- Every once in a while,
there are moments where we start to feel just a little bit,
you know just a little old.
We watch a halftime show and think to ourselves,
you know what?
God damn, the NFL finally started to make a halftime show
that's built for the younger generation
versus the years of playing music
of the previous generation.
The old people and the Prince and things like that.
But then you start to catch on that Missy Elliott,
Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and Eminem
is now for the older person.
And now you're excited, angry and mad that you're old,
and the same can be said for the automotive industry,
and it's so often the next generation of enthusiasts
that come around, they never really learned the things
that the previous generation did,
and so they start pointing fingers at each other,
and the vicious cycle of older people hating younger people
and younger people feeling like they're never heard,
goes on and on and on. Ask your parents, okay?
So let's talk about one of those historical moments
by bringing back a history classic
about the wheel game baby, all right.
I'm Alex, @Alex.FI on Instagram
and today we're gonna be talking about the actual history
of one of the most popular wheel brands out there
that's starting to gain some noise
as they grow old, tic-tac.
Today, we're gonna be talking about the history,
the truth about Rotiform wheels.
(upbeat rock music)
Speaking of cycles, all right,
cycles are circles, wheels are circles.
Tires are also circles and you can get your wheels,
tires and suspension from fitmentindusries.com,
including Rotiform cast and
forged wheels in case that's your game,
as you go into the tax season this year, and we're good
at circle products. Suspension, eh, no, that's not a circle,
but getting your wheels and tires packaged together
so they can show up to your door
balanced and ready to install is pretty slick.
You can get it done before car show
season time with the tax return and everybody wins.
And if you don't, just do it.
Rotiform has been a brand that we've talked in the past.
Most importantly, it's fresh roots
from being founded only 13 years ago
in 2009 by two individuals:
Jason Whipple and Brian Henderson.
Both of these individuals have a pretty fantastic history
within the automotive scene, which would by most credit
the reason that Rotiform grew into the monster,
the behemoth, the massive business that it is today.
All right, it started
by two people that were passionate about wheels, cars
and art, and they're pretty, very fancy artistic people.
For instance, Jason Whipple was always,
and still is that old-school guy from the eighties
and nineties that loves those cars, the inspiration
and love from the three piece Ronals, the GTO fan wheels
and other crazy functional designs that were found
on Group B rally cars, are what inspired his take on some
of the original designs that came from Rotiform wheels.
Now, Jason also has some great taste in cars,
and if you're wondering, here's some examples.
Ryan H also had his heart in cars for quite a long time
and it can be seen in the form of Rotiform's
like very first articles that would hit Speedhunter blogs
and the Audizine forums and things like that.
He loved euros and he loved the designs
that made European cars special.
And since Rotiform
from its conception always had the backing of MHT alloy,
the umbrella company that housed names like US Mags,
Rotiform was able to pick up a relatively quick,
get like going, and start selling pretty fast.
And because of that,
that's why you started to see that initial success.
And success would be found internationally as well,
with moments like Brian getting his 964
to Werther C from London in 2013
for the show with none other than Rotiform wheels.
He had an RS 2, an R8 and more,
but what mattered is that people love the car, the person
and the wheels that he was running because they looked good.
All right, now Jason also had an iconic
car that breaks the internet almost
every single time it's posted.
So while Rotiform was getting started,
the two guys still went
to almost every single show they could,
and they always had something creative
and they always had social media behind it.
Why you see Rotiform pretty much everywhere.
Now why did the intro of this video
talk about the next scene
not knowing the things that older people do?
No, we're not crabby
but something that is interesting to note
is that not many people know
about this history with Rotiform anymore,
and I feel like I was just making this video
with brown hair four years ago.
Now it's true, go on TikTok,
and you'll find people stating the opposite,
saying that Rotiform, hasn't been around that long,
that the people that made it weren't car guys,
or that Rotas are more authentic or something like that,
because TikTok is a crazy place.
It's a wild, wild west. It's like YouTube
before YouTube started moderating comments.
That's where we draw the digital line, Okay?
Jason W. had been in cars over two decades.
He was making engine mounts for VR6s in the nineties.
He was in pro racing in the WSC class.
He worked for AP Racing importer, supplying
real race car products for pro race teams.
He worked at Stasis.
He worked at Audi Racing.
The Rotiform name may be insinuated in just designed wheels,
but Jason had some actual automotive knowledge
of using your, and I'd argue
his experience is longer than some-
most people have been alive.
Now, Rotiform's first wheels were the MIA in the BLQ,
with the BLQ putting on the backpack to carry the brand
for the first couple years.
And while it carried a resembling style of the
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 wheel,
and, that the BLQ is the airport code
for the home of Lamborghini.
It was more than just making that designed wheel to look
like a Lamborghini wheel,
because a little bit more to it than that.
What made it special was
that it came and finishes, styles, bolt patterns
and widths you 110% just could not get anywhere else.
And if you've been a part of the Euro scene,
you know how hard it is to get unique style wheels
and the weird sizes that some of those cars take
and still look good and not cost $7,000. Rotiform did it.
They made it easy and it was in stock and it was available.
I don't know what else to tell you.
And back then they were 99 to 1
for people that loved what Rotiform was doing
with their designing process.
The success came in tandem, not only with a good inventory,
a solid price and good quality.
It also came in the form of like OG marketing
and network support, which were forums and shows.
They were everywhere around the world.
And the European community took to it
and took it well. So much so
that what gave Rotiform the opportunity to scale
and expand its monoblock wheels and become one
of the first companies to mass offer custom
three piece wheel manufacturing actively,
that it really did start to work.
What Rotiform was able to do was take the designs
that they found interesting, or at least unique enough,
make it into a three piece wheel, which minimized a lot
of like overhead cost for the company, if any at all
outside of the design and testing costs,
and then release it to the public.
