Really cheap rims - what's the catch? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

landrovered · 07-08-2010, 04:40 AM

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 · 07-08-2010, 05:10 AM

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

Mark_T · 07-08-2010, 10:31 AM

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 · 07-08-2010, 11:18 AM

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 · 07-08-2010, 11:35 AM

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 · 07-08-2010, 12:12 PM

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 · 07-08-2010, 02:30 PM

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

ekam · 07-09-2010, 07:30 AM

Quote:

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 · 07-09-2010, 07:39 AM

Quote:

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.