Are "Real" wheels really worth it?

[AlphaDigital]

Some of you guys mention how real wheels get banged up too and youre right, no matter how strong they are theyre not invincible.

But I think its important to take a step back and consider what would happen to fake wheels if you managed to bend a forged wheel bad enough that it needs fixing or replacing. In probably all the cases, a cheaper wheel would snap, a forged one wont.

Theres more to just the cost of replacing a wheel at this point. Safety being the highest concern. I know the situation is extreme, but if youre already considering situations where you damage a forged wheel in this thread then you should consider how drastic of an impact is needed to do that and how much of your safety and your passengers safety youre willing to risk.

And yes its already been mentioned but there are plenty of performance aspects to the wheels as well.

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[suhhh]

Hey There!

There is a bunch of awesome information getting exchanged in this thread! What you've written up is pretty accurate and boils down to what you'll be looking to get out of the car, of course everyone wants real big name wheels however the cost associated with getting the best of the best is out of reach for some people especially considering what they will actually be using the car for. Before picking ANY wheel I would just load up on research and ask people their personal experiences with the wheels so you can gather the most real world information before finalizing your purchase(s).

-Tre @ Fitment Industries

Appreciate your response Tre! Yes agreed, I think the general consensus is that real wheels are always "better" but it will always depend on a person's personal use and living environment. Had no idea you guys were on these forums, just wanted to say I've been watching your videos since about 50k or so and have been a fan ever since, videos and editing have continued to get better every time as well as your website. Keep it up y'all much love from Jersey

Also side note: Will 100% be making my purchase through you guys

 

[WhiskeyTango]

Appreciate your response Tre! Yes agreed, I think the general consensus is that real wheels are always "better" but it will always depend on a person's personal use and living environment. Had no idea you guys were on these forums, just wanted to say I've been watching your videos since about 50k or so and have been a fan ever since, videos and editing have continued to get better every time as well as your website. Keep it up y'all much love from Jersey

Also side note: Will 100% be making my purchase through you guys

No reason for that to be in quotes my guy...

Personally I would rather run stock wheels (at least made by Enkei) than buy some junk Avids to look "cool". Those who know will KNOW, and those who don't won't even care enough to notice.

in a year when you can actually afford better wheels, you'll be trying to give those Avids away for $400. Piss poor use of money. At least real wheels will retain most of their value.

Save up a tax return, maybe a stimulus check, whatever. Why fake it?

 

[AlphaDigital]

Flow forming is becoming a more affordable thing these days, I think many companies utilize it, like Enkei, Konig, Gram lights, Work, you name it and the prices are becoming more and more reasonable.

For a little less than a grand you can get a flow formed set which is technically, supposed to be stronger and lighter than their cast counterparts.

Volks, Advans, and the like are all super nice and expensive, and im sure the name has a lot to do with the price hike, but I think theyre all tried and true wheels, I mean 18lb 18 inch wheels are no joke, but you certainly dont have to buy them if you want to be authentic. Plenty of other well priced wheels out there.

I think Superspeed Wheels are flow formed, super light, and like $800.

In in event youre worried about theft, make sure you get yourself some good locking lugs, an aftermarket alarm, and maybe a dash cam just in case. Aside from parking in a garage all the time theres not much you can do. Maybe you can notify your insurance to let them know you have an expensive set of wheels you want covered separately, but dig into how that plan would work, you dont want it attached to your homeowners policy if you have one.

 

[suhhh]

No reason for that to be in quotes my guy...

Personally I would rather run stock wheels (at least made by Enkei) than buy some junk Avids to look "cool". Those who know will KNOW, and those who don't won't even care enough to notice.

in a year when you can actually afford better wheels, you'll be trying to give those Avids away for $400. Piss poor use of money. At least real wheels will retain most of their value.

Save up a tax return, maybe a stimulus check, whatever. Why fake it?

I put them in quotes because that's the general consensus which I agree with.

I'm not trying to "fake" anything, I didn't outright state it in my previous posts but paying for real wheels isn't the main concern that I have. My main issue is just the general worry of roads and also getting wheels stolen. At this point I'm fully aware of the benefits of authentic wheels and since I do have plans to track I think it would be much more in my favor to do so.

But at this point it comes to which will mentally keep me more sane in the long run.

1.) Being that I'd likely go to 1-2 track days per year, is that worth constantly having at least some worry that my wheels will get stolen or damaged?
2.) Obviously real wheels will perform better than replicas, but are differences that detrimental when I'll 99% be daily driving on a set of good sticky tires?

I'm sure there are people that buy reps to fake it, but you have to also understand people buy reps for a much wider variety of reasons. I'm sure there are other people like me that deal with anxiety on a day to day basis (high functioning anxiety) so in my case reps would yield more peace of mind. Then again, if I do choose to go the authentic wheel route, I would likely have to change my living style a bit (i.e. avoid parking in the city, avoid parking in bad neighborhoods) which wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world but albeit it would make certain situations a bit tougher if I need to get somewhere or park somewhere at night.

I'm more leaning on the fence of real works but I'm going to see how I feel in the next 1-2 months before I make my purchase, I just want to make the decision that will be most mentally sound for me.

 

[suhhh]

Flow forming is becoming a more affordable thing these days, I think many companies utilize it, like Enkei, Konig, Gram lights, Work, you name it and the prices are becoming more and more reasonable.

For a little less than a grand you can get a flow formed set which is technically, supposed to be stronger and lighter than their cast counterparts.

Volks, Advans, and the like are all super nice and expensive, and im sure the name has a lot to do with the price hike, but I think theyre all tried and true wheels, I mean 18lb 18 inch wheels are no joke, but you certainly dont have to buy them if you want to be authentic. Plenty of other well priced wheels out there.

