- Hey guys, what's going on?
It's Alex from Fitment Industries
and today we are going to be talking about
something that's a little bit controversial.
Now, there are a few things in the car community
that people tend to get a little bit feisty about.
rota in general
So, today we decided to talk about it
because there's really nothing else to do
cause Wisconsin just got 18 inches of snow.
So, before we dive into this
the first thing that we want to talk about and cover
are the definitions
because a lot of people confuse
almost every single definitions in terms of
fake, rep, real, and everything in between.
So first and foremost would probably be just fake wheels
and what we kind of define fake wheels is
that it's an exact copy of another wheel,
there's no margin for error,
there's no adjustments to the design,
there's no adjustments to the lip or anything like that.
It is a straight on copy that is attempting
to be another wheel.
So, second up we have the rep wheel.
Now, replica, I know sounds bad,
but just hear me out because it is kind of a step up
from being just an overall fake wheel.
In our eyes, a replica wheel would be
something that is taking inspiration
or design cues from an original wheel
and then twisting it into their own way
to actually re-publicize it, repost it, re-promote it,
and then sell it as their own wheel.
Now, this is where that whole line in the sand
can get a little hazy
because there are a lot of wheels out there
that borderline between being a replica wheel
and being just an all around fake wheel
and it can be tough to decipher.
Now, I just want to say that
I don't like it when people make
an entire company a rep company.
So, a lot of times there's a lot of companies
that have been founded off of
taking inspiration from another wheel.
There's not a lot of wheel companies, if any,
out there that started making wheels
with their own original designs,
almost every single one started as
a copy of a previous wheel that's come out in the past.
For instance, one example would be Rotiform.
Rotiform has taken inspiration
from their original Lamborghini wheel
to actually found the Rotiform company and brand.
Now, Rotiform is not a rep company
because that's blanketing
every single wheel that they produce out there to date
and the line really doesn't get drawn there.
There's a lot of international companies
that also take designs from other manufacturers,
put their twist on it and then sell it
to another domestic or international market.
ENKEI is a brand that's done that in the past.
There have been other brands out there that have done it
just to test to see if the design would do well
in the market segment and if it does
they'll actually put a further twist on the wheel
and then resell it and rebrand it
for that specific market,
and finally we have the real wheels.
These are the static three piece, multi-piece, stance guys
that are talking a whole bunch of smack on the internet
every single time they see a ROTA Grid get posted
or something of that.
Now when we talk about real wheels,
we're talking about companies like Work,
RAYS, Volk, Avant Garde,
companies like that that have their own original designs,
their own original quality control,
their all original reliability and testing,
and rigidity testing, and manufacturing plant,
and they have history, they have heritage behind the brand.
So there's a difference between
what we've talked about in the past
and what we've talked about now
because the real wheels kind of have their own history,
they're kind of the like the cool kids on the block,
they're the seniors in high school,
they're the ones that you want to go to
when it comes to going to a fraternity party.
(record scratch)
I can't believe I just called it a fraternity party,
it'd be called a frat party,
but you can tell how many I went to,
and real wheels are just what they say they are,
they're original, a lot of their designs weren't copied
or mimicked from anybody
because they were there when the thing first began,
they're the aftermarket original company.
But, that's not always the case,
there are original wheel companies
that have taken designs in the past,
but for the most part, they mostly stick to themselves.
A lot of their wheel brand is pretty much similar
in what they make, create, maintain, and test,
because it's just what they know
and they know that it works.
So what makes a wheel real?
Three things, in our eyes.
I would say, the design aesthetic,
the actually integrity of the wheel,
and the company's reputation.
So the first one would be design.
Now, there's only so many ways
that you can make a single five spoke
or double five spoke wheel.
I'm sorry, it's just the way that it is
and it'll continue to be that way forever.
But, how can you make it different
where you're adding step lifts, or concavity,
or different material, or colors, or sizing
to make it unique to what you're trying to sell
as a wheel company.
So, there are companies out there that already do that.
Rota is one of those companies
where they take a look at a design
and they try to change it at least 20 percent
before redistributing it and reselling it
and we can see how well that's going for them.
I would say 50 percent of the wheel needs to be different,
overall design aesthetic,
whether that's with step lifts, designs, rigidity testing,
things like that, colors, twists,
and all that sort of stuff,
that's really going to make a wheel original
or just different
and a lot of wheel companies are trying to get to that point
and obviously with simple designs
you can only do it so many ways,
but, it's something that you just have to fight
when you're looking at becoming an original wheel company.
The second thing is going to be the integrity of the wheel.
Now if you don't know,
there are certain designs that work very, very well
when the wheel is forged,
but forging wheels is much different than low pressure cast,
or just gravity cast wheels,
so when you're looking at a design
that's been replicated or copied in a forging matter
and it's then put into a low pressure cast or gravity cast,
you can actually have a very dangerous side effect
of having non-safe wheels
because the technique
on producing that specific wheel for forging
is a lot different than if the material
is just gravity cast or low pressure cast.
So when we talk about integrity of the wheel
we're talking about the reliability,
we're talking about the safety,
we're talking about how is the wheel made,
the strength of the wheel,
what sort of testing has the wheel gone through,
all sorts of reliability and just overall testing because
it doesn't matter if you have an expensive wheel
if the wheel in fact is garbage.
But, if you have a wheel that you can look at,
that looks different more than 50 percent,
that has integrity,
that's gonna really hold on to what you're suppose to do
and it's not gonna break, it's not gonna bend,
it's not gonna do anything bad
while you're just going up and down the road,
then, we're almost there.
But, the last one that probably matters the most
to a lot of people, is the company's reputation.
So, you might be wondering why
is the company's reputation important
in terms of making a wheel real.
Well, it's the same reason
that when XXR came out with their own
single fully-forged wheel, nobody trusted it.
It's the same reason that ESR can sometimes have troubles
with launching their new rotary forged line,
because it's ESR.
The company reputation is huge in this game,
especially when it comes down to who they're selling to.
A lot people that are selling and buying
after market wheels are the younger crowd.
The brand loyalty is severe.
If a company's reputation is that of quality,
is that of standards,
is that of having good quality control,
and listening to it's customer base,
and has great customer service,
and has great response rate.
Those are good things for a company
because it shows that they care about
who they're selling to.
If a company doesn't have any of that
or a company just is really, really bad at it,
it really doesn't matter if the wheel itself is good
or if the integrity of the wheel is good as well,
because you're not gonna get the wheel in the first place.
We've seen companies like Art in Motion and WCI
sometimes have troubles with those sort of wheel problems
just because of the service aspect of the entire community.
So, why does that matter?
Well, because if you don't have the first two
you're probably not gonna get the third,
if you don't have the second two,
you're probably not gonna get the first.
It's just how it works,
but there's a lot of other fake wheels out there that exist
solely just to look like the original wheel,
but instead of it being a rep
like most people would say,
fake wheels are exactly trying to replicate
or copy the original wheel manufacturer's design
with the center cap and all.
But, that's our case on what makes a wheel real.
Let us know what you think in the comments
if you agree or disagree.
It's probably already on fire down there,
but I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
Let us know what you would like to see next,
but we'll see you later, peace.