I know theres a lot of mixed feelings on knockoff wheels and counterfeit's etc.. But I came across this video on the Wedssports website and thought everyonen would like to check it out.

http://wedssportwheels.com/imitations.php

Let the debate begin!!

 

LMAO...

Even most "original" wheels will fail of you smack a curb face at any good speed. I don't mind the knock-off's or care about people buying them. Each individual needs to use the right tool for the job. i.e. getting a knock off wheel for street driving, who cares. When needing a strong wheel for road racing, a knock off wheel is not a good choice.

 

Very true... but what about the manufacturers that put necessary R & D into certain designs trying to achieve certain goals for a wheel/design? Do you think it's right for someone to be able to practically steal the design and reap the gains of another's hard work? ...just saying..

In my opinion Weds wheels are one of the more fairly priced big name brands... But just saying..

 

It's not right, but as long as there is a market for them, they will continue to exist.

Still, if you think about the downsides of buying imitations, they are priced accordingly.

 

But as mentioned, they aren't really "stealing" anything are they? The knock-off isn't being produced with the same materials and quality which is where most of the R&D goes. The knock-off is purely mimicking the "look" which is only one aspect of a wheel design. Those only looking for the "look"don't care about the other R&D anyway so they were never going to pay for it even if the knock-off didn't exist. Those looking for that strength and quality won't be looking at knock-off's to begin with...


It's the same argument with the software companies today around piracy. They equate the number of people who download their software off torrents as lost sales, which isn't correct. Most of those people wouldn't have bought their software even if piracy wasn't an option. The people who were going to buy the software, already did.

 

I'm with manny on this one. It's not just wheels though, there are a whole range a parts in the tuning industry that get counterfeited and the damage generally goes unseen to us. I tend to support brand name manufacturers inthe hopes that they will still be around for the next generation of tuners. If I need a greddy elbow, you won't find me buying an eBay knockoff that's for sure.
Same goes for wheels IMO.

 

its a shame many companies put their time into rnd to to only have their designs ripped off. It is true most people will only buy wheels because of their designs not caring about the tech behind the product. Because of knock offs it makes it harder for companies to make a profit keeping their prices up to break even. Its not hard for company B to buy one of company A's products and make a mold and call it good. And the sad part is when knock offs become brand name because of advertising and all the money they make from not having to invest their own money into their products. knock off companies usually make a profit from day 1 because they don't have to put out any cash up front. I picked up a set of volk racing re30 formula limited 08's a few years back. yeah i probably could have bought a set of knock offs for less than what I paid for one of them. But there are a lot of affordable reputable brands out their. I don't make a ton of cash took me 6 months of saving, starving, and lots of hard work to get these wheels. but most people are going to come away from this thread with the though "to each their own."

 

"Of course, in the design part we always passion an attractive design which is not singular to any other design"

I couldn't help it, I had to

 

Again, you are assuming that person who purchased the Rota wheels would save up and purchase some Kinesis wheels if the Rota's didn't exist. I don't think that's a correct assumption and to be honest I don't think would likely happen. Those individuals would just do without and stay OEM (or look for other OEM wheels from other vehicles). They aren't necessarily buying Rota's because they are great, in a most cases that's all they can afford.

 

^Yes.

There was an open market for wheels of lesser quality but similar looks, and some companies decided to take it. Simple as that!

 

Yea I sold my meisters because I didn't want to ding a 800+ dollar wheel.. So I started looking at some cheaper wheels and Thought about purchasing some xxr's or rotas..but the more I think about it.. Id rather have a set of RPF1's than knock off Rota Grids.. And now-adays ou can still pick up some pretty nice wheels used. There's pro's and con's but id still support original's before any knock-offs.

 

If i am going to "upgrade" from OEM, going to get quality parts.

 

Yes, there are pros and cons... Used/older wheels are an options, but you run into a situation of buying used wheels which may be discontinued (i.e. finding replacements for the same size/offset may not happen).

There are a few companies which offer 'affordable' wheels with good quality, Enkei is one such company. However, IMO, I think most of the other wheel makers price themselves into these situations. I will admit that I don't know the margins on their wheels, but it seems most of them could offer a "cheap" line of wheels and beat companies like Rota at their own game.

