AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

Avant Garde makes a decent wheel at an ok price. Are there better wheels out there? Sure, but at least they aren't reps and mostly stick to their own design. Me thinks Phenom puts himself on a pedestal because he has volk wheels (shall we all bow down?). However, I will agree that he made the right decision here. Good job OP.

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

I can at least appreciate that they're not reps like the varstoens, but any wheels made in Taiwan I just don't think deserve to go on our cars.

AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

You do know Z's can be had for less than 8 grand these days, right? I hear you on trying to buy quality (I've had all kinds of wheels) but more than half the time it's not going to make a difference to the average Z driver on the street.

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

True, my car may be worth less than half what I paid but it's got very low miles and worth more to me than what an average used car shopper is willing to pay. I buy my car costly parts not for what it's worth to others but what it does for me each time I get in.

X.et

iTrader: (2)

A lot of people on here like to pretend their cars are some elite status car of values higher than they were even new. Nothing against people spending money for the top of the line products obviously, but it is funny that they try to talk so much trash on more budget options like someone is trying to put $1.5k wheels on a $100k car or something.

AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

And you would be justifiably right to do so (car looks great btw). Just like someone who buys budget wheels because that fits their needs. It's all relative. Now, if someone buys wheels that are ugly as sin or the totally wrong fitment (don't really care for reps either) then by all means, flame on.

Zpeed#91

And these wheels are actually very affordable and are rays wheels I didn't even know until I RESEARCHED a bit, they are cast wheels but I know are way way better in quality compared to replicas! As for putting pricey wheels on our cars if I had the money I would buy new volks in a heartbeat!

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

Its not about acting like your car is "elite status." Its about not paying money to downgrade your factory wheels.

AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

Downgrade? I wouldn't necessarily say that. Most factory wheels weigh anywhere from 24 to 30 pounds and are cast. Not that there is anything wrong with that but unless you buy the knockoff junk, most wheels will maintain if not exceed the quality of OEM. Also, who wants factory wheels that every other Z has (unless they are the touring wheels because those are sweet).

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

The way I look at it, wheels made in Taiwan with the top priority being to minimize production costs will be inferior to the factory wheels. It really wouldn't bother me so much if companies like varrstoen with their blatant knock offs didn't exist, but since they do and they've successfully attracted so many people to the junk/cheap/budget/whatever-you-wanna-call-it wheel market, and I'm taking my disdain for varrstoen and knockoffs out on all cheap wheel manufacturers.

X.et

iTrader: (2)

I guarantee all the wheel companies are doing everything they can to minimize production costs... or else they would be out of business, especially after the economy went down. Do you also not use generic drugs, or any thing that is produce that is a "knock-off" of the original products? I can tell this isn't just about quality, you and many others generally dislike these copy cats because they aren't making a new design/product. But this happens in every industry, and I doubt you hate all those knock-offs as much. It isn't like patents are being violated

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

The difference is the factories in Taiwan and the phillipines are reducing production costs by sacrificing quality whereas the factories that produce Volk, BBS, enkei, etc aren't.

X.et

iTrader: (2)

The thing is comparing these brand are like comparing apples to oranges. I could also say cars like hondas are nissan/infiniti are sacrificing quality for costs (which is completely true), but then again the price points and targeted market/usage are completely different. You have to figure a brand new set of volk's are like 4x the price of the budget brands. That's like comparing buying your new $30k 350z to a $120k supercar. They are also meant for very hard, track oriented use, massive overkill for 99+% of the owners of our cars who use their cars almost entirely on the street. Now if you're talking about track use, I don't even think it is worth running knock-offs when there is a much bigger setup for hard hits/damage

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

Plenty of junk wheels have cracked or even broke in half off the track. Listen dude you're not going to convince me that these budget wheel companies aren't producing garbage that shouldnt go on our cars. Either upgrade or leave the perfectly good stock wheels alone. If looks are enough justification to remove existing parts and replace with inferior ones, thats ricer logic.

AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

Curious dude, have you ever taken your car to the track? Next, what do you consider in deciding what makes an inferior wheel company? We already know you hate Taiwan and reps (I don't care for them either), anything else? Just because a certain wheel setup is not sold for 3k doesn't make them junk. Na mean?

X.et

iTrader: (2)

You seem to hate on varrstoen's, at least care to show "plenty" of instances of them cracking off the track? I've only seen one claim with the lm replica's cracking, supposedly on a pothole at 25mph, that almost universally has been called out as bs.

Now if you are going to talk about rota's cracking, sure, but with plenty of varrstoens and rotas on the road, so far it doesn't seem to be the case where they can be called equals based upon the amount of failure of rotas.

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

So far only autocross (cones in a parking lot) events, no HPDE days yet unfortunately (I was actually registered for one at NJ motorsports park and then missed it thanks to parts not being delivered when I expected them to be). Anyway, as far as one wheel company compares to the next, I have no more knowledge or methods for comparing them than anyone else. Can I give you the particulars on how Volk, BBS, Work, SSR, and Advan all compare to each other? I can't, and I bet most people cant. We do however know their reputation that they've earned, we see them being chosen by race teams, and we tend not to hear stories about them cracking in half on the street. The same concept goes for the budget wheels. I don't know how varrs compare to xxr and linea corse, but we all know they don't compare to the upper tier wheels. The simple fact that they can be sold for about $250 or less each, and someone somewhere is making a profit from that, says enough to me. You know you're getting less R&D, less safety testing, less precision and an overall weaker, heavier wheel. Where they're made and how much they cost can indicate a lot IMO

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

I show a cracked varrstoen, someone posts a bent up Volk, so on and so forth. And without any background information about the story to go along with the picture, what's the point? This has all been done before, and there are more than enough knockoff vs authentic debates you can search for. All I know is varrstoen and other knockoff wheel companies weren't picked out of a hat for us wheel snobs to bully.

Edit: And actually as of late I've been having more respect for Rota's as far as low cost wheels go since I've been hearing that they are more and more often handling a solid track beating. Although my friend did order a brand new set for his Subaru and one of them has a chunk missing from one of the lips, so I'm not sure what to think really.

AroundMyHorn

iTrader: (9)

Isn't the 350z considered the budget car of sports cars? Why not get a porsche? You also recently bought Akebonos right (which look great btw)? Aren't they budget brakes? Why not go for stoptechs? It's all relative, no? However, you do know I don't care for reps too right? I'm merely sticking up for budget wheels in general.



Oh yeah, autocross is a lot of fun isn't?

Phenom

iTrader: (4)

In the spectrum of all cars, the Z is pretty damn nice if you ask me. If you only consider sports cars then yeah its not so great any more. I don't think that analogy works to describe this wheel one though. In the case of buying a car, you're starting with no car and ultimately ending up with a car. With wheels, your car already has perfectly functioning wheels, but then people choose to spend money to replace them with something of a lower quality sometimes. Why? The only reason is appearance. Many people have been accused of being ricers for stuff like this. If for some reason someone buys a car with no wheels, or wheels that are severely damaged and they replace them with whatever they can afford, that's one thing. But intentionally sacrificing quality for appearance is just a principle I disagree with. That's all.

As far as the brakes go, my new setup is definitely low end, especially considering the awesome project mu, stop tech, etc kits available to us, but again I don't think that analogy is the same as the wheel topic, unless someone wants to argue that akebono calipers/stoptech rotors are worse than the stock brakes.

That's for damn sure.