This is what happens when you buy fake wheels (Varrstoen)

[Firestorm]

last year i had an accident with my car, which broke one of my enkei rpf1 wheels, an approx. 8" section of the outer barrell broke off. do i blame enkei? no.

every wheel can break, depending on how strong the impact is, and how its made.

an enkei rpf-1 is a low pressure cast wheel, which makes it one of the lightest wheels for the price that performs great as long as you stay on the road and don't hit anything. but since a low pressure casting lacks strength, it breaks easily compared to maybe a forged wheel. i'm sure if i've had that crash with 600$ a piece forged wheel, the wheel would've been bent, but not broken.

what i'm saying is, knockoffs still suck, but even brand name wheels can break. it all comes down to how the wheel is made. and since most knockoff manufacturers use cheap casting techniques and materials they're more likely to break i'd say.

[Matej]

When my Works first came in, I accidentally bumped one against a wooden door frame as I was carrying it into the garage, and it left a dent in the lip.
When I had old Sportmaxes, I once shattered a curb with them, and did not find any damage to the wheel.

I still like the Works more.

[SK91]

Obviously ur sportmaxes are real and your works are fake

[usdm180sx]

FUCK varstoens that shit can WALK. I'd rather buy used real deal BBS or TE37 all day long than rock fake shit but that's just me.

[murda-c]

awww man i thought they looked cool...guess i'll stick to my cobra R wheels lol

[enkei2k]

Originally Posted by Matej

When my Works first came in, I accidentally bumped one against a wooden door frame as I was carrying it into the garage, and it left a dent in the lip.
When I had old Sportmaxes, I once shattered a curb with them, and did not find any damage to the wheel.

I still like the Works more.

Originally Posted by SK91

Obviously ur sportmaxes are real and your works are fake

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[Bbsalexaz]

I'd ratherhave a couple sets of wheels that are 'cheapies' then volks, etc.

[tricky_ab]

I can't wait till this thread turns into some sort of justification for buying knock off parts for some members...

[irax]

I think everyone here is missing one BIG factor in the story

"the 4 inch pot hole turned into a 2 foot pot hole"

that is 20 inches of concrete
Any fucking wheel would come out fucked up if the street just gave way under it, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED! Not to mention the fact that it had ruberband tires on.

REPEAT

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT BEING A "FAKE" WHEEL! THE WHEEL FAILED BECAUSE THE GROUND GAVE WAY! I don't blame the manufacture of the wheel for wanting to keep this hush/dl until it was proven it was because of the manufacturing, though I think that they should of taken a different stance.

[Wake]

I was wondering when someone was going to point that out.

[ronmcdon]

Idk just how reliable the victim is.
It's not likely you'd be going uphill in 4th gear @ 25 mph, so I question if he's full of shit.
There's no pic of the said 'pot-hole' really more of a 'pit' if it's 2 foot deep (thought it was 2 foot 'wide' & was specifying maybe the diameter rather than depth)

I was driving and minding my business when I hit a small pot hole, and it turned out to be a bigger pot hole after my car drove over it. It went from a 4 inch wide pothole to a 2 foot wide one.. The ground underneath the pothole gave away and f*ck me over.

I'm also not sure that the tires would be necessarily more thin (or stretched) than OEM.
I couldn't find any info that would suggest that to be the case.
It was likely already flat by the time the pics were taken.

[nismolvr]

Originally Posted by ronmcdon

Idk just how reliable the victim is.
It's not likely you'd be going uphill in 4th gear @ 25 mph, so I question if he's full of shit.
There's no pic of the said 'pot-hole' really more of a 'pit' if it's 2 foot deep (thought it was 2 foot 'wide' & was specifying maybe the diameter rather than depth)

I was driving and minding my business when I hit a small pot hole, and it turned out to be a bigger pot hole after my car drove over it. It went from a 4 inch wide pothole to a 2 foot wide one.. The ground underneath the pothole gave away and f*ck me over.

I'm also not sure that the tires would be necessarily more thin (or stretched) than OEM.
I couldn't find any info that would suggest that to be the case.
It was likely already flat by the time the pics were taken.