 

i definitely feel bad for companies like volk racing when knock off companies copy their wheel designs, but i'm not against it.
when it all comes down to it, it's about pricing, availability and what you're going to do with the wheels. this also separates the level of car enthusiasts on a scale, 10/10 being full on out on everything, every mod being authentic, treat their car like wives. where as 5/10 enthusiasts like their cars, also have other hobbies so they aren't willing to spend as much on their car, but still want their car to look nice/perform better than stock.
it's the same reason why you would buy bootleg DVDs rather than the real thing.

 

Mahjik... EXACTLY!! this is my biggest problem. I'm willing to save my hard earned cash and drop cash on wheels.. up to 25-2800 bucks for some nice wheels. But Thats not to say that I want to go sliding around on the same wheels either. This alone has narrowed my selection of wheels I think are performance oriented yet reasonably affordable as well. Which is why i'm diggin Weds sports right now.
But more on the margins of their wheels. If you think these big companies are hurting so bad because knock off wheels.. I don't think thats entirely true.. they provide wheels to the Performance industry..and no they arent giving their wheels away to every team. Plus with a 6 month wait list from work....they hardly seem like they're hurting as far as demand. I think it would be smart for some of these manufacturers to do like Mahjik said and run a cheaper line.. I guarantee anyone would buy a cheap Work wheel over an XXR. Hell... I'd pitch the idea to them myself if I could get in contact with them haha.

 

I disagree with this completely. The look is part of the design and plenty of money going into designing products that look gook. I hate every tipe of knock-off and I find their owners to be the kind of people more concerned about what others think about them than they do about quality or style. In addition, know-offs DO take away from legitimate products.

My company manufactures and builds industrial wind turbines. In China, there are companies that have bought our product, reversed engineered it, and then compete with us directly for the same customers. Of course China takes it to the next level with entire stores being fake:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...195925037.html

What's next, fake McDonalds?

 

And that's why we have the internet, to agree to disagree.

IMO, and again, it's just my opinion... I think the wheel makers are doing this to themselves. I do think most of them make well engineered products and they are worth the money they charge for them. However, I think they haven't realized that a majority of the world doesn't need a wheel engineered to run the Le Mans 24 hours.. Most of the world just want something that looks a little better than what they have and move on. In most cases, they over-engineer the product for the market which then allows someone to undercut them with a cheaper alternative.

This is why I suggested a "cheap" line. I'd bet all those Rota owners would love to have a wheel with Work stamped on it instead of Rota for the same price, even if it was the same quality as Rota. Now, I'm picking on Rota here but I'm just meaning any of the companies which produce the knock-off wheels. Rota is just an easily, recognizable target.

What would likely happen though, is that the "cheap line" would have completely different designs than the higher priced lines; thus still opening it up for a copy-cat company to come along.

 

They already do that. Rays has Gram Lights, Work has the Emotion line, and BBS has the CH and other cast models at 1/2 the price of their forged wheels.

 

Gotta love the interweb! I guess my comment was more general in nature and not directed specifically towards wheels.

That said, I have had cheaper wheels before (5Zigen). My current wheels, I went way out of my way to find and restore a vintage set of BBS RS wheels, so I guess I have to justify the cost to myself .

 

lol, I wouldn't call $400-800 per wheel "cheap" (using the Gram Lights line as an example). They may be "cheaper" than others, but still not in the realm of getting a full set of wheels for $800 like the knock-off companies offer.

 

I don't know if I'd classify 5Zigen in the same category as Rota, and not just because I own a set. I think the original question was about companies who directly copy known designs. 5Zigen has cheaper wheels, but they don't usually directly copy wheels from other manufactures (granted, I haven't looked at their lineup in a while so they may be copying).

 

No, you are correct, they are not straight up ripping off designs like Rota does. I guess I brought them up because they are in a similiar price point and I wanted to show that I was not a wheel snob :p

 

I have to wonder if the WedSport is at least bent.

To be fair.. lets test apples and apples.. forged to forged.. casted to casted etc. It's no secret a forged wheel is going to be stronger and I'm fairly certain the Wedsport is forged and we all know the copy cat wheel is casted. I'd be curious on how a gram light compares to a rota...

 

To be fair if you crashed into a gutter on the 'freeway' at 100mph like their website words it, its your time

Lets be realistic with the test, gutter dragons are driver error. And you can always add more tyre sidewall height to give a weak structure a more compliant attachment to the road.

 

although probably true for the most part.. but not entirely
anyone catch one of the speed3 at laguna seca this past week lose the center section of their wheel due to fatigue..
fairly certain that wheel wasnt a knock off...