Replica wheels - peoples experiences with owning them

[Wheatley173]

I posted something similar to this a while a go, but today I noticed that one of my tyres was low, so after inspection I have found that one of my alloys has a slight crack which I imagine is the cause

A few weeks a go I was considering getting my wheels refurbished as they are in need, but I was also considering replacing with replica wheels of the same type, which wouldn't have cost me any more, but I decided to stick with genuine and refurb

Now I have a cracked alloy I need to consider replacing with a second hand wheel, which will cost about £200, plus then later on refurb them all at an additional £200.

I'm lucky to be in a position where I can get brand new replica wheels for less than this, but I do generally prefer oem.

Another benefit would be that I could also keep the genuine wheels and have them for spares if I get replicas

So I want to know what peoples experiences are of owning replicas. I'm not really interested in what people's opinions on them are from some one who hasn't actually lived with them as I am sure I will just get a response like budget tyres would get.

I have been told to avoid getting the wheel repaired as the welds do not generally hold.

The car is a bmw e90 m sport and the wheels are mv3's which I've been told are common for cracking.

Thanks for your thoughts

[djgritt]

I've been running 19" BBS CH Reps on my Vectra VXR since Spring 2012.

They have been fine, and I've not had any concerning issue with them in that time.

I've used them for both road & track use, and used to live on a farm with an unpaved driveway - I mention these, as the car is a heavy one, and 19s don't have thick tyres fitted - I've not experienced any cracking or distortion atall even with significantly potholed surfaces and high/low speed use & direction changes.

The only issue I had with them was the polished lips didn't withstand corrosion greatly, so I got a few of the wriggly white lines on the polished surface. They've been refurbished now, so that's no longer an issue.

[Paddymcc]

18" Replica BBS LM fitted to a Passat for 20k miles and they were perfect apart from the polished lip corroding but that would probably happen to any polished rim. No cracks, bends or buckles.

19" Genuine Mercedes AMG wheels fitted to my CLS and I had 4 cracked rims, some by the previous owner with some welded areas cracking again and some by myself. Now onto another set of the same wheels I gradually picked up on ebay, hopefully these last longer!

[ging84]

i'm not really sure what you are expecting people to tell you, it really depends on what you buy. You can buy some cheap replicates that are not even the same size as the wheels they are a copy of and will not look great, may well be heavier, the finish not matching the original colour and will bubble with corrosion, and be much more likely to buckle or crack due to impact than an oem wheel. But you can also get very expensive competition wheels which at least one will almost certainly would be cracked or buckled after 5-6 years day to day use because they is not what they were designed for, yet a reasonable replicate of those wheels at a much lower price, may well last far longer on the road because that is what it's designed for.

[milu]

Over the years I've had dozens of sets of wheels.
I've rarely found a difference between OEM or aftermarket in terms of strength/durability.
I did have some genuine Nismo wheels which were nice and light but the outer edge was not very durable so not really better than cheaper ones overall.
Many OEM wheels are prone to cracking etc

[kev b]

In my experience replica wheels are at least as strong as oem ones but are considerably heavier.

One car had a set of rep. 19" M3 rims which were incredibly heavy, I weighed them in as scrap and recieved more than they would have made as wheels.

Five years 50K miles later the 18" reps I replaced them with, whilst heavier than oem are still in good condition, no cracks or dents, the finish has started to flake one one. The OEM centres do not fit properly so I had to mess about sticking genuine badges to the fake caps when the cheapo badges fell off.

A friend had some massive replica AMG rims on his Mercedes S class, these were also very heavy but looked superb, he refitted the standard rims that came with the car and found the ride and handling loads better.

I would say that replicas are ok until you go above 18", then they seem to be made very heavy possibly to stop the cheaper, heavier material from cracking.

Another thing I have noticed is that on some cars that have a steel wheel option, the steels are lighter than the oem alloys never mind replicas.

[hornetrider]

The only replica wheels I've had were a set of RS6 reps fitted to my old Bora back in the day. Had no problems whatsoever.

[londonbabe]

I've got replica 8 hole Mercedes alloys on my W124 and they aren't all that great.
One loses pressure, there is a vibration at high speed and they need different bolts as the seats are a different depth and profile. I'd prefer it if the previous owner had kept the originals.

[Adam_W]

Bought my 5 series with replica M5 alloys on (sticker on the rim revealed when tyre removed said replica made in Italy) they looked ok, but corroded very fast and were out of shape, getting a lot of vibration, replaced with some genuine BMW alloys and it was like a different car!

[V8RX7]

Essentially the difference is varying quality.

Obviously it depends who made them - which is usually hard to find out.

It used to be that Italian copies were thought to be ok but Chinese weren't, but it's not as simple as that.

Frequently the copies are made of inferior alloy so they are heavier - albeit with BMW wheels that's hard to achieve as they are ridiculously heavy but many of the Jap OEMs are very light and also strong

[aka_kerrly]

Funny how this thread appears to be less brutal than the chap who dared to ask about refurbishing a replica Rolex the other day!!!

OP if you buy replica wheels accept that often they are cheaper, heavier and the paint/finish doesn't tend to last as long as the real deal.

If you buy replica BBS RM/RS/LM there are people out there who will want to crucify you if you dare try and pass them off as real and actually being splits.

[Wheatley173]

To be honest, I don't really mind what people opinions are of me for buying replicas. The way I see it is just an alternative to buy a replacement genuine wheel. The only reason I am considering is due to the split. These wheels seem common for splitting on the genuine ones, so buying a new replacement at £200 which will need refurbished, each time a split happens. So it shows that the standard manufactures standards are not living up to the task. So perhaps giving a replica a go, might actually be an improvement and if they are not, it's certainly cheaper to replace.

I will keep my old wheels, so I can always rerun to genuine if they don't work out

[V8RX7]

Personally I'd take a look on the forums / Ebay and buy one - or a set and sell the others off individually.

[NashGT]

My old E46 coupe came fitted with 19" BBS LM replicas, the fella had fitted genuine BBS centre caps and was very hard to tell them apart from a genuine set.

Never bothered me and never had any problems with them

[HertsBiker]

So you have rubbish oem wheel, and you are thinking of replacing with a newer oem wheel? Just get the replicas. I bet they come out of the same factory.

[daveofedinburgh]

Had some rather heinous 'Inovit' replicas on my mkiv Supra on purchase. They looked OK with their bronze finish, but the offset was wrong and they had the massive fail multifit holes, so was time for a change.

I decided to go for a set of those split 3-spoke Advan wheels (again replicas), which looked absolutely spot on with the correct branding etc. They were insanely heavy though, to the point that I was carrying them towards the car to fit them and thinking 'this cant be right'.

Cant say that they made a huge difference to handling with the increased unsprung weight, but the weight difference between those replicas and the genuine wheels must have been big.

I picked the wheels up with decent tyres for a very good price, so was quite happy, and they stood up to abuse/ corrosion very well indeed. The penalty in my limited personal experience seems to be purely in weight.