I agree with you.Driving in 4th gear uphill doing 25MPH is very unlikely ,his engine would of been struggling to stay in the powerband and bog down maybe even shut down. Second gear would of been a better choice if he was only doing 25MPH.Guy clearly doesnt know how to properly drive a stick and worse doesnt pay attention to road conditions , How else would anyone Drive their car into a 2ft wide pot hole? @ 25MPH? Negligence is rewarded once again .

[BOROSUN]

Yeah, sketchy 2foot is a cliff .... And he got a new set. I think that's awesome service from varrstoen.

[BOROSUN]

Lol driving on manhattan is a death sentence for any wheels.

[Matej]

Everybody's town has the worst roads ever.

Originally Posted by Bbsalexaz

I'd ratherhave a couple sets of wheels that are 'cheapies' then volks, etc.

I on the other hand prefer to have a couple sets of Volks, Works, Garsons, and Weds.

[Silvette]

JDM Chicago-Japanese Car Community - View Single Post - Varrstoen vs pothole.. fake wheels lol.

[sw20>>s14]

Originally Posted by Silvette

JDM Chicago-Japanese Car Community - View Single Post - Varrstoen vs pothole.. fake wheels lol.

wow, i have nothing against varrstoen or any varrstoen users and wanted to stay out of this one, but thats just over the line...varrstoen, i know youre on here, better change your mission statement before you hear from enkeis legal department...scraping sites and passing their content as your own is a huge no no...ask me how i know...

[DustinSixOh9]

Originally Posted by sw20>>s14

wow, i have nothing against varrstoen or any varrstoen users and wanted to stay out of this one, but thats just over the line...varrstoen, i know youre on here, better change your mission statement before you hear from enkeis legal department...scraping sites and passing their content as your own is a huge no no...ask me how i know...

That's varrstoen Europe, different company, just a supplier that varrstoen agreed to let use their name.

[Tantwoforty]

Originally Posted by sw20>>s14

wow, i have nothing against varrstoen or any varrstoen users and wanted to stay out of this one, but thats just over the line...varrstoen, i know youre on here, better change your mission statement before you hear from enkeis legal department...scraping sites and passing their content as your own is a huge no no...ask me how i know...

ohhhh shaaaady

[mrflip69]

25mph in 4th gear, uphill... that's like truck territory? Super sketch, and way too detailed for someone just tooling around in a bimmer.

Oh, and LOL @ high horse people with their $1000 Works. Try paying for those wheels NEW and making your same argument. (Nothing wrong with used wheels, just the pretentious people snubbing those who buy knockoffs)

Maybe the owner of that BMW was scraping pennies to make car payments. Wouldn't surprise me considering the wheel choice.

[pacotaco345]

A couple months ago I hit THE largest pothole in the world doing about 30.. I was coming home from mcdonald's at night, soda in one hand, steering wheel/shifter in the other when I came around a corner and BAM! The soda flew out of my hand, all over the car, my head hit the roof, my lip got ripped off and my front left coilover was now blown (granted it was an ebay coil). However, my wheel, a 17 inch MB 7X that you can buy at discount for 90 dollars was not damaged at all. To put it in perspective how big the pothole was I came back the next day to look at it and it had one of those big ass orange traffic cylinders, not the cone, sitting inside of it to mark it, only half of the thing was sticking out of the ground. Idk if mb counts as knockoff but it took some abuse...

[Tantwoforty]

i sent them a email with a link to this thread... lets see if they show..

lol

[bb4_96]

It comes down to quality control. You can have the best designed wheel in the world but if you material quaility control is sketchy your going to have problems.

People still look at this issue all wrong. You may get better wheel design and construction from authentic wheels vs. knockoff wheels but what really makes the difference is in the defect detection and quality assurance. A quality cast wheel should cost much more these "knockoff" ones on the market due to all the extra quality assurance that needs to be accounted for with the casting process. Forging rules out alot of those issues so you're naturally going to get a better product.

I like the guy that points out people touting used volks over new "knockoffs". At least you know what types of measures volk used 5-10 years ago as opposed to what assurance measures are forgone by current "knockoff" manufacturers....just stupid. It's not about money or haves or have nots, it's about quality of manufacture. This isn't rocket science. Who cares if you have a really nicely made "knockoff" if you have serious porousity or imbrittlement issues. Pothole or no pothole your riding on chance.

