Question On Durability Of Rota Wheels

[SimonR32]

there are pictures around of good quality wheels broken, but it's how the wheel fails that tells you how shit the quality of it is. this picture shows a classic failure from a poorly built wheel, you will very rarely, if ever find a well build wheel failing like this, i've see a million cheap wheels fail like this however.

No doubt, but find a picture of a quality wheel with that kind of damage from running over a pot hole and I'd be shocked.

[Duncan]

I think it's pretty straightforward.

Rotas (or pretty much any wheel ever made) are fine for road use. If you like the look, why not save money?

People using them for track/rally/drifting whatever are mad, unless they have a specific reason eg sponsorship, or needing lots of wheel because they get through lots of tyres

[B-rice]

I think it's pretty straightforward.

Rotas (or pretty much any wheel ever made) are fine for road use. If you like the look, why not save money?

People using them for track/rally/drifting whatever are mad, unless they have a specific reason eg sponsorship, or needing lots of wheel because they get through lots of tyres

Thank you atleast the administrator agrees of the overkill factor. Plus some of the o.g wheels look seriously whack.

[nisskid]

No doubt, but find a picture of a quality wheel with that kind of damage from running over a pot hole and I'd be shocked.

that's the point, you won't. the problem is people will often put up pictures with broken wheels, and use that as proof of how shit a wheel is, the fact that a wheel is broken doesn't prove that it's shit, it's how easily it's broken, and how it broke. people might put a pic up of a broken TE37 and say yeh see, good wheels are weak too, because they are idiots. a picture like that one just put up we can't determine how hard the hit was, but we can determine how it broke. that very brittle crumbling of the cast along the rim edge is so common to happen to cheap wheels, i see so many break like that, ive never see a well built wheel break like that, usually there is evidence of a much larger hit before you ever see any distortion or breakage.

[nisskid]

I think it's pretty straightforward.

Rotas (or pretty much any wheel ever made) are fine for road use. If you like the look, why not save money?

People using them for track/rally/drifting whatever are mad, unless they have a specific reason eg sponsorship, or needing lots of wheel because they get through lots of tyres

for me, i run cheap wheels when im in japan because over there you can literally pick them up for $20 a pair, they become nearly as disposable as the tyres mounted to them, it's good because they create a fail point so they break before anything else does. but here in aus i have a decent enough collection of wheels, and strong enough suspension that it's not a problem.

[ichi-go]

I think it's pretty straightforward.

Rotas (or pretty much any wheel ever made) are fine for road use. If you like the look, why not save money?

People using them for track/rally/drifting whatever are mad, unless they have a specific reason eg sponsorship, or needing lots of wheel because they get through lots of tyres

So its fine for wheels to crack and give way when you hit a pothole on the street?

[Duncan]

remind me not to lend you the keys if you regularly hit big potholes. Plus, if you are unlucky and do unavoidably hit one hit one, you should find it reasonably easy to have council replace the wheel as they are responsible for keeping roads properly maintained.

road loads and track loads are an order of magnitude different. A quality forged wheel broke in this: http://www.hgeconsul....au/targa04.wmv

[pistol-pete]

Plus, if you are unlucky and do unavoidably hit one hit one, you should find it reasonably easy to have council replace the wheel as they are responsible for keeping roads properly maintained.

haha youre having a laugh arent you? ever actually tried to do this? no chance in hell youll get anything out of your local council for something like that (at least round here anyway)

[B-rice]

haha youre having a laugh arent you? ever actually tried to do this? no chance in hell youll get anything out of your local council for something like that (at least round here anyway)

have a read if your a taxpayer and you pay your rego why not. ive noticed how they repair potholes quick

bit of the http://www.bikenorth...ainmail/200202/

http://www.theland.com.au/news/state/agribusiness/general-news/councils-can-now-be-sued-over-injuries/923.aspx

Edited December 4, 2012 by B-rice

[B-rice]

and people wonder why originality and innovation is slowing despite a growing market?

justify your junk as long as you want, end of the day it's companies like ROTA who choose to imitate and create inferior products at a fraction of the cost that make in not viable to innovate.

Innovation costs money, whether it's the process of creation or simply the losses associated with learning from failures, these costs must be recuperated some how, after doing all the leg work to create a popular design, to have a company come in and near on replicate the wheel and reap the benefits is bullshit, and who ever thinks this is ok needs a kick in the dick. It's one thing for a few manufacturers to create similar designs, it's another for a company to base their whole product line on replica's.

Not only this, but the reputation of many of these good brands have been tarnished by photos of cheap replica junk broken in ways which could only be caused by poor manufacturing, mistaken for the real deal.

