Wheel search frustration

Eothain

Eothain

Rider of Rohan
Premium
Car
2011 FX35 AWD
I'm looking into getting new wheels... probably 22" when it's all said and done, but still entertaining 20". 21's are out in my mind just because of the lack of real good tire options. I've got the front aero and am going to buy the rest of the kit this week. I don't have any immediate plans to drop it, and the camber issue has me somewhat hesitant. Very interested in a BBK, but I have no idea how much that costs and was going to get into that later.

Problem is, I'm coming up with nothing that's really doing anything for me. I guess I'm picky, and with the amount of cash involved, I'd like to get it done the right way, the first time.

I've gone through countless threads here, looked at garage pictures, searched Google images, but I feel like I see the same 20 wheel designs regurgitated over and over by every wheel company out there. It feels like it's easier to tell someone what I don't like than what I do, from all the choices out there.

The Forestar F14's are nice, but I don't want to wait forever for those. The Enkei GTC01 are pretty sweet, but wondering if I can find something better. Vossen's are played out and tend to be too straight of lines. With an "11 I still have the wave grill, and I feel a lot of the wheels out there with the big straight lines go better with the '12 grill.

I found these today, and I really thought these were perfect, until I saw the price.
http://www.nicheroadwheels.com/concourse-a320-w-3516.htm


I've looked at a few shops locally, but it feels like they only want to push the wheels and tires they carry.

Just a lot to weigh and I feel like banging me head on my desk. Sorry for the rant, just wondering if anyone else has gone through this and what helped them out? Thanks!
 
Vossens? Played out, he said? Lines are too straight, he said? Where's my shank? :rotfl:
 
I agree with Vossens being played out, def don't go with Vossens. Everywhere you look all you see is Vossens, Vossens and Vossens so it doesn't really stand out to me no more. The forgestars are a nice looking wheel but for the price you can't go wrong with Niche wheels. They have other monoblock designs that are cheaper. The link you posted those are 3 piece wheels. All 3 piece forged wheels are going to be super expensive. If your looking for something diff, then get ready to pay an arm and a leg.

---------- Post added at 04:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 PM ----------

By the way if your interested in the Enkei GTC wheels in 20's pm GEE50FX as I think he was thinking to sell his if I'm not mistaken.
 
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What's your budget? Keep in mind that there are only so many styles of wheel possible; they all have to be round and have spokes. And really, you're limited to 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 spoke wheels for the most part. Then they offer split spoke variations on those spoke counts and mesh styles. Most of the cheaper cast wheels are made overseas so those have to be bought in high volume and no one is going to make a custom design for a small order run. That's why so many wheels look the same. For forged wheels, they all have the exact same manufacturing process - buy a blank face and put it on a mill, then bolt it to off the shelf barrels. The reason forged wheels typically have such straight spokes is that it's cheaper to cut. When you run a CNC mill, the cost is based on time so the longer a wheel takes to mill, the higher the cost. It's a lot faster to mill a straight spoke than a curved one. It's also a lot faster to machine sharp edges than rounded ones. If you look, most forged wheels with CNC faces have very sharp edges which in my opinion actually looks great. It would take a lot more machine time to round the edges or machine curved spokes. It can be done, there are lots of styles like this. But the cost is way out there, if you get a quote on an HRE with a lot of curves like the 790, the cost is like $8K for 20"s which is a lot more than most forged wheel companies charge for their designs.

Another reason wheels all look the same is that a lot of the companies are related. MHT makes Niche and several other brands / Asanti and Lexani are the same / Iforged is Forgestar / 360 Forged became ADV.1 / and so on. A lot of the custom forged wheel makers are just small time marketing shops that buy their parts and pretty much assemble. So every one of them has the same designs; then if they get into financial trouble, shut it down and start over with a new name like ADV.1.

Sorry for the long winded response, I went through similar frustrations. I think where you should start is to identify the type of wheel you like, 5 spoke, 7 spoke, mesh, concave, lip, etc. Then find wheels in that style. For example, if you like the Forgestar F14, it's just a 7 spoke mesh wheel. You can find similar wheels from VMR, TSW, or Ace at moderate pricing. Or if you want high end, HRE, MORR, ADV.1, and many others all make multipiece forged wheels. Just look up 7 spoke mesh wheels, you'll see.

If you like the Enkei GTC01, Rays makes pretty much an identical wheel. I think it's more expensive though.
 
Again as others pointed out depends on budget, but if you go on AvantGarde's website they have a lot of wheel designs, and they will do anything custom you want with regards to fit and finish.

It all comes down to cost though, your talking anywhere in the range of $5k-$10k for a set of wheels, more perhaps if you want something crazy like Neochrome lips, or whatever.

I can see AG becoming a big name in wheels as we move forward, they have put a lot of time and marketing into their stuff, and the end product is nothing short of phenomenal. The company reminds me of vossen when their CV1, CV2 and CV3 lines first came out and they started to become popular.

The difference I see between AG and Vossen however is that AG has a full line of products from cast monoblocks all the way to forged 3 piece, right from the get go. Whereas Vossen still isn't making multipiece forged...
 
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It takes a loooong time to search for wheels if you want it done right...it took me about a year before I decided on a set I really wanted. I feel your pain!!
 
i felt the pain too. some on here might know. i originally had a low budget and i was picking from the niche sport and ag cast lineup. i love the concave mesh design and in my budget choices were all limited and the ones i wanted from niche were on backorder until next year or something. then i had my mind settled on savini's bm4s i called to order them just to figure out they were discontinued. thats when i went to wekfest and found many forgestar f14 wheels. they were on rocketbunny gt86 to evos to 997 porsches. they really looked great on a lot of cars. i finally ordered them in the size and offset i wanted and after 8 weeks i have the wheels now. keep in mind that this searching process happened over 4 months. the worst thing to do when buying wheels is to feel rushed. take your time to find and reputable and honest dealer and find the wheel thats right for you. there are so many wheels out there now that its hard to find the exact one you want. and you should check out savinis black di forza lineup. those wheels are pretty dope and they do custom bolt pattern and offset like forgestar but they dont take forever to machine.



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