Whats wrong with Rota's?

[Thirty-Nine]

Originally Posted by Nagoya_TRD.

It's true, some OEM manufacturers IN THE PHILIPINES used Rota as oem wheels. Simple reason for this: OEM products are designed to cut costs. They are not supposed to be nice and were never designed to be pushed (all the manufacturers who used rota as oem wheels used them on economy cars). These Rota wheels were never designed to be used on hard sports cars. Rota was a local company that was dirt cheap that would suffice for these OEM applications and maximize the profit for the big car manufacturers.

That is the main reason why most oem "alloy wheels" are gravity or low pressure cast.

Did Nissan ever use Rota for their OEM skyline GT-R wheels? No, they used BBS.

Does Mitsubishi use Rota for their OEM EVOLUTION wheels? No, They use BBS and Enkei.

Does Nissan use Rota for their Nismo 350Z, Nismo 370Z, 370Z, and R35 GT-R wheels? No, they use Rays engineering.

You're 100% right. And when I'm shelling out that kind of money for a car, I would expect it to have BBS, Volks, Enkei, and such kinds of wheels. But you just said it in bold above. Like I said, a low-pressure, gravity-cast aluminum wheel is going to be fine for most people, and that includes most Yaris owners. Most people putting custom wheels on their cars are driving them to work, to the grocery store, and such. I'd bet the number of wheels that get pushed to limits where a forged wheel would actually make a difference are less than 1%, and probably even less so on a Yaris.

[Nagoya_TRD.]

Originally Posted by Thirty-Nine

You're 100% right. And when I'm shelling out that kind of money for a car, I would expect it to have BBS, Volks, Enkei, and such kinds of wheels. But you just said it in bold above. Like I said, a low-pressure, gravity-cast aluminum wheel is going to be fine for most people, and that includes most Yaris owners. Most people putting custom wheels on their cars are driving them to work, to the grocery store, and such. I'd bet the number of wheels that get pushed to limits where a forged wheel would actually make a difference are less than 1%, and probably even less so on a Yaris.

Even then, not all wheels are round. Each manufacturer has a different casting procedures, and strengths for the materials that they use. Using Rotas to putt around town is different from using Rotas for "driving". A cast racing dynamics or enkei wheel is not going to have the same strength as a Konig/XXR/Rota wheel.

When i shell out cash to "upgrade" my wheels, i want an UPGRADE, not something that is the same as the OEM wheels, just with a different LOOK. Just my .02

But, i think this thread pretty much explains why most serious performance teams/drivers/owners don't really care much rotas for performance.

[Thirty-Nine]

Originally Posted by Nagoya_TRD.

Even then, not all wheels are round. Each manufacturer has a different casting procedures, and strengths for the materials that they use. Using Rotas to putt around town is different from using Rotas for "driving". A cast racing dynamics or enkei wheel is not going to have the same strength as a Konig/XXR/Rota wheel.

When i shell out cash to "upgrade" my wheels, i want an UPGRADE, not something that is the same as the OEM wheels, just with a different LOOK. Just my .02

But, i think this thread pretty much explains why most serious performance teams/drivers/owners don't really care much rotas for performance.

And I concur. When I upgraded from my steel wheels to my 15" Maxxims (Konigs) they were alloys instead of steel, and weighed significantly less than my steel wheels.

And you're right: Rota and other inexpensive wheels are fine for putt-putting around town, which is what most wheels see.

If I were building a serious race car, I'd invest in a set of higher quality wheels; no doubt about it. Until then, my orange Maxxims work just fine.