Rota vs Namebrand ie Expensive!!

[fatalbertswrx]

what are the actual differences in quality or performance between rotas and say OZs or Volk or RAYS. i have seen a lot of flaming over this and was wondering what makes the ROTAS so inferior to other wheels. ???

[mourning_air]

That's a good question...they seem light and well priced. I have seen this picture though....

[RLsChMiDt]

cast wheels vs. forged wheels...

rota is a cast wheel...why most expensive wheels are forged, or semi forged...

forged wheels are lighter, and stronger than cast wheels

[fatalbertswrx]

ok cast and forged i understand that now

but how about how hard is it to really break one of these things if you dont wreck or hit some 10inch pothole in the road doing 80?

[schischwein]

Many true motorsport brand wheels are in fact cast(albeit, pressure casting or vacuum or what not...eg OZ P1s, Superleggera, etc). In rallying, commonly wheels are cast rather than forged.

[ryland]

Originally posted by fatalbertswrx
ok cast and forged i understand that now

but how about how hard is it to really break one of these things if you dont wreck or hit some 10inch pothole in the road doing 80?

The answer to that question is "pretty darn hard". There have been several isolated incidents with certain batches of Rota wheels breaking during hard use. Rota always stands behind their product, and offers a free replacement set if your wheels break due to a manufacturing defect. Some people are really hard on Rota just because they are inexpensive wheels. It's not like BBS wheels, or other comparable expensive wheels dont break from time to time either. I trust Rota, and will be purchasing a set for my Rex next spring if my funds permit.

[fatalbertswrx]

yea i see what you mean by even bbs wheels break from time to time but i like quality products but my wallet cant afford the best so i do lots of research on things i buy for my car so i just wanted a few opinions on rotas before i made my mind up so there is nothing bad about this wheel besides they are not forged and they are not 3 grand?

is that guarantee for life or just for manufacturer defects?

[ryland]

Originally posted by fatalbertswrx
yea i see what you mean by even bbs wheels break from time to time but i like quality products but my wallet cant afford the best so i do lots of research on things i buy for my car so i just wanted a few opinions on rotas before i made my mind up so there is nothing bad about this wheel besides they are not forged and they are not 3 grand?

is that guarantee for life or just for manufacturer defects?

I'm not 100% sure about the details of the Rota warranty. All I know is that when some people broke some sub-zeros and some attacks, they were MORE than willing to replace the whole set.

There is really nothing wrong with Rota's. Sure they may be replicas, sure they may be slightly heavier than the real thing, sure they may not say Volk on them. But they are good wheels if you are like me and don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a new wheel/tire setup. If I had unlimited funds, of course I would buy something different, but on a tight budget, you cannot go wrong with Rota.

[dookiebob]

I would NEVER trust Rota or their wheels. Yes, they have possibly the best customer service in the industry... however, they have had much more than one or a few isolated events of breakage.


















Rota may have the best customer service in the world, but their quality control is suspect, at best.

Basically, what it comes down to is: do you trust these wheels with your life? Because one incident of wheel breakage on a twisty mountain road or even a freeway overpass = death

-Bob

PS: some reading material:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...highlight=rota

and a search on "rota failure": http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sear...der=descending

[Osiris]

I like Rota.. I have put my rotas through hell and they are perfectly fine. Awesome deal for the wheel

I seriously cant imagine you breaking my rotas. I have autox/rallyx/ and done some VERY hard turns on them. He is right about their customer service though. They are incredible.

For the price... you cant beat it (or break it)

/rant

[Verdugo]

My take on things, with a little twist...

Rota makes GREAT wheels for the money. However, if you're trying to win car shows with them, forget it...they're not show-winning wheels. Big brand names will win shows a lot more often than wheels like Rotas, simply because they're knock-offs of more expensive wheels.

Performance-wise, for the most part they're on par with more expensive wheels. As noted, their quality control is a little suspect, but I would still buy Rotas over any other company that creates knock-offs, such as Konig, ADR, or Motegi. Rota stands buy their products and has a history of replacing defective wheels for free.

My opinion is biased however, since I'm mostly anti-knock-off. But, if you're on a budget and you don't mind having knock-offs, you absolutely cannot beat Rotas in quality and performance. Despite some quality control issues, all other companies that make knock-offs don't come anywhere near Rotas in my opinion.

To sum it up...

Pros: Cheap, relatively light-weight, strong for cast wheels, best knock-offs you can buy

Cons: Knock-offs, quality control is suspect, everyone and their mom has them on their WRX

[fatalbertswrx]

konig = knock offs?? interesting but you are right about everyone and their mom having rotas on their rex but i still like that price because yes i am on a tight budget

[dark_rex]

i would trust rota as much as any other major wheel manufacturer.

rota's have had two defective sets in three years, and both were caught very early.

there's nothing to worry about.

dR

[KanosWRX]

I've actually used 3 sets of rota's over the past year, Tarmac's, SDR's, and Formels. I haven't had a problem with any of them. Right now I am on Rota Formels and they look pretty tough. I even went off the road with Rota Tarmacs. The tire came off the front wheel to give an example of the impact they were taking. And the rear lateral link was bent like a U. But the Tarmacs held up and I didn't see any problem but scratces on them. Would I buy a 4th set of Rota's, hell yeah. But I am still dreaming of 18" Gold P1's Lots of money and weight though.

[fatalbertswrx]

18 inch P1s are great.

so does anyone know the weight specs on some of the 17s and 18s?? preferrably subzeros, formels, or the attacks