I just got a set of Volk Ray's Engineering SE37A's wheels and I wanted to know how to find out if they're genuine Volks. Not that it matters, but they're 18 by 8.5 and 18 by 9.5, and they truly are really light. When I looked on the insides, there are no welded on tags or anything of the sort. On the outside and outer part of the wheels, there's an inscription that says "RAYS ENG." and that's it. On the insides there's an inscription of the weight in kilograms, an inscription of the size in inches, and an inscription that says that it's made in Japan. Shouldn't there be a tag welded on the insides of the wheels as well that tells you everything about the wheel (when it was made and what model it is)? Please let me know asap. Thanks beforehand for the help guys....
-Erik

 

nobody knows how to tell fake rims from real rims?

 

are they cheap?

Maybe try and have em weighed...

 

Any volks that I have seen, even my own set do not have a welded tag on them. they will have a silver decal on them indicating width, size, offset, date they were manufactured and model number.

On the inside they have RAYS ENG scribed on them specifically on the spokes, at least for me.

Just to let you know RAYS engineering makes Volks, as well as Nismo, TRD rims
etc..

I know that with TE37's the lug holes never line up with the spokes.

 

BTW have any pics of the insides? Also look at the valve stem.

 

weigh and compare

www.wheelweights.net

 

weight, finish, tags, they way they're made, the best thing to do is weigh them, then compare with someone's real set. also fake rims don't come in certain sizes like 18 x 10

 

i know that the weight is a major factor. i also do know that the tags are the things that tell the complete truth. my wheels don't have any tags on them; they just have some left behind residue as to where some tags might have once been, but they were taken off. the weight of 16 pounds confirms that they probably are volks, but any random company can make light wheels (they wont neccesarily be strong, but they'll be light; trust me on that one). when i saw the place where a tag used to be, but there was no tag, i felt a bit weird, because why would somebody want to take off tags off of a real volk wheel? the only reason that i could think that somebody would want to take off a wheel's tags would be because the tags say something other than what the wheels are supposed to be like. i have never owned volk/ray's engineering wheels before so i thought that there would be another more specific way of telling real ones from fake ones. by the way: the center caps were also not included with the wheels, which i found not so weird at first, but now somewhat fishy. thanks for everything so far guys....
-erik

 

what's supposed to be different about the valve stem?

 

Rays makes a lot of special edition wheels for different cars, like 350z track model. Of course the Spokes don't line up, you have a 5 lug and the TE37's are a 6 spoke.

 

I have a sort of wheel fetish, Ive bought many new and used sets of Volks, Works,RE-As, SSRs, Enkeis,etc. IIRC, most of my volks only had a sticker on the inside stating the manufacturer, with the offset and width info on it. My brand new SSRs came the same way. I actually take the sticker off, just because it is plainly visible on a brand new wheel and looks ugly, but I know most keep it on. If they are stamped RAYS, i would presume they are real. If you can post a few pics Im sure I ( or one of us) could tell you for certain. Also, the center caps are not usually included with new wheel purchases, and are an extra $100+, which is a probable reason why you dont have any.

 

i actually got another wheel in the mail and this one came with a sticker on it. the reason there was no sticker on the other ones was because it had been painted on top of with gun metal powder coating. i have also confirmed many other things, but the sticker not being on the inside of the wheels kind of made the whole thing fishy at first. like you rxmfn7 i also buy many wheels and love the rare and hard to find wheels that not many people have, haha. that's actually one of the reasons i got these volk se37a's for my own car. thanks for all the help guys, and good luck with your cars....
-erik

 

Rays / Volk Racing will usually have am emboss or engraving somewhere.
I have never seen a knock-off that tried to duplicate this.
So I'm pretty sure yours is genuine.

There are reports that the "JWL" (Japan Wheel League) emboss has been faked on knock-off's.
This is the only thing that I know is verified counterfeited out there.


-Ted