All about replicas: Corner-Cutting Commentary

[Turbo95eg6]

Originally Posted by MokSpeed

I buy my polo shirts from Target for $15 instead of buying the real deal at Lacoste for $80 a shirt. I guess that makes me a terrible person for promoting "knock offs" and I am hurting the industry.

Nah, you just just bad taste in clothing.

[MokSpeed]

Originally Posted by Turbo95eg6

Nah, you just just bad taste in clothing.

It's a proven quality brand and costs less with the same style.

[xxBrun0xx]

Not sure why people get so worked up about wheels. My $.02:

If you can afford that set of BBS you've been looking at, get them. If not, check the used market, save up, or accept that you can't afford them. It's not like you have to pay $800/each for good looking, durable, lightweight wheels...

[Kotu100]

If they made knockoff sa3r you best believe i woulda got those instead of the real thing.
Its still a cast wheel thats redonkulously overpriced.

If i can buy a knock off that does the same job as the "real" one just as well at the "real" one, why should i waste my hard earned money on markup?

[MokSpeed]

Originally Posted by Kotu100

If they made knockoff sa3r you best believe i woulda got those instead of the real thing.
Its still a cast wheel thats redonkulously overpriced.

If i can buy a knock off that does the same job as the "real" one just as well at the "real" one, why should i waste my hard earned money on markup?

Because then you won't get the street cred bro! Don't you want the respeckt of the scene?! You gotta look hella dope fresh ballin and you can't do that with fakes.

[Kotu100]

Originally Posted by MokSpeed

Because then you won't get the street cred bro! Don't you want the respeckt of the scene?! You gotta look hella dope fresh ballin and you can't do that with fakes.

As sad as that is it's soooo true.
I got more comments the 1st couple times I drove with the Advans then i ever did with the xxr's.
Unfortunately they wont fit the brz

[MokSpeed]

Originally Posted by Kotu100

As sad as that is it's soooo true.
I got more comments the 1st couple times I drove with the Advans then i ever did with the xxr's.
Unfortunately they wont fit the brz

Because we have the "special" lug pattern now?

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by AznKirby

OEM > replica
Any day of the week. That being said, some companies, like BBS, make OEM wheels.

Millions of dollars in R&D is better than knock offs from Taiwan/China.

Counterpoint from personal experience. I've bent and cracked OEM wheels made by Enkei. I've tracked and drove on the street with Rota slipstreams for far more usage without a single bend.


No company or product is perfect, you can bend/crack/break anything.


I've run expensive wheels (BBS, SSR and Rays [all forged examples] - and some 5Zigen forged wheels I forgot about before) and plenty of cheap wheels. Some of the worse incidents have been some of the SSR wheels, some are great, some are complete shit. I've known multiple people who have bent their Rays and Desmond wheels and went back to cheap wheels afterwards.


I only run cheap wheels now myself (Enkei's, Kosei's, no Rota currently but I'd run them again on the track car and race car if I needed more wheels).


It comes down to what your goals are and how much you believe the internet hype that all of the "knock-off" brands are shit.

[AznKirby]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

You're correct, ANY wheel can crack, dent, break, etc. There's loads of evidence that every possible iteration of wheel manufacturing is still susceptible to damage. No wheel is invincible. Some are more durable than others, but there's no guarantee a forged wheel is stronger than a cast wheel. To me more specific, forged is stronger metallurgically, so they can be made lighter and achieve the same strength. Being made lighter makes them weaker. So, forging ultimately nets you lighter weight and more propensity to bend instead of crack, but they can still crack. Cast wheels usually need to be made a bit thicker, and some wheels combine the two methods (e.g. cast spokes and roll-forge the barrel) to control costs and still get some lightness from the heaviest part of the wheel.

On the other hand, some ultra cheap aftermarket wheels are made to such garbage standards that they will be damaged more easily than the majority.


This is a blanket statement that isn't necessarily true in all cases. OEM wheels still break. Some aftermarket manufacturers are OEM manufacturers. Some aftermarket manufacturers (I'm not sure if they're required to) pass all the same safety tests that OEM's do.

Manufacturing processes can be copied as well, so just because product A comes from a big name and Product A1 comes from WTFBBQ, doesn't mean it's instantly garbage.

In many cases knockoff companies only care to make a quick buck and will copy any popular design and make it as cheaply as possible with the cheapest alloy possibly. THIS is where the problem is because now it's a real safety concern. (i.e. a thin-spoke forged design that's copied directly to a cast production, will most certainly not be as strong as it needs to be, but this is just one example).

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Counterpoint from personal experience. I've bent and cracked OEM wheels made by Enkei. I've tracked and drove on the street with Rota slipstreams for far more usage without a single bend.


No company or product is perfect, you can bend/crack/break anything.


I've run expensive wheels (BBS, SSR and Rays [all forged examples] - and some 5Zigen forged wheels I forgot about before) and plenty of cheap wheels. Some of the worse incidents have been some of the SSR wheels, some are great, some are complete shit. I've known multiple people who have bent their Rays and Desmond wheels and went back to cheap wheels afterwards.


I only run cheap wheels now myself (Enkei's, Kosei's, no Rota currently but I'd run them again on the track car and race car if I needed more wheels).


It comes down to what your goals are and how much you believe the internet hype that all of the "knock-off" brands are shit.

I don't get it. When did I say any set of wheels were indestructible?
I can't say I care for the "authentic wheels bend too" argument.
That's not the point - of course everything breaks if you hit it hard enough.
With the same situation, a "replica" wheel would bend the same, or worse.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by AznKirby

I don't get it. When did I say any set of wheels were indestructible?

I never quoted you as saying "indestructible" did I? No, it was only a statement, and it wasn't even directed toward you because it was a response to Nevermore's post.

Originally Posted by AznKirby

I can't say I care for the "authentic wheels bend too" argument.
That's not the point - of course everything breaks if you hit it hard enough.
With the same situation, a "replica" wheel would bend the same, or worse.

I understand your faith in OEMs, but if OEM is always the best, why do we have recalls, lemon laws, and a multi-billion dollar industry of repair centers and garages mostly funded by people who never modify or work on their own cars?

Of course a replica will likely not be manufactured to higher standards than the original it copies, but the same standards, that is certainly possible. To say that "OEM > replica" is a biased statement, if the replica is made to the same standards then they are equal, unless one costs less. Again, I agree that many replicas or counterfeits are made improperly or with inferior alloys, but to say that is a comprehensive fact with all aftermarket wheels is hearsay.

Simply because a wheel is supplied to OEMs, does not mean its the pinnacle of wheel technology or wheel strength.

[AznKirby]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

I never quoted you as saying "indestructible" did I? No, it was only a statement, and it wasn't even directed toward you because it was a response to Nevermore's post.

In response to my post, you said:
" OEM wheels still break. "

[trd_kid]

the way I see it is would I buy myself or a loved one a folex ?!? no so I'm not going to buy myself rota's,xxrs, etc there are other alternative options instead...

[MokSpeed]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

Of course a replica will likely not be manufactured to higher standards than the original it copies, but the same standards, that is certainly possible.

Of course because that's the definition of a replica. I feel like most people who complain about "replica" wheels are trying to argue against counterfeit wheels because they don't know the definition of the word.

[Rampage]

Originally Posted by MokSpeed

Because then you won't get the street cred bro! Don't you want the respeckt of the scene?! You gotta look hella dope fresh ballin and you can't do that with fakes.

So true. So sad! Just like you gotta have Nike or iPhone to fit in.

"He can't be a man because he doesn't smoke the same cigarette as me."