I've been reading about knockoff wheels in the xB forum and I've come across this question: are forged wheels NECESSARY? It seems like a lot of the people who posted in that thread are very opinionated about using geniune JDM lightweight forged racing wheels... a la, the Work Emotions, Volk TE37, SSR Type-C, etc.

For me, it's not really a question about money as much as it is a question of necessity. Much like a family of four would be horrible in a Porsche Boxster, different products suit different people. I'm most likely going to be getting 16" wheels. I'd like a slightly larger wheel, but I'd like to retain enough sidewall to keep the ride compliant.

At first, I was thinking about the Volk TE37, but I know that Rota makes a TE37 knockoff that is 16lbs in the 16" size. I know that a lot of the lightweight cast wheels (10-13lbs) lose a lot of strength due to their weight, but the Rota Grid seem heavy enough not to crack on potholes and such.

I just want to know if Rota wheels are THAT bad. I mean, if you never drive faster than 60mph in a straight line and all your xB sees is stop and go traffic, I don't think that they are very likely to crack... and they're even less likely if they're 15s as opposed to the 17s or 18s that most people have.

I have this opinion that "if you don't use something, then don't waste your money on it." For example, if you're never going to have the top down, then don't buy a convertible. Anyways, as much as I care about quality, in a way, it would feel wrong for me to put some Volk TE37s or SSR Type-C wheels on my car because I would never use them the way they were intended. Their design give them capabilities that far exceed the limits that I will put on them in daily driving. I have seen people crack Rotas at the track, but that's because they were at the track. I've never seen a set of cast wheels split from daily driving. I think my Eclipse GS-T and my Integra GS-R all had stock 16" cast wheels and those all lasted for well over 100K miles without a problem.

To make a long story short:

I don't think I will need forged alloy wheels for a 16" wheel, but I am looking for quality. It seems like a lot of people say that aftermarket parts don't last long, but if they can last a long time on factory cars, there must be aftermarket alternatives that are just as strong and reliable. I want to find a wheel that can replace the stock steelies and last for the next 100K miles without bending or cracking, so do I need to go the forged route? Are their manufacturers of good quality cast wheels? I hear good things about the strength and weight of the Kosei K1 TS...

I hate knock off rims.

I have had forged and cast rims in the past. I also destroyed many cast rims.

I use forged bacause they are stronger and took the punishment of the drifting and autocross I used to do. Plus they took the bad roads of KY pretty good andd never got damaged.

I have been a big JDM collector and have a stronger choice with JDM wheels. Therefore I choose forged rims.

Knock-offs aside.... let's assume that we're going with an original cast wheel that doesn't pretend to be anything else. What types of things would cause a cast rim to be destroyed? Potholes? Curbing @ 30mph?

I'd hate to think that cast wheels are just so horrible that regular driving would cause some form of internal harmonic resonance that caused them to disintegrate beneath your wheels...

SSR uses a semi-solid forging process... does this have any effect on the strength of the wheel? There are a few SSR wheels that I think look nice, namely the SSR Integrals and the SSR Competitions.

Any type of forged is good. Semi forged or mat rolled like enkei.

A lot of the 2 or 3 piece rims are forged and strong as well.

I think cast wheels are perfectly fine for daily driving. Casting has been used to make pistons throughout the history of the internal combustion engine. If a cast piston can withstand the heat and pressure in an engine, I should think that a cast wheel could do just fine. Design is what will separate the good wheels from the bad. Forging a poorly designed wheel will only prolong the time to the inevitable failure.

If your road is poor enough condition to the point where you have to worry about your wheels being damaged, you need taller tires. Low profile tires don't give much protection against such roads.

About SSR, from TireRack:

Semi-solid forging (SSF) is a process that heats a billet of special alloy to an almost liquid state and then the aluminum is forced into a mold at a very high rate. The finished product offers mechanical properties very similar to a forged wheel without the high production and tooling costs of a forged wheel. When low weight and performance are on your priority list, the SSF technology offers an excellent value. Currently only SSR (Speed Star Racing) from Japan is licensed to use this process for the production of wheels.

Of course forged wheels aren't a necessity...neither is that mocha frappachino, or that WRX Sti that can go 300mph until it hits the next red light driving down the avenue.

Yet people still buy their starbucks and people still brag about 500hp cars that they drive around town. People will buy nice, forged, expensive wheels because they LIKE them.

I'm sure you've been in a situation where you have bought something that doesn't make complete sense because you just felt like you've wanted it, right?

Also, people like to pay top dollar for quality items, which is the case of most forged wheels.

The reputation these companies have built did not happen overnight..and in the end, you get what you pay for.

my friend had a set of rotas on his wrx...his car understeered at a turn and curbed it really bad...broke, not cracked, but broke two of his rims.

still, though, i think any type of wheels in that situation could've bent or bust into two. just dont take a turn at 60 mph like my friend did haha.

forged rims are just amazing compared to cast for explanations why go to tirerack.com they have a page w/ all the specs/processes

i say find rims you lke and that you can afford. if your nto racing dont worry about it...most of my friends who race dont run forged wheels bc of the price....i mean if you have tree sets of wheels for one weekend of racing that will kill you if they are all forged. buy what you like, all wheels must meet specifications at the manufacturing plant and carry a load rationg on them, most in the range of a import car a 750 kg, where lighter wheels, like my axis maglites carry a rating of 550 kg i think. but they only weigh 14lbs in a 17in wheel. also think, if you curb or bend a forged wheel it is much more to replace than a cast wheel. and even forged wheels dont survive everything. my buddy bend one an cracked a secod volk wheel on a pothole in long beach cali....so stuff just happens sometimes. if your not looking for weight reduction and the majority of driving is on the street buy what you like that fits your budget.

brent

on a side not not every cast wheel will break. while i was working at axis we would recieve maybe one wheel a day that came back broken, compaired to the 100 or so we sent out daily.