Replica wheel hazards

[cougar9150]

I'm doing some searching for future projects and came across some replica marauder rims for about $600. I am more than a few months away from doing this but wanted to inquire about them so I can plan for down the road.

I would want to use these to have the rears widened and then get them powder coated the same color as the Cam and timing covers while leaving the polished lip.

Anyone have good/bad input on using these? Any issues with strength and durability?

I would like to keep my OEM rims the way they are and have them refinished back to new one day. Plus I would feel bad stripping and coating a set of the OEMs due to cost of new ones and availability.

I think the other routes I could take is hunting down 4 of the OEM full size spares or go with 20" Bullit rims and do the same powder coating to them.

[LeoVampire]

I'm doing some searching for future projects and came across some replica marauder rims for about $600. I am more than a few months away from doing this but wanted to inquire about them so I can plan for down the road.

I would want to use these to have the rears widened and then get them powder coated the same color as the Cam and timing covers while leaving the polished lip.

Anyone have good/bad input on using these? Any issues with strength and durability?

I would like to keep my OEM rims the way they are and have them refinished back to new one day. Plus I would feel bad stripping and coating a set of the OEMs due to cost of new ones and availability.

I think the other routes I could take is hunting down 4 of the OEM full size spares or go with 20" Bullit rims and do the same powder coating to them.

Stay away from 2 piece rims and stick with the 1 piece Forged rim's. The one's where they make seperate outside and main rim then heat the inner core to fit the outer one into is the weakest set up.

[musclemerc]

I would stay with the forged wheel also and since you're polishing and powercoating they wont have to be a perfect set.

[MrBluGruv]

I'm not entirely sure if the rims I have are OE original, OE replacement, or cheap knockoffs, but I do know that the previous owner at least took out the center caps. :(

They've given me no trouble, even after having been at high speeds, and this is after nearly 40000 miles. Only damage they've had is when I've been a dumbass and ended up curb checking.

[cougar9150]

Thanks guys, I will inquire if the replicas are 1 piece forged or not. Probably not but can't hurt to ask. If their not I guess the search for OE wheels will start soon or I'll just find the Bullet rims.

[LeoVampire]

Thanks guys, I will inquire if the replicas are 1 piece forged or not. Probably not but can't hurt to ask. If their not I guess the search for OE wheels will start soon or I'll just find the Bullet rims.

If you flip the rim over and look at the inside you can see it is welded. Forged rims have no welds.

[cougar9150]

If you flip the rim over and look at the inside you can see it is welded. Forged rims have no welds.

I don't have access to the wheels to look at them myself. There are a couple of different companies that sell them online and I just plan on calling them and seeing what they can tell me.

I plan on making them my daily driving rims and using them for trips down the 1320, so I want to make sure they can take the punishment. Unfortunately in the Tampa Bay area there is always some kind of major road construction going on somewhere and it is just hard to avoid the crappy road ways. Want to make sure they are at least as strong as the OE ones.

[LeoVampire]

I don't have access to the wheels to look at them myself. There are a couple of different companies that sell them online and I just plan on calling them and seeing what they can tell me.

I plan on making them my daily driving rims and using them for trips down the 1320, so I want to make sure they can take the punishment. Unfortunately in the Tampa Bay area there is always some kind of major road construction going on somewhere and it is just hard to avoid the crappy road ways. Want to make sure they are at least as strong as the OE ones.

And then send you the pic or post it so you can see if they are forged or not.

I knew of one company that made awsome 2 piece rims but they used a computor to weld the pieces together while it sat on a ballance weight monitor. This was to insure the weld was uniform in weight all the way around and to make sure the weight change was consistant from one rim to the next. Also they x-rayed the welds to make sure there was no air gaps or any other problems. The guy was a stickler for **** like that he was a nuclear reactor qualified welder.

When humans weld we are not consistant with it and never use the exact same amount of material nor is the weld totaly consistant and that is where the problems come into play.

But doing it with the Computor system is expensive to own and operate so needless to say the rims cost a lot more.

[cougar9150]

There are couple of different companies I am looking at and have noticed a significant price disparity between them.

My guess is one does it the cheap way (the 4 for $599), and maybe the others (from $199 up to $299 for 1) are actually forged or computer welded like you said. I'm going to continue the research for awhile and see what I can come across for details from the various vendors/manufacturers.

If need be I'll pick up OE wheels 1 at a time until I can get a compete set of 4 and then pick the best 4 for storage and the other 4 will be for widening and coating. I just would prefer not to butcher a good set of the factory wheels as I really like them but would like to have something different with the option to swap between the 2 sets.