Mr Jones

Interesting video about the pitfalls of fake wheels.

realjones88

Yeah this video has been posted before. For clarification these rims are counterfeits and are sold as such to be complete fakes of real rims. Who knows where they got them from.

The "Mercedes style" replicas that are widely available on Ebay that are labeled as made in China are fine. I have a second set of rims with 19" replicas with 8,000+ miles on them and no issues. Google cracked BBS or ADV rims to see that spending thousands per rim is no guarantee either.

David J. Lee

BLKROKT

I'd disagree here. Whether they are labeled as "fake" or not, the replica rims found on eBay and elsewhere are just as dangerous IMO. No TUV rating, no testing, no certifications, you don't know what they're made from, the quality of the materials, how they're made, etc etc etc I could just go on and on.

Sure there are cases of BBS or HRE wheels cracking or whatever, but it's pretty safe to say that the incident rate with a wheel manufacturer that is held to a high independent standard, is going to be a hell of a lot less than some wheel you get off of eBay from who knows where and made from who knows what.

They're WHEELS people. Arguably the most important piece of equipment on your car to make sure it DOESN'T fail. What's next, eBay knock-off Brembo's?

Use your heads people

Jasonoff

eBay knockoff SS brake lines is probably next, oh wait...

realjones88

Do Forgestar, VMR, and other low end wheels that are advertised on here by vendors have all (or any) of these certifications? There are tons of threads on broken Kosei's yet people still run them on the track all the time.

BLKROKT

I don't know. I don't use low-end wheels for a reason.

Jasonoff

http://www.forgestar.com/motorsportsafety/

chrisridebike8

Yeah. I think I would get Forgestar F14s before replica wheels...which means I'd never get either.

Jasonoff

Heat cycles was a major contributor for that F14 s2000 track failure.

INS1GNIA

His reaction was hilarious...then I saw the tire and reacted the same lol.

BLKROKT

Thanks for that reminder to take my wheels OFF before every track day to inspect. Jeez.... that could've been a REALLY bad day.

chrisridebike8

Don't care. There are a handful of members here that have had F14s crack with no track use. People track OZ, BBS, Enkei and many other wheels all the time. You will never see a set of volks do this. If you plan to run wheels that are cheap and look good, might as well run Rotas. At least then you know they will break.

Jasonoff

Thin spoke wheels can crack with excessive heat cycles and stress no matter who makes them.

BLKROKT

Those must be knockoffs. Sucks that he had to find out that way.

Jasonoff

I've seen a cracked authentic thin spoked volk wheel with my own eyes at the track.

chrisridebike8

Fair enough. I guess I stand corrected. But I will still never run forgestars or replicas on any of my vehicles. Hell, even some OEM wheels are terrible. My dad's w211 had stock wheels made by Ronal and they kept bending or cracking, even on smooth SoCal roads. Bottom line: I plan to run quality wheels and my **** retentiveness of taking wheels off to clean them means I inspect them quite often.

Jasonoff

I ran Enkei PF01 for 8+ years on the track without any issues. I wouldn't loop a brand like Enkei, Forgestar, BBS etc in with replicas.

It's just a numbers game. There's way more of those other lower cost solutions out in the wild.

My Forgestar CF5 have absolutely zero issues. If I was going to track this car I would however go with a true forged wheel just because of it's size and weight.

SaphGreyC63

What SoCal roads are you driving, because the ones I am on daily are anything but smooth llol.

chrisridebike8

My dad. Not me. I lived in VA for 4 years with my car and never had issues. Those roads were terrible. But the w211 multispoke wheels were known to be weak.