I have run a lot of different wheels in some of the harshest conditions possible for wheels, and for people to tell me their cheap junk is anywhere near the strength of the good stuff is a joke, i have bent every type of wheel possible on pot holes and curbs that you couldn't even imagine exist, i have seen the failures of wheels on other's cars first hand time after time. Put simply, your chinese/taiwanese junk doesn't compare to well manufactured wheels, i don't care if your wheels have a big Japanese brand on them, chances are they were still outsourced from some shitty factory in china. I don't care if a "competition drift car" runs rota's, you think they are going to say no to free wheels?

Maybe it's just me, but despite what my car may look like to others, i still believe in taking pride in your car, and for me that's not using cheap replica junk which is destroying the industry, and is clearly an inferior product, just to save a few $$.

for me, i run cheap wheels when im in japan because over there you can literally pick them up for $20 a pair, they become nearly as disposable as the tyres mounted to them, it's good because they create a fail point so they break before anything else does. but here in aus i have a decent enough collection of wheels, and strong enough suspension that it's not a problem.

dude i thought you dont buy cheap rims coz they destroy the industry but when your in Japan that changes :S. so which of the comments above is a troll ? atleast preach maintain what you say

Edited December 4, 2012 by B-rice

[nisskid]

dude i thought you dont buy cheap rims coz they destroy the industry but when your in Japan that changes :S. so which of the comments above is a troll ? atleast preach maintain what you say

there is a difference between cheap crappy wheels, and copy wheels, even though basically every copy wheel is cheap crap. but there are a lot of japanese branded wheels like origin, uras etc which outsource their production from china/taiwan and produce some pretty crap wheels, but are original designs and build their market upon their own strong brand name and attractive design, they aren't depending on providing a product which people buy to simply make it look like they have an already established product at a fraction of the price.

most of the junk wheels i end up skidding over there are usually ones that either i get on the car when i buy it (i buy a lot of cars over there), or get given when the person can't store them there, rarely i pay anything for them, but occasionally i'll pay $20 or so for a pair. picking some wheels out of a junk pile that have been sitting there for years isn't killing the genuine wheel industry...

[B-rice]

SMH ohhh dear^^^^^^^

[nisskid]

SMH ohhh dear^^^^^^^

is what someone would say if they had no idea how to respond to a post.

[B-rice]

Hahaha dude I don't like conflict. Buy picking up copies your still supporting the "copy" industry instead if you buying the "real deal" wheels I SMH coz what your saying is not preaching what you do and that is really bad for forums where knowledge of something is shared so often.

Anyway by cheap crappy wheel outsourced from China/Taiwan what is the difference with a Rota made in Taiwan. If the company is cutting costs wouldn't amaze me if they're cast if they're not then good either way rays ain't getting support from your $20.instead your supporting crap shit to make even more since the use of them even if its $20 will attract a demand needed to be supplied.

[OYEAHA]

SMH are you normal ^

[xALmoN]

not sure how buying 2nd hand real wheels is helping the real wheel industry.

rays doesn't profit from your sale.

[djr81]

The Sydney Morning Herald aside when a wheel hits something hard enough it should not fracture into two or more pieces it should buckle. I have seen many buckled rims after big hits but the fractures on Rotas and similar just leave me shaking my head.

[nisskid]

not sure how buying 2nd hand real wheels is helping the real wheel industry.

rays doesn't profit from your sale.

by creating demand within the 2nd hand market you drive prices up and decrease supply, in turn create more demand for the new products. More importantly, you simply aren't supporting the fake wheel market, which is only there because there are people willing to buy there stuff, if no one bought them, it wouldn't exist, and the genuine market wouldn't be strangled.

[B-rice]

by creating demand within the 2nd hand market you drive prices up and decrease supply, in turn create more demand for the new products. More importantly, you simply aren't supporting the fake wheel market, which is only there because there are people willing to buy there stuff, if no one bought them, it wouldn't exist, and the genuine market wouldn't be strangled.

you didnt say 2nd hand genuine you said cheap crappy wheels. the prices for new product will never be the same as a used if its the same item, in a few cases where that could happen is with collectors wheels but i cant see why that would happen with something still in production.

"which is only there because there are people willing to buy there stuff, if no one bought them, it wouldn't exist, and the genuine market wouldn't be strangled" im afraid your one of them even though you dont want to accept it like I do. if no cheap "$20 crappy wheels" existed Rays and all them reputable wheels companys would make a lot more

[Duncan]

The Sydney Morning Herald aside when a wheel hits something hard enough it should not fracture into two or more pieces it should buckle. I have seen many buckled rims after big hits but the fractures on Rotas and similar just leave me shaking my head.

I don't really want to stay involved in this thread because it's a bit silly.....but I will say that a cast wheel will naturally crack, whicle a forged wheel buckles. It's not really a sign of natural superiority of either, just a different way they fail because of the different way they are created.

I stand by my opinion that street and track requirements are totally different problems, and that any wheel is fine on a road car.