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Been reading and looking to buy some before winter but just too much out there.....chrome vs. painted, aftermarket vs. from the manufacturer etc. Three basic questions to guide me in the right direction.

1. Top 5 wheel suppliers in terms of quality?

2. Are, say Honda Si wheels, better to get vs. looking at aftermarket? Are wheels by the manufacturer considered to be superior quality?

3. Chrome vs. painted........other than price, which can be huge, what are the advantages/disadvantages of each?

Thanks,
Howard

 
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These questions are really personal opinion, i worked a tire shop for a yer and a half. out of probably 50 sets of wheels i havent seen any that were bad or good. just different looks. but in my opinion these are your answers.
Question 1 American Racing, KMC, Gram Lites, Enkei, Ultra.

Question 2 the more expensive the wheel the better quality. you can get great quality out fo the cheaper wheels to. Honda si wheels are not superior to any other wheel. some major brand makes them and theyll all be the same quality.

Question 3 depends, painted are easier to clean, wont pit, rust or anything like that. chrome will pit, takes more maintence and can rust. but they generally look better.
theres your answers.

 
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I have different thoughts on the top five wheels..... although I agree with questions 2 and 3 as posted above.

Top five wheel manufacturers in my opinion are as follows:
1) Yokohama original wheel design, makers of Advan Racing rims
2) Rays wheels, makers of Volk, G-games, and gram lights.
3) Work wheels
4) Wedsport
5) SSR
other really good manufacturers: Sprint Hart, Racing Hart, Spoon sports, Mugen

You are definitely going to get what you pay for when it comes to wheels. In my opinion, the OEM wheels are completely the opposite. Most manufacturer backed professional racing cars, like the GT live cars, use after market racing rims. I personally would never buy stock rims for performance. Just for the OEM/clean/jdm/funkadelic whatever look.
And thirdly it's just the look. chrome will last just as long as painted if you keep it clean. Painted gives you more options like silver, gunmetal, black, pink friggin whatever color you want. Also, sometimes chrome is heavier. Beacause the cheaper manufacturers just cast a heavy *** rim and chrome it to sell for higher prices. So it's your call.

 
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thanks guys, apprecaite the time you took to answer.

Howard

 
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I ordered a set of these the other day.



6ULs from 949racing.com
*4x100 only
*+36 12.8 lbs equivalent front side spacing to 15x7 +23 offset
*$149 silver/machined, $164 nickel
*Cast, one piece construction
*Double valve
*Big brake clearance, up to 11.75" rotors
*JWL approved

Lightweight 12.9 lb race wheel. One piece cast construction. Double valve design. Silver painted center, machined lip, durable clear coated finish. JWL approved. Fits 195/50, 205/50/ 225/45, 225/50, 245/40 tires. Cap included. Valves not included.

http://949racing.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=5

 
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As stunningly JDM as that answer was..... Neither Spoon nor Mugen make their own wheels. Spoonies are/were made in Russia by Desmond and Mugen wheels are also made out of house, some were by OZ, some by other places. SSR wheels do one thing better than all others... bend. They're some of the softest wheels in existance because of that stupid semi-solid process. Advans are incredibly brittle... so instead of bending, the spokes just crack off. Anyone who pays $500 for a cast rim needs their head examined anyways... so I guess the broken rim lets insurance pick it up.


To the extent of race wheels go.... Enkei, OZ, BBS and Rays make the overwhelming majority of pro wheels, but they make a pretty good proportion of factory wheels too.

Additionally... every single OEM rim is made by a company that makes rims. Just about any german car (and some japanese cars) you buy has a BBS or OZ rim strapped to it, they just dont have the logo, most Japanese cars have rims made by enkei (most honda rims are made by enkei), rays or one of the other jap houses (hart, kosei, etc...). An OEM rim is just an aftermarket rim without a logo (or sometimes with it), but if you look on the back of most rims, it says who made it. As far as never running an OEM wheel for performance purposes.... Sub 10 lb Lotus wheels, Porsche Fuchs, the Ferrari F40 came with Magnesium rims, Evos and Sti's come with Forged BBS wheels, GTi 337s came stock with BBS RCs, and I rest my case. Maybe not a stock 4x100 honda wheel, but there's no reason why you cant use a stocker for performance purposes.

 
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^ That's interesting, still holds true; I learn something new every day. I didn't know that Mugen or Spoon didn't make their own rollers, nor did I know that Advans were brittle. (I'd like to here more about this if you have a source/article, I really liked Advans, and if this were true then it would of course deter me from getting a set. I always thought there were good because I've seen them on a lot of the top circuit cars out there. ) I agree with you when you say there's nothing wrong with using a stock rim for performance, of course as you said, the Lotus, Porsche, or Ferrari rims would be just fine. I think it's safe to say that a good set of aftermarket rims are going to outperform any stocker set of rims we can get to fit our 7th gen right?

I'm just looking for a good set of rims that meet my expectations for asthetics, so hopefully they're out there somewhere.

 
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mugen,work.volk.5zigen and rotas for replicas