Really cheap rims - what's the catch?

[blinkwatt]

I'd be willing to bet that many users on this board who actually drive their cars daily have bent rims to a degree,but it's not a big enough deal for them to even notice.

And as for mentioning BBS is track proven...yeah their EXTREME high end stuff is. Most of the available one and two piece wheels aren't professional raced. Like I said,we've actually had two sets of BBS wheels get bent in my house,just regular driving around town,and MOMO.

No one here is saying that the replicas are the bees knees,but last I checked,out of the many people on this board not one has come back to say, 'OMFG my Italian replicas from Wheels Dynamics,Wheels and Caps or eBay snapped in half'.

[landrovered]

Perhaps this boils down to different life attitudes for folks of different ages.

When I was a younger man I didn't really give a **************** about safety, insurance, warranties, liability any of those big boy terms that old farts talked about after dinner.

Get in drive fast, get out and do something more fun than balance your checkbook and pay bills. Life is short and there are hotties to be chased and beers to be drunk.

Then life happens and you experience enough accidents, flukes, hard times, anomolies and plain wierd **************** that you come to the realization that the actuaries are basically correct and that life and your survival of it is largely a game of percentages and you are not in the drivers seat when it comes to what does or does not happen to you and your kin in the big scheme of things.

And oddly enough you begin to become attached to the things that you have in your life and you decide that keeping them might be a good thing.

So you plan a strategy of eliminating as many of the risk factors that you can while not taking all of the fun out of life. You insure stuff, you check things, you fill jars with nails and label them in your garage. You buy things that make you happy, you dont buy the cheapest thing available, you enjoy owning "the best" and you are capable of affording it.

You seek out the well made and the obscure, you covet craftsmanship and exclusivity. These are qualities that you can appreciate, merely knowing that these things are yours makes you happy.

You see folks"hell bent for leather" to hit their heads against the wall of experience and you know that it is going to hurt. You try to warn them but you are accused of being melodramatic and they say things like, bent wheels don't automatically mean a firey death and they are right in a limited perspective and you know they are wrong at the same time.

[ekam]

Reading that makes me feel old, even though physically I'm young.

[Mark_T]

Wow. Sorry folks - I wasn't trying to start something. This took off like a Mobil1 thread!

"Lucky we didn't say anything about the dirty knife. "


Mark

[Mark_T]

I think the middle line here is that the rims are definitely not Porsche quality, but are most likely safe enough for non-racing applications, and at that price you can replace any rim that becomes even slightly damaged.

Will I buy them? Not sure. I think I will keep my eyes open for a good deal on a used set of the real thing for a few months and, if nothing comes up, then I'll give it some further consideration.

I sure appreciate all the peeps who took the time to post their views. There's some really good food for thought in here. Thank you!

Mark

[blinkwatt]

Just to throw this out there,for approval ratings. The Italian made replicas are JWL approved(along with others)....

Japan Light Alloy Wheel. The technical standard for Light Alloy Disc Wheels for Passenger Car
approved by Ministry of Transport (MOT).

Their approval stamps look like this,from inside the wheel



That's just one of the approval ratings the wheels have.

[landrovered]

IMO...If a wheel has rating marks like TWL and TuV and is made by an ISO9000 company then it is an aftermarket wheel and not a cheapo wheel. I would have no problem buyng a wheel with these marks.

ADDED: The problem is how do we know the Italians didn't buy them from these people. I wonder if these are stamped... http://wheelshome.en.alibaba.com/product/257570588-200155524/Replica_alloy_wheels.html

[Wret]

At those prices they are worth considering for winter swap, fitted with the safest snow tires available of course.

[landrovered]

Chinese wheel ...

http://media.photobucket.com/image/chinese%20rims/Chiows/fake.jpg

[Perfectlap]

"Porsche quality" cast alloys aren't all that. I have a set of factory Carrera lights and I've bent two and cracked one. And did I mention I only drive weekends?

Unless you're talking a forged wheel (not hollow) you would be wise to keep the budget to a minimum and prepare yourself for the eventual wheel bend. Unfortunately finding a solid forged wheel is not cheap. CCWheel makes one for the Boxster but I think the set will set you back $3K. That's tough to swallow when its 30% of the resell value of some cars. But better that than spedning $3K on exhaust and headers that will net you an extra 10% hp.

I also had a set of BBS RK's (the mesh style) on my previous car which were also pricey cast alloys and while driving ohh...3 mph I hit a high driveway curb a just the wrong angle...ding. BIG dent. Solution? I drove over to the rough part of town where these guys working out of an old factory did nothing but fix bent wheels and repainted them for $100. They had dozens of SUV wheels stacked high waiting to be done. I don't think there were more than three guys working there.

[landrovered]

You touch on a good point and that is wheel design and manufacture has a lot to do with strength and durability.

