Really cheap rims - what's the catch?
 

I found this site while browsing for rims, and the prices seem to be too good to believe. Anyone dealt here or know anything about these peeps? I'd sure be happy to find the Carrera rims I'd like at this price, but I also don't want to prove that Barnum was right!

cheap rims - click here

Mark

Material and manufacturing process differences can lead to wheels that are:
-soft
-brittle
-heavy
-non-symmetric

Just because they look the same, doesn't mean they are the same. There are hundreds of different aluminum alloys and several different ways to shape it into a wheel.

Although I'm sure Porsche has a ridiculous mark-up on the factory wheels, as they do on other parts, they do use quality wheels.

Although I do agree with that statement about the quality level. I am pretty sure whatever company does produce these knockoffs have to follow some type of guidelines to ensure they are safe. I think you would be ok. (thanks for the link)

Think of medicine. You have all the knockoff brands and they are actually produces in the same facilitys minus the T stamp.

I would not be so sure about the integrity of the marketplace/invisible hand.

I saw some rims recently that would make your hair stand on end, they were in a welding shop to be repaired, they were cracked, I wouldn't run a bicycle on them much less attempt to repair them after they failed once.

...and then after the horrible accident, your insurance company tells you that you are not covered because the aftermarket wheels you were running were not NHTSA approved.

Unless their is a TüV stamp or comparable quality rating, I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.

um, think of some recent items from china... anti-freeze laced toothpaste, lead infused baby toys, cribs that collapse when looked at. legitimate companies usually follow some set of safety standard - which is some of what you pay for, but a lot of companies take as many shortcuts as possible to make something that "looks" normal but cost 1/10th to manufacture...

also, it should be noted the wheels in the link are remanufactured ( "repaired" ) and not new.

The analogy to a generic drug isn't really accurate here.

They state on the front page that they offer both remanufactured and new aftermarket wheels. I don't see where it states which these are.

I called the company and asked them exactly how their prices are so low. First of all the company is called Coast to Coast and they are nothing more than the fullfilment company for 50+ websites. The wheels they sale are mostly originals from junk yards, broken or simply unused. They are not made in China, in fact if they are replicas they are made in Germany and Italy. Also, if they do have to make one they are using the original molds and same material as original.

Of course all of this is coming from the person running the online sales. But if it is true my analogy of medicine is exactly right.

When you call and give them a part number they will tell you what they have in stock and which catagory the ones they have in stock are. for the wheel I just asked about they said they have 8 that where are OEM and have a lifetime warranty and three that are aftermarket with the same warranty that where made in Germany using the original molds.

looks to me to be a pretty good deal.

Do the folks you talked to fulfill the lifetime warranty for 50 internet sites? I would find out who is carrying the liabilty insurance for the group before I bought and if they were made in the EU then they will have a TUV stamp. No stamp, no dice.

google search the part number, all that comes up are remanufactured rims.

but either way, the old adage will hold true - you get what you pay for.

Don't be so quick to bash them.

Many of the cars in my house have had Momo & BBS wheels,they were nothing special...they bent in time just like every other wheel.

Currently at the moment both Porsches in my house have wheels from

http://www.wheelsandcaps.com/specials_packages_item.asp?id=20&part=ALY67304U#AL Y67304U (not these exact ones but same manufacturer and web site bought from)

Many miles on both sets,no problem,still straight and true according to our alignment shop. Deal was impressed with them as well. Only reason they noticed was when they took the wheels off they saw the 'NOT ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER' stamp on the inside of them.

I'm slammed my last Boxster(which had replicas from same manufacturer) into a sidewall,dragged the wheel along a sidewall,had the car at a repair shop and they said the only thing that didn't need to be replaced wheel,it could use a touch up from really deep scratches,it wasn't even bent... :D

Why be penny wise and pound foolish?

There are many good aftermarket brands of wheels that I would buy. They are manufactured by reputable companies and have a track record (literally with BBS) and are in good financial standing. They do R&D testing, they have product liability insurance.

This costs money and you pay more for good aftermarket wheels. Granted you pay less than OEM parts where the markup is not derived from normal competitive models because they are in effect a monopoly for a given period of time.

