S3 Magazine Real vs Fake Wheel article

[phenom86]

Originally Posted by AJUSA.com

My friends who drive in Formula D would say different If he had the choice and cost wasnt an object would he still choose the knockoffs?

This saying always rings true again and again. You get what you pay for.

Thats true, he'd rather trash his rotas than ones that cost more.. If money wasnt an object id buy expensive wheels also i wouldnt be driving an FRS, Id be driving an LFA..

[dori.]

Originally Posted by ASSALBERT

yea, i already know there are many teams out there that run rotas on their race cars. In my last post i was simply trying to convey that replica wheels have more catastrophic failures due to lack of QC or structural integrity compared to that of authentic wheels. The most you will usually see when a "brand name" wheel breaks is that a spoke or two have cracked, instead of the whole face of the wheel being torn off.

Originally Posted by RAYSSPL

Yes we know that even real, high quality wheels can fail and that's fact. Any wheel can fail really. The issue here which fails more often? Imitators or innovators?

not disagreeing with you guys, but I just want to mention that the number of failures will be skewed if there are more people running reps over the real thing...

it is something that's hard to pin down without cold hard statistics.

anecdotes and hearsay really don't help anyone's case.

[ASSALBERT]

Originally Posted by phenom86

Thats true, he'd rather trash his rotas than ones that cost more.. If money wasnt an object id buy expensive wheels also i wouldnt be driving an FRS, Id be driving an LFA..

at the same time, an FRS isnt necessarily a replica/knock off of an LFA either. The FRS was engineered and built from the ground up.

[phenom86]

Originally Posted by ASSALBERT

at the same time, an FRS isnt necessarily a replica/knock off of an LFA either. The FRS was engineered and built from the ground up.

i wasnt saying it was, if i had money to burn it would have been the car i would chose or some exotic

[Superhatch]

BBS Failure:


Enkei Failure:


All fail, all copy.

Also..seconded that this is a GREAT article, on topic:

http://custompinoyrides.com/2012/03/...f-rota-wheels/

[ASSALBERT]

lol some of you make it seem like this is a death to rota thread.... the reason their name has been brought up in this thread is because they just happen to be one of the major players that make copy cat wheels! yeah, i know, there are only so many possible designs you can do on a wheel. But what im trying to say is, how can you try to argue that when most of your product line consists of COPIES of other companies wheels? cmon now... theres no denying it.

[raz0rbladez909]

There are plenty of companies that produce wheels that are not replicas and are still affordable. Enkei is the first company that comes to mind when looking for a quality, affordable, good looking design, that has a well known industry name behind it. I just don't get the point in rushing your automotive modifications? It seems so many people are desperate to modify their cars that they just buy stuff just because it is available. I find it funny when I see a car that came oem with BBS or Rays Eng. wheels only to be swapped out for some Rota's or XXR's.

[zoomzoomers]

this is turning out to be another "break in" thread???

[ASSALBERT]

*takes deep breath* we'll do our best to keep it civilized

[GenkiElite]

Don't forget that we can "RATE" these types of thread that have been beaten to death on other forums for years.

[coyote]

Originally Posted by raz0rbladez909

There are plenty of companies that produce wheels that are not replicas and are still affordable. Enkei is the first company that comes to mind when looking for a quality, affordable, good looking design, that has a well known industry name behind it.

You Sir, hit the nail right on the head.

Rotas don't sell because they are cheap wheels, they sell because they are cheap forgeries of expensive wheels.

[diirk]

Originally Posted by coyote

You Sir, hit the nail right on the head.

Rotas don't sell because they are cheap wheels, they sell because they are cheap forgeries of expensive wheels.

That's not an unreasonable assumption but personally I think that Rota's are just a cost effective solution for people that like ceratin styles of wheels. Are they similar to other designs? In some cases.

But walk into any parking lot and count how many cars are sporting a 5-spoke wheel. How many of those are similar in design to other 5-spoke wheels? I think some folks are getting a little hot under the collar about something fairly minor.

Ok, ok....slow down. I know the designer types here are starting to froth. And honestly, I'm not a fan of someone making a cheap copy of something else. But in the case of a Rota Grid that looks similar to a Volk TE37, yes they are very similar. The Grid tends to have a more concave shape compared to the Volk, otherwise they are both a block shaped 6-spoke. I don't know about you, but I can still tell the difference between the two. Rota doesn't call it a Vork TD37 or any such lame forgery type thing. So if you don't like it, don't buy it. But quit sweating the folks that do.

[coyote]

Which is the forged wheel and which is the forgery?

Originally Posted by coyote

You're right, sometimes they look similar by accident and are not just imitations.

What do you reckon here, accident?

[diirk]

Originally Posted by coyote

Which is the forged wheel and which is the forgery?

Neither is forged. But a copy of a copy is pretty funny.