Some wheel designs are obviously more prone to problems than others. The more spindley and the more "air" there is in the design the more likely it is to give in to the stress of use than a more robust design. Add to this cast vs forged and material quality to the mix and the use will dictate both the budget and the design of the wheel to be purchased.

Personally I like the older style wheels with a bit less air than the newer styles. Also I have decided to stick with my 17" wheels and not go to the 18" wheels due to the poor quality of the pavement in my rural area.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

"Porsche quality" cast alloys aren't all that. I have a set of factory Carrera lights and I've bent two and cracked one. And did I mention I only drive weekends?

Do pot holes take the weekends off?

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Unless you're talking a forged wheel (not hollow) you would be wise to keep the budget to a minimum and prepare yourself for the eventual wheel bend. Unfortunately finding a solid forged wheel is not cheap. CCWheel makes one for the Boxster but I think the set will set you back $3K. That's tough to swallow when its 30% of the resell value of some cars. But better that than spedning $3K on exhaust and headers that will net you an extra 10% hp.

I also had a set of BBS RK's (the mesh style) on my previous car which were also pricey cast alloys and while driving ohh...3 mph I hit a high driveway curb a just the wrong angle...ding. BIG dent. Solution? I drove over to the rough part of town where these guys working out of an old factory did nothing but fix bent wheels and repainted them for $100. They had dozens of SUV wheels stacked high waiting to be done. I don't think there were more than three guys working there.

What size are your wheels? I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but most of these 18" and 19" wheels have very low profile tires. The tire side wall protects the wheel from damage by absorbing the impact by acting as a spring, the more sidewall, the more protection from damage when hitting a bump.

There's a balance between using a material that's hard enough to make the wheel strong yet not keep it from being brittle. A quality wheel doesn't mean it won't bend, it just means that it will resists bending and will fail in a way that isn't dangerous to the driver when it does fail.

A brittle wheel would crack instead of bend in some situations and be dangerous instead of just annoying.

Also, everyone should be aware that a "fixed" wheel isn't necessarily as good as new. Rebending the wheel cold can product microfractures that will weaken the rim in that area and potentially add some brittleness. Adding heat while bending can manipulate the material's grain structure and make it softer in that area. Especially on a forged wheel. Forging introduces internal stresses into the material that helps with it's strength, heating the material can relieve the stresses and make it softer.

I'm not saying repairs can't be done right, they can. But there are many ways in which they can also be done wrong. And a repaired wheel isn't going to ever be "as good as new" but it may be good enough.

[ekam]

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

Just to throw this out there,for approval ratings. The Italian made replicas are JWL approved(along with others)....

Japan Light Alloy Wheel. The technical standard for Light Alloy Disc Wheels for Passenger Car
approved by Ministry of Transport (MOT).

Their approval stamps look like this,from inside the wheel



That's just one of the approval ratings the wheels have.

Please don't kid yourself. Are those approval stamps done from a proprietory stamping/casting machine solely designed and operated by JWL or the MOT?

You should go visit China sometime and see the stuff they make there...

Seriously people, all wheel (cast, forge, fake or OEM) will crack or bend if you hit it hard enough. And not every single fake/replica wheel will crack while doing 80mph on the highway.

And no matter what comes out of this thread, it won't stop anyone form buying fake/replicas.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by ekam

And no matter what comes out of this thread, it won't stop anyone form buying fake/replicas.

Nor should it. Folks looking for wheels should just know what to look for and what they could potentially be getting into. Everything you do carries risk, each individual has to weigh the risk with the benefit and make a decision that works for them.

[landrovered]

My summary of this thread: You get what you pay for in most cases.

[lbrown2009]

Landrover, I put a set of 18's on my 01, I shyed away fromt the 19's because of the rough pavement here... so far so good.

[landrovered]

My wifes 98 has 16s and my 01 has 17s, the difference in the ride is surprising between those two. I am not sure I want the additional harshness of the 18s but I think I will drive some before I buy new wheels.

When I first got my 01 S I hated the stock wheels but they have grown on me and I don't mind them at all now.

[blinkwatt]

Originally Posted by lbrown2009

Landrover, I put a set of 18's on my 01, I shyed away fromt the 19's because of the rough pavement here... so far so good.

Depends who you talk to...last I saw it was $1k for a set of 18"s for the Boxster for Victors. Some people spend $3k on their wheels....just to have them bend at the end of the day as well...SSR is jokingly called Super Soft Rims because they are notorious for bending.

People are thinking too much....OEM,aftermarket,replicas all bend, it's just a matter of time and the wrong potholes. Just Google and search for the brand/style and make sure no wheels are cracking or breaking,because that's where it can become dangerous. Choose the wheel that fits your driving style for your car!



(I have yet to see anyone complain about any wheel on a Boxster snapping)

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

People are thinking too much....

Thinking too little is the root of most problems.