoke design...?...so that could be a good indicator.

I don't believe that the new FTE wheels have
been shown. It seems to me that the wheels
in the poster are just for the poster.

As for coming out with a NEW FTE wheel,
In my opinion, it's just another gimmick from
their marketing department which will just
cause confusion. I mean really, what's the point?

All of the "FTE" series cars have come with chrome OH5 wheels for the past two years. When the "FTE" series cars are used in any of the multi packs they get the chrome OH5 wheels.

Now for the wheels. The wheel style is a Open Hole 5 spoke. OH5. When the plated axles are used they are paired with the copper OH5 wheels and the cars get the Faster Then Ever designation. It's not a very well thought out identifier as the wheels come in every color imaginable but only the copper OH5s are used on the FTE series cars. Even the same exact series car will not get the FTE designation when it has the chrome OH5s. Although I have seen some packaging errors where chrome OH5 cars were put on single blisters. There are no FTE designations on multi car packs.

This misconception has plagued my tracks for years, lol.

Do you have some examples of the chrome wheels on the FTE cars in the multi-packs before this year?

I don't recall seeing them before (but I don't buy many multi-packs) nor do I remember seeing those variations over at the South Texas website. If they do exist--a good opportunity for me to find some and get them into a non FTE racing division as they look only for the copper wheels.

There is one car that I have that is not listed as a FTE, but has Copper OH5SP wheels and the thing just flies down the track. Its one of my fastest cars. I've looked and I haven't found many cars officially listed as having Copper OH5SP wheels outside of the FTE cars.

I'm guessing when a car is issued as an FTE, only that version has the nickle axles.
They issued a non-FTE Ferrari 458 earlier this year in red and yellow with silver wheels, then the FTE with the gold wheels.

I haven't looked, but is there a discernible visual difference between the axles? I never really noticed, but I'll look when I get home, I have a lot of loose axles.

I've never noticed a visual difference between them. I don't believe the Chrome OH5 cars have the plated axles

As far as the FTE series variations....

That's the majority of them, I haven't gotten pics of the more recent finds.

They look so weird with silver spoke wheels!

They look so weird with silver spoke wheels!

Funny how Straight Pipes still has the FTE logo on the side of it. I guess I do have a couple of these that I picked up as used cars and never made the connection that they were the same as the FTE line, with the different wheels/axles.

Ok, I checked my axles last night...the FTE are brighter/shinier (nickle plated) than the normal ones. Hard to tell just from the ends but there is a difference.