I think Superspeed Wheels are flow formed, super light, and like $800.

In in event youre worried about theft, make sure you get yourself some good locking lugs, an aftermarket alarm, and maybe a dash cam just in case. Aside from parking in a garage all the time theres not much you can do. Maybe you can notify your insurance to let them know you have an expensive set of wheels you want covered separately, but dig into how that plan would work, you dont want it attached to your homeowners policy if you have one.

Yes agreed, there are many affordable options now on the market which I'm glad to see. However I'm set on works though as I love this wheel style and white/white combination.

And like you said yes, if I go the real wheel route I will without a doubt get all the safety mechanisms available to give me some more peace of mind. I've just had a bad history of getting my car broken into (even in private closed parking garages) so that's why I'm on the careful side.

In terms of locking lugs, as far as I know it won't really do much, just make people take longer to take it off right? And thanks for the insurance plan idea, I don't know too much about it but I will look into it.

 

[boosted180sx]

The way i see it is, its just a $1000 worth of difference in your case. I'd just save up a few months and buy some work wheels.

Maybe it might be a little different if you were like trying to save 3k by not buying some volks (3k can take quite a bit to save up depending on your financial situation) vs avids or something but at 1k? id just save up.

 

[WhiskeyTango]

I put them in quotes because that's the general consensus which I agree with.

I'm not trying to "fake" anything, I didn't outright state it in my previous posts but paying for real wheels isn't the main concern that I have. My main issue is just the general worry of roads and also getting wheels stolen. At this point I'm fully aware of the benefits of authentic wheels and since I do have plans to track I think it would be much more in my favor to do so.

But at this point it comes to which will mentally keep me more sane in the long run.

1.) Being that I'd likely go to 1-2 track days per year, is that worth constantly having at least some worry that my wheels will get stolen or damaged?
2.) Obviously real wheels will perform better than replicas, but are differences that detrimental when I'll 99% be daily driving on a set of good sticky tires?

I'm sure there are people that buy reps to fake it, but you have to also understand people buy reps for a much wider variety of reasons. I'm sure there are other people like me that deal with anxiety on a day to day basis (high functioning anxiety) so in my case reps would yield more peace of mind. Then again, if I do choose to go the authentic wheel route, I would likely have to change my living style a bit (i.e. avoid parking in the city, avoid parking in bad neighborhoods) which wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world but albeit it would make certain situations a bit tougher if I need to get somewhere or park somewhere at night.

I'm more leaning on the fence of real works but I'm going to see how I feel in the next 1-2 months before I make my purchase, I just want to make the decision that will be most mentally sound for me.

Have you considered searching out used wheels? Again, even used real wheels are a better option than reps. I just picked up a set of Titan7's for about $600 off retail, literally the same day I was about to buy new.

Every time I have cheaped out on something to get that immediate satisfaction I regretted it.

 

[suhhh]

The way i see it is, its just a $1000 worth of difference in your case. I'd just save up a few months and buy some work wheels.

Maybe it might be a little different if you were like trying to save 3k by not buying some volks (3k can take quite a bit to save up depending on your financial situation) vs avids or something but at 1k? id just save up.

I gotcha, yeah it's not a huge difference and it would make more sense just dishing the extra money for it. I'm 24 and young but thankfully in a good position where I'm working full time and doing the market on the side. I grew up relatively poor so although I'm in a good position now, I'm unconsciously very wary of my spending and whenever I make a decently sized purchase (over $500) I always consider pros/cons with cheaper alternatives.

 

[AlphaDigital]

I hate to say it but if people wanna be lowlives and take your shit, theyre going to find a way and if they cant, theyre going to fuck your shit up out of spite.

At that point you might have bigger things to consider honestly.

 

[suhhh]

Have you considered searching out used wheels? Again, even used real wheels are a better option than reps. I just picked up a set of Titan7's for about $600 off retail, literally the same day I was about to buy new.

Every time I have cheaped out on something to get that immediate satisfaction I regretted it.

Yes absolutely, if I can find a set of used ones in decent condition I'd pull the trigger on it. Where do you recommend to look? I'm in a FB group called "Rare Wheels Awareness" or something like that which posts used authentic wheels a lot but not sure where else to look.

And I resonate with the bolded part lol, I got an FKX catless downpipe for free and had a weld blow in it after 6k miles. In the long run it costed me more to replace back to stock (needed the car fixed asap) and also gave me unnecessary worry.

 

[suhhh]

I hate to say it but if people wanna be lowlives and take your shit, theyre going to find a way and if they cant, theyre going to fuck your shit up out of spite.

At that point you might have bigger things to consider honestly.

Yeah man. Sucks that we live in a world where we always have to have the worry of another person stealing what we worked hard for... Seen way too many cars on bricks in my time at college and also sometimes around my area, shitty people in this world

 

[AlphaDigital]

Yeah man. Sucks that we live in a world where we always have to have the worry of another person stealing what we worked hard for... Seen way too many cars on bricks in my time at college and also sometimes around my area, shitty people in this world

If its feasible, Id move out of that area or just kind of proceed at your own risk.

 

[suhhh]

If its feasible, Id move out of that area or just kind of proceed at your own risk.

My area where I live in is safe, but I park in bad areas a fair amount as well as overnight. It's not entirely necessary for me to do so but it's just easier bringing my car sometimes, might have to make some changes with my lifestyle along with methods of commute

 

[AlphaDigital]

My area where I live in is safe, but I park in bad areas a fair amount as well as overnight. It's not entirely necessary for me to do so but it's just easier bringing my car sometimes, might have to make some changes with my lifestyle along with methods of commute

sounds like you need a beater!

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