Good video about imitation wheels
 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJeFB6SRslk[/media]

I know the English is a little broken but it is interesting to see the testing difference.

Great video, really gets the point across about the dangers of cheap knockoffs.

Great video, those two wheels look the same in the video, but were different.

It's amazing how two things can look and feel the same, but one is much higher quality than the other. Materials and testing matter. Rarely do the cheapest parts pay for themselves.

Tim

The video has good intentions, however I would like to see an independent source rather than an advertisement do this type of testing.

Mixed feelings about this one. I just feel that if imitations were as dangerous as this video suggested we would see a LOT of people getting hurt on the roads. How many? A LOT. I'd wager a guess that more people run imitations than genuine wheels of certain make and models - especially of the more expensive varieties. Yet you almost never hear about someone breaking a wheel. Even more seldom do you hear about someone breaking a wheel and getting hurt buy it. Sure, if you Google is hard enough I'm sure you can pull up an example or two here and there but generally this just doesn't happen.

Fact is that nearly all wheels are overbuilt for most purposes. You just don't need that much strength when all you're doing is cruising the boulevard trying to impress some of your buddies from school. Nearly everyone buys wheels for looks alone and not for performance. Those who need wheels for high level motorsports would probably be better served with genuine wheels, but for some broke high schooler who wants some "rims" for his 1998 Civic, who really cares if he buys imitations or not?

So I think the "dangerous" piece is also due to some bad translations but I can tell you its not hard to break a wheel. I hit a curb going no more that 15 MPH with my civic and the wheel cracked and was not repairable. The biggest difference I have seen between high end wheels and cheapo knock offs is the higher end stuff bends but doesn't crack or shatter like some of the low end wheels have a tendency to do.

Also while I agree for just normal driving you will be fine but it you contact something like in this video the cheaper wheel breaks much easier than the better wheel. You have to consider that this video showed a fairly light impact with the wheel stationary. In the real world the wheel will be spinning at several hundred RPM's so the impact gets alot more dangerous. This video is for those people that think there is no difference between the "real" thing and the replicas.

Its not hard to find pictures of damaged wheels. Just google broken rota and you will get a lot of results.

Wheels get damaged all of the time and a low strength knockoff is going to be more susceptible to this. However if you strike something hard enough to bend or even break your wheel you're really going to know it. This sort of scenario is similar to hitting a deer or crashing into a lightpole. You won't just drive off like nothing ever happened. You will almost certainly realize that your wheel has been seriously damaged and you will be forced to do something about it.

I still contend you would be hard pressed to find someone who has been injured as a direct result of a "knockoff" wheel failing in a catastrophic manner. The danger is there theoretically, but for all practical manner, it's just not that likely to happen.

A far greater concern, at least for these businesses, is the loss of profit from the sale of these knockoff wheels. I suspect that was the real motivation behind the video.

Well you argue that but does rolex see a drop in sales because of the knock offs? I doubt its very much if it is measurable at all because like you said the people that generally buy these cheap knock offs are putting them on civics or whatever and would never have the money to buy the real things.

Also the point was never that the wheel just fails during normal use which I feel like is what you are saying. This video shows the difference between wheels during an impact which can be dangerous because if the wheel breaks control of the car isn't going to be good in most cases. Anyways just thought it was a good comparison of the 2.

I'm sure there are those who does think otherwise, but I'm certain most people knows authentic and replicas are not equally made. Not everyone can afford $2k+ for a set of wheels. Replicas have its place and does serve a purpose.