Are these Volk Racing Formula Lug Nuts counterfeit?
 

So I bought a set of used Volk Racing Formula Lug Nuts from a guy on Facebook about 2 months ago. Cost me 50% of MSRP, I figured I was getting a good deal and the seller just wanted to get rid of his used lug nuts for whatever reason.

Received it, looked at it, and put it away in my drawer. Wasn't planning to use them until this summer when I get my aftermarket wheels.

Took a look a closer look at them today and noticed an anomaly. The allen key slots on the cap are tapered on mine where as none of the authentic listings I can find have that design.

So here's what mine look like:
http://i.imgur.com/Cxz5MBb.jpg

Listing for authentic Volk nuts:
http://www.evasivemotorsports.com/mm...uct_Code=VRFNR

Listing for authentic RAYS nuts:
http://www.kamispeed.com/Rays-Formul....wfn12125u.htm

Listing for replica Volk nuts:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Volk-...08.4.37.Q0WkRD

Thread I found where a guy pointed out some fake Volk nuts, using the allen head taper as an indicator:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/gr-wheel...d-conus-2.html

What do you guys think?

TBH I feel kinda bad for the seller because he thinks I'm just ripping him off (especially since I didnt notice until 2 months later). Already started talking to him over Paypal dispute, which he has now escalated to a claim.

look like replicas to me from the allen key area.

Seller thinks that maybe the design has just changed over time and even the authentics were like that at one point. I cant find anything to prove or disprove that, you have any ideas?

What'd the packaging look like?

Your right, all the picture i can see of Authentic nuts are missing those indentations.
(also the logo seems to be panted in a very thin coat on your set) unused but we see they are already wearing away

that i dunno for 100%... but my friend has a pretty old set of rays lugs and they still dont look like that.

Packaging is exactly the same as whats in the Aliexpress listing, but that looks exactly the same as the Evasive listing for authentic Volk nuts.
He did say they were lightly used, so maybe that explains the fading lettering :\

Hmm alrighty, thanks. I still have yet to find a listing of authentic Volk nuts that have the tapering around the alley key slot.

Do they have anything stamped into the lower rim?
http://s31.postimg.org/5onfz43zv/HT1...Xag_OFb_Xi.jpg

Yea they have the thread specs stamped there. Also, where'd you get that pic? It shows the same taper around the allen key slot.

That's a picture seen at aliexpress..

I have been pouring over images and i believe the authentic ones will not have this marking. Can anyone confirm?

@8R6 can you confirm?

And yea I didnt even notice that until you mentioned it.. I don't see those stamped markings on any of the pics of authentics.

That bevel/angle is called a "counter sink". Might clear up any confusion when describing them to people

Counterfit lugs :(

What is the world coming too. I hope they don't shatter on you.

But then again I see some stuff on ali that is just the manufacturer of the name brand selling the same item so... BUt haven't browsed ali sites in a couple years. Bought some parts for a civic si off their years ago, no problems, came super fast too from DHL.

Hah thanks for that, wasn't sure how to describe it.

Yea I'm glad I actually never mounted these. Paypal claim still in progress. Gonna go buy some brand new ones from an authorized dealer once I get the money back.

I was considering purchasing these same lug nuts, but it seemed that there were so many replica versions, or versions that were hard to identify - I wanted the black ones, which sometimes were shown with black writing on the side, or red, and most sites pictured one or the other (I ended up going with a different set, mostly for aesthetics.)

Was the seller a reputable vendor on the forum here? I feel like you should be safe if you bought them from a vendor here, or if you had a vendor order them for you directly; however, I know at least with their wheels, Rays is particular about how much a vendor is able to discount their product (for example, Varis supposedly doe not allow any discount or sale promotions to be applied to their products, in order to keep their product prestigious.)

Therefore, if you got them for significantly lower than the MSRP, or another price you couldn't refuse, that might raise a red flag.

I bought it off an individual on the facebook FT86 buy/sell group. It was just a guy who was selling his one set of used lug nuts. He seems certain that these are real so I guess he's either lying real hard or he got ripped off too.

my friend's been out of the country for the past couple weeks and is coming back i think next week or so, so i wont be able to get a hold of him until then

Ah alrighty, thanks anyways. I think PayPal is supposed to make their decision by the 11th or something. Its outta my hands now anyway.