[raz0rbladez909]

Originally Posted by bb4_96

It comes down to quality control. You can have the best designed wheel in the world but if you material quaility control is sketchy your going to have problems.

People still look at this issue all wrong. You may get better wheel design and construction from authentic wheels vs. knockoff wheels but what really makes the difference is in the defect detection and quality assurance. A quality cast wheel should cost much more these "knockoff" ones on the market due to all the extra quality assurance that needs to be accounted for with the casting process. Forging rules out alot of those issues so you're naturally going to get a better product.

I like the guy that points out people touting used volks over new "knockoffs". At least you know what types of measures volk used 5-10 years ago as opposed to what assurance measures are forgone by current "knockoff" manufacturers....just stupid. It's not about money or haves or have nots, it's about quality of manufacture. This isn't rocket science. Who cares if you have a really nicely made "knockoff" if you have serious porousity or imbrittlement issues. Pothole or no pothole your riding on chance.

Well said, a set of quality used wheels will be a far better investment then buying a new lower end wheel. There is a reason they maintain their value, try to sell your sportmax or varrstoen's for close to what you paid and see how many offers you get. Fly by night companies come and go, the real innovators continue to stick around even with all these leaches in the industry.

[revcyanide]

i just laugh at the whole "taking money out of JDM manufacturers hands and thats why they are going under"
when almost every single person in this thread has said they buy used works/rays/volks.

buy what you want, idc knock offs or not, your decision.
but dont be all high and mighty when you are doing nothing to support the industry you claim knock offs are killing. (imma go ahead and say in the rare case you replaced the bolts, centercaps etc, you still didnt support it all that much.)

[madd ocx]

Originally Posted by revcyanide

i just laugh at the whole "taking money out of JDM manufacturers hands and thats why they are going under"
when almost every single person in this thread has said they buy used works/rays/volks.

buy what you want, idc knock offs or not, your decision.
but dont be all high and mighty when you are doing nothing to support the industry you claim knock offs are killing. (imma go ahead and say in the rare case you replaced the bolts, centercaps etc, you still didnt support it all that much.)

Very true statement here. Most people troll forums looking for good deals and front like they are supporting the market.. you ain't supporting shit if you ain't buy it brand new or used from the manufacturer themselves.. like I said before that could happen to any wheel.. at least the manufacturer compensated him, I'm sure work, bbs, etc would not do the same..

[STR8 H8N]

[20 til 3]

Ya, who would buy wheels that can break, look at all of these cheap ass broken wheels

o wait, they are the spendy ones... IT HAPPENS TO ALL WHEELS RETARDS, there might be a lower standard in making wheels, but if you have shit breaking on you... sue the shit outta the company... but if you are running a 35-40 series tire on your wheels and you break them on big ass bumps, thats YOUR fault, go slower and dont hit potholes... even the spendy wheels break all the time, my buddy's Gram Lights randomly got a buncha cracks in them last weekend after a track day, he didnt even go off the track at all, they just couldn't hold the stress.

noone knows what they are talking about on here, there are inconsistency's in metals all the time that can create a weak wheel... its not just because of cheap company's... and i could continue to post pics like this all day, Volks, HRE's, everything breaks

[HalveBlue]

I'm no engineer, but I would assume that the total structural failure of these wheels has more to do with a fault in the manufacturing process or the materials than the fact that the wheel hit a pothole.

A wheel hitting a pothole or curb should result in a bend, not the cracking/shearing like some of the wheels in this thread are showing.

I'm guessing most of these wheels are cast. Shearing like that is usually indicative of impurities in the metal, or not allowing the metal to cool properly after filling the mold.

I used to hate the TüV regulations for wheels here in Germany. But after seeing this thread I'm glad they have them.

I'd hate to imagine what would happen if something like this happened while cruising down the autobahn at 100+ mph.

EDIT: I bet a lot of these wheels were also experiencing tremendous amounts of lateral forces at some point, which would definitely increase the likelihood of structural failure.

[Tantwoforty]

It has begun
The knockofff vs real debate.
Get your popcorn. It's gonna get bitchy up in here