Then there are fly by night cheapo manufacturers that will make the cheapest imitation product possible that looks like a quality product. They are sold by the container load by trading companies in Hong Kong or Taiwan. They are short run products sold my trading companies to middle men in the US and then sold on the internet and ebay to take advantage of popular trends in the automotive world.

These wheels are not tested, their is no product liability insurance, there is no company to back up problems, there is no reputation and you cannot find anyone after the sale who will answer your phone call or replace a defective product. What they are efficient at is charging your credit card.

We have all dealt with them, we have all been tempted by the low prices for the things that we covet that in reality cost much much more.

But when it comes to my safety, my wife and my sons safety, my financial future and my concern for you the general public who trust me not to kill you with my car. it is not worth saving $200 or even $2000 on wheels. hey take lots of force and lots of stress. Why trust all of this to a fulfillment center for 50 nameless websites.

Is your vanity really worth that little?

Some of these replicas are from Taiwan and China, some are from Italy.

I'm only speaking on the Italian made replicas(those are the only ones I have experience with),which I believe the OP was referring to.

Where were yours from?

this is a way too melodramatic. I have driven on a few bent rims in my lifetime. its not a life threatening situation. Ive driven on mustang wheels which were 700 dollars for rims and tires. and at faster speeds.

the worst thing likely to happen is that you bend a rim and replace it with another cheapo only to bend in short order.

you can also fear falling planes, north korea's nukes or meteors those too will threaten you and your family... but they are no reason to live in a bomb shelter.

The rim to which I was refering originally was thin, cheaply made and cracked. Cracked rims do not hold air, they release air in a rapid fashion, rim blow outs in corners can cause rapid destabilization of a car especially if they occur on the front of the vehicle. This can cause you to swerve into oncoming traffic.

I would not drive on cheap ass rims any more than I would drive on bald maypop tires.

Do as you wish and i will do the same but IMO you folks are trying to save a little coin to stroke your egos.

If you wanted these wheels for racing then money would be no object if the more expensive wheels got you a half a second a lap, this arguement is all about looks.

its not advice... its a fact. i dont remember saying everyone should do it. ive driven many a POS before i got my porsche.

as for life threatening... i must have been on the verge of death every moment for two and a half years driving my saturn SL2 with a bent rim. call me evel knievel
because I was looking death in the face everyday. the only difference I never crashed. he must just be an amateur.

landrovered, again with the melo drama, not everyone here buys cheapo rims then goes and hits the nordschleife. not only that the streets are flooded with cheap rims at least they were in Orlando, boston and I have a feeling every major city is the same. and in all the catostrophic accidents i have ever heard of and seen knowing my fair share of firefighters and first responders and working with them. not one was due to a faulty china rim. its always drunk driver, crazy lunatic, texting etc.

of course the rebuttal will be that I cant know how many crashes happen due to rims or they just dont report those types or whatever else ad naseum.

will I buy these rims? no... id rather get some used OEM.

is everyone who buys these cheapos destined to end up in a fiery car crash... nope

and alot of it is about looks... otherwise you would drive your car around dirty or wouldnt mind someone keying your car. hey its only the looks that are damaged right?

if looks mean nothing to you which im sure it does... then go paint ur boxster or landrover pink purple and yellow with baby blue polka dots... its just looks who cares what the haters think.

:cheers:

the fact is that I have driven on a bent rim. never once gave advice. this isnt about critical thinking its about reading comprehension.

what makes it not life threatening is the fact that it has a very low probability of causing an accident. does it elevate it sure. does it make it dangerous no.

and i wish it was just luck because that would be one long luck streak.

not ever changing brake fluid elevates chance of accident. having new tires elevates risk of accident. playing music too loud elevates risk. driving at night elevates risk. driving while tired, driving with underinflated tires, driving a car that has an oil leak increases risk. stepping out of your house elevates risk of an accident... see where Im going with this...


an asteroid could kill someone. along with falling coconuts.

moral of the story... wear helmets in hawaii and hope your local bomb shelter is meteor proof.

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'.

:cheers:

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.

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

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. " :D


Mark

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

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

http://www.cartype.com/pics/4034/small/wheel_stamp.jpg

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

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

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

Chinese wheel ...

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

"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.

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.

Do pot holes take the weekends off? :)

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.

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? :cheers:

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.

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.

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

Are victor equipment rims in the cheapo category?
 

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.

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.

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!

:cheers:

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

Thinking too little is the root of most problems.