Sorry @PandaSPUR. When the deal is too good to be true, it often is.

Let us know if you want the real deal.

Here's a small secret: Volk Racing doesn't make lug nuts.

-alex

Could you PM me the price shipped?

They used to. They were rebranded to Rays later after the abundance of counterfeits labeled as Volk Racing. Wish I knew that before buying.

Here's another secret: Rays doesn't make their own lug nuts.

-alex

That's like saying the majority of the industry outsources the actual production to someone else...

So when you go shopping for parts, you always search for the item based on the OEM? What should I look up when shopping for these RAYS Formula Lug Nuts?

I doubt you'll find the OEM. Likely some factory in China

Sorry, These are definitely reps. :(

Yea that what I figured. I just dont get what point the guy is trying to make. I'm buying these lug nuts because I like the design. Not because I believe that they have JDM magic that will add 10HP o_o.

:( lets hope PayPal agrees.

That's not my point.

All I'm saying is that Rays doesn't make their own stuff.... don't be too fixated on a small thing on where the tapered cap doesn't look 100% exactly like others that are listed.

Rays doesn't even list these lugs on their Japan site anymore...

https://www.rayswheels.co.jp/product...ang=en&r=0&f=2

As for the question of whether your lugs are authentic or not, that I do not know. But it's very easy for the manufacturer of the lugs to modify a small element of them, and sell them to any number of 3rd party sellers to flood the marketplace. Don't get caught up in the details and don't feel bad or cheated when these small things catch up to you.

If they were cast wheels instead of forged TE37, fine. But lug nuts? You'll be okay.

-alex

They're still listed here: https://www.rayswheels.co.jp/product...en&r=0&f=2&s=1

And I just cannot trust $20 replica lug nuts on my car. I'm always gonna be paranoid that they may just break. Sure its just a piece of metal and yea they may even come from the same factory as the authentics, a lot of replicas do. But as usual, authentics usually have higher QC standards vs replicas.

I'd rather pay more for the authentic article and be happy.

But if you paid for chromoly lugs with a quality coating and they start coroding then you'd probably be upset that they were just plain steel. Whether these are quality or not has yet to be seen but by then it'll be too late. The safe play is to get his money back

But that also brings up something even more relevant: lug nuts have no QC or testing standard like wheels.

You can advertise what tonnage press you used to forge metal with. You can advertise what grade metal you use. But there's no magical testing standard of lug nuts.

Brand is no assurance of quality... see below


My authentic, straight-from-the-source Kics R40 Iconix lug nuts are rusting at the ends. I should take a picture later... but for me, they work perfectly fine.

-alex

Mine are not yet rusting(I have R40s as well) but I've had cheap auto parts store lugs on other cars that flaked after taking them off once. They may be functional but will look bad. And while there may be no QC standard across all lugs, I expect the expensive babe brand ones to be held to a higher tolerance, have higher quality coating, be a better material, and have their various tolerances and whatnot checked more often and more completely than cheap lugs. I don't have a problem with reps so long as they don't pretend to be real. Rotas look like Volks but they don't have a Volk sticker. I've had straight knockoff parts before(logo and everything) and they failed pretty quickly. I'm confident the"real"ones wouldn't have. While lugs may not fly off the car because they are low quality does not make them equally good. Besides he paid for the"real"thing. It doesn't matter how well these will work

Eh, just because there's no accepted standard to measure lug nuts against, doesn't mean that companies dont perform quality control on their products. Quality control is a normal part of a manufacturing process. At the end of the process, someone checks either all the pieces of a sampling of a batch to make sure it fits whatever guidelines set by the customer.

^ This. I thought I was paying for the real thing, so I want the real thing. If I was OK with replicas, I would STILL return these and just buy cheapo replicas myself at the replica price.

Anyway, PayPal just closed the claim in my favor, so I will be shipping these back for my refund and purchasing some authentics instead.

I would not trust replica lug nuts. I've seen my share of authentic ones failing. Some of the replica's I've seen have failed or broken horrendously.