Alright well I don't want to take any threads off topic so I'm just going to make a thread on why I hate fake wheels.

Here's Why:
Company A invests a ton of money into R&D for a new wheel, getting it tested to be as safe as it needs to be, and just a good product in general. Costs $400/wheel. It becomes the new 'must-have' wheel

Company B sees this success and reverse engineers the wheel, and makes a wheel that looks just like wheel A but is heavier, lower quality, and cast rather forged. This wheel sells for 110/wheel.

Company A loses money, and also recognizes that its just going to get its product knock-offed again, so it doesn't bother to make new products.

The enthusiast now has less options when it comes time for wheels.

Would you buy a fake turbo? Fake seats? Fake coil-overs? Fake brembos?

I think not, wheels are the same way. For me at least

 

I tend to think that company B is serving a different market segment, but that's just me.

 

See I can see that point of view, but at the same time if Company B weren't there wouldn't people just save up for A?

 

Or maybe they'd never buy wheels at all. If my only choice was 1200+ for a set (and then have to buy tires on top of that), I'd never get any. We just bought my step daughter a nice Honda Civic for 2k.

 

I'm not sure how long you can patent a design, but you can, after that companies are free to copy how they see fit. Same with prescription drugs, and I don't hear anyone crying foul there.

 

When it comes to wheels, I get the real shit.

 

more power to ya

 

i always want real wheels, but if it's an "ehh" car (like my fit) i wouldn't mind having fake wheels. i have real wheels on my car now, but if i had an expensive car, fake wheels wouldn't even cross my mind.

company B is for people who live in bad neighborhoods and don't want to worry about wheels getting stolen, and/or can't afford the real stuff.

company A hardly lose any profit, because the people that CAN afford them, will still get them.

 

I agree with that statement completely. Look at any name brand product they sell in the food market. The brand names sell for 3 times the cost of the clone products and still the consumer buys the expensive product and the company grows into a huge megoproduct.... take Kraft Corporation, for example. Car products are no different.

 

simple economics. (my major)

 

company b rotas rule.

 

I can't afford $250-$500 per wheel, but I don't want my Fit to be devoid of the personality that a cool-looking set of rims brings to the plate. If I had an NSX, I'd rock some sweet ProDrives. For a Civic Si, maybe O.Z. & for my Fit I'll be happy with Konig, Rota, or something in the same price range. Once in a while you can find an original wheel design in the cheap seats.
Having the value of your wheels mathematically related to the purchase price of the vehicle makes the most sense to me. Although - if I ran my car in competition, I'd certainly spend more...
Some companies do a better cheap wheel than others, so it always pays to research your options. For my Fit, fakes are go!

BTW- I had Konig J-Specs on my '98 Mazda Protege ES, very good looking, inexpensive, never figured what they were a copy of.

 

because its way too much $$$$ lol come on dont hate on the fake wheels lol i would never buy real wheels because 1 they would be stolen since i have to go to bad places everynight all night and 2 they are more $$$ to replace if u ever bump into a curb or something yes i know every one should know how to park idc how long u have been driving its gonna happon or in my case my fried was suposed to pull my car 10 foot foward he managed to go over the curb and get my car stuck on it but its partly my fault i thought he knew how to drive. assumptions ....

 

that's what wheel locks and insurance are for...and yes you can make your insurance cover aftermarket wheels

and don't let 'friends' drive your car

 

hahahah i got negged for this thread. i guess people aren't allowed to have opinions.

he said, 'fake wheels rule'

i would like justification for that, i haven't seen a point from anyone that makes me see why anyone would buy fakes

 

FAKES vs REAL

Here's my stand: I have nothing against companies like Rota/Konig/etc and nothing against the people that are buying them.It does upset me that these companies do make knock-offs/replicas of wheels that the "brand" name companies make. These design are yes slightly different but they're copies. You 're not allowed to copy peoples work in life and then call it your own...called plagarism. (not sure what copying a design is called without giving credit)

I do not hate or talk down about people who buy Rota/Konig/Sportmax/XXR wheels that are replicas. If that is what you can afford then do it, no reason to be left out of the car culutre because you cannot drop $$$ on wheels.

What I do and will talk shit about is when people buy stickers/centercaps/emblems to "Fake the Funk." If you have Rotas be proud do not go and buy fake SSR Work Regamaster stickers off ebay and then put them on your wheels and then tell people they are the real deal.

On a side note Im a college grad student paying for school, saving to purchase a house, prepping to buy a engagement ring, the list goes on, but you have to be able to save and budget yourself and look for deals. I got both sets of SSR's for a great price because I did tons of searching and saved/budgeted myself.

 

^^ well put... the other thing with real wheels vs Fake.. Resale value. You save up and buy real wheels once... You can sell those and with the $$ continue to get real wheels or trade for real wheels. With Rotas etc.. you spend $600+ with tires... time comes to re sell and you can only sell for $300 (most of the time) which means to get another set of wheels another $300+ needs to be forked out for more fake wheels... the cost adds up.

 

also just wanted to throw this out for a laugh.. lol.

 

I see your point of view, Chris...and I noticed this a while back.

My only stipulation for that--is that, as opposed to others, I tend to keep the same rims for a while.

On my 4 Door Civic, I had 2 sets of rims (one big and heavy, one small and light)

EP--same rims for 3 years

FG--no rims

LOL, but I think I'm the exception rather than the rule.

 

Fakey's with decals...

LOL at Vork & Ravs.