Those three piece wheels would hit the shows
and break the Instagram algorithms.
And so much that both Brian and Jason
would trigger the design to then be made
in a cast one piece counterpart.
Rinse. Repeat. You keep makin' bangers.
Now to add further confusion to the competition,
as they watched Rotiform continue to grow,
was that Rotiform didn't inherently pick
a certain type of design.
They didn't follow a conventional format of making wheels
of just Volkswagen, or just Audi, or just BMW.
Now, sure, they loved Euro design stuff
in the European market,
but really their inspiration came
from all corners of the automotive industry,
and the trends that surrounded, them specifically
even on the tuner side, and every once in a while
even on the good old domestic side.
You can see it in some of their three-piece wheel stuff.
After only six years of MHT
providing the support to Rotiform
for wheel production and supply management,
which is boring you don't pay attention in school.
MHT would buy Rotiform to put under the MHT umbrella
next to the other names like Niche, Fuel, Foose, and US Mag,
and as support began to grow around Rotiform,
so did its connection to the roots of motorsport,
more show scenes, and more, with Rotiform eventually
taking on forged monoblock capabilities, race partnerships
with the likes of Ferrari, and much more.
A few years later, the growth of Rotiform, underneath MHT,
along with its other brands, would catch the eye
of Wheel Pros, an even larger aftermarket wheel conglomerate
that has decades of experience in the wheel industry.
It's like, da, dada, dada, you know what I'm saying?
Ultimately leading to a secondary purchase a few short years
after, where Rotiform now lives
without any signs of really slowing down.
In fact, they have more supply chain nerds
over there that are helping out. Now over the past year
and into this year, Rotiform is introducing forged
in a box monoblock program, even more designs,
badass partnerships for people like Hoonigan and Ken Block,
and showing up on the Motorsport scenes
with another extension of their partnership with Ferrari.
It's a pretty cool thing that they're doing when you think
about where they came from just a decade ago.
And there's a lot of good things going for Rotiform.
So why do people more recently seem to see Rotiform
with a little dust in their eye?
Well, because of their beginnings, and the fact
that Rotiform has looked at OEM designs for inspiration
makes enthusiasts question their integrity.
But that's where I think a lot of times
people just get it wrong.
Both Jason and Brian H are individuals that have been
in the scene for a long time.
And when looking at why Rotiform started,
it wasn't at the intention of just cashing a check,
but offering something that just didn't exist yet
for an industry that they were in
because they were car people.
And to be fair, it really didn't.
There wasn't another company as successful or as available
as Rotiform with their initial wheel offerings.
The OEM designs were never going to be made
in an aftermarket platform spec.
And certainly not in any other color besides silver.
And in addition, Rotiform wasn't really stealing marketshare
from Lamborghini when they were making an 18x8.5" +40.
And that reason exists
across multiple different design elements.
But you'll see on occasion from Rotiform,
and other brands like it. the Fuchs wheel will never be made
in a 20x14 with a reverse slip and triple polish
that still manages the stay under 35 pounds.
It just won't. And Foose, isn't going to do it.
A motorsports company won't do it,
but people with an RWB want it,
and Rotiform knows how to design it and make it better.
Wheel designs will always be an interesting discussion
because you have OGs that will ostracize anything
that isn't a 40 year old SSR wheel,
even though they have no idea that those 15-owner
hand-me-down wheels that have been re powdered eight times
have the same structural integrity as a paper straw,
And the only thing left original on the actual wheel's
probably the faces, because people change
out lips all god damn time.
But because it's old people think it's the best,
and anything that's shared even one tiny resemblance
is a rep, and that's just not it.
As companies like Rotiform
push out the boundaries of the standard,
especially in the past decade,
they've sped up the innovation and the competition
of wheel companies like we desperately needed to,
otherwise we wouldn't have competition.
Rotiform's history is filled with interesting moments
of innovation, from their unique perspective
on their first designs, and a need
in the marketplace that people didn't know existed,
to their brief time of rebarrelling, refurnishing
and repairing old wheels that you couldn't get anywhere
in the world, which was actually a thing for a little bit.
And to their growth into the three-piece wheel market,
and custom build-to-order program that took the market
by storm for people that wanted that.
And then it ultimately goes into their racing series.
Their multiple acquisitions,
and now even a potential American-made line of wheels.
Rotiform has done anything, but really slowed down.
And while not many know this without Rotiform spearheading
like the SoCal growth of wheel offerings
in the early 2010s, one would probably argue
that the Euro scene and its involvement
in the States wouldn't be as strong as it is today
as Rotiform's growth has not only been in the United States,
but more predominantly, and way more popularly, in Europe.
And if that doesn't speak to their brand, when the location
of who they are and who they sell to is more popular
in the place that their honed design elements come from,
I don't know what the to tell you, okay?
Personally, the OZR I think
will always be my favorite Rotiform wheel. That's just me.
I don't know, to tell ya.
And I will always appreciate their commitment
to providing entry level wheels,
the high end wheels for those people that want them.
And even though some of them
can be a little chunk for weight,
their intention is built to captivate style and form,
and they absolutely crush that.
And, on the same token,
of them going to introduce this monoblock in a box program,
they're probably gonna make
super lightweight one piece wheels as well.
What do you think about Rotiform wheels?
Let us know below, and if you're looking
for aftermarket wheels, tires, or suspension,
be sure to hit us up over at fitmentindustries.com.
If you're looking for a forged wheel, we have that too,
just hit us up through email or give us a call.
And let us know what you'd like to see us talk about next
if you're interested in the comment section below
I'm Alex for fitment industries, and we will see you later.
Peace.
(upbeat rock music)