Quote:
Originally Posted by dizzariot
...yeah I don't know what the fuck is up with American companies that make forged wheels. Brada, HRE, ADV.1...does it really cost so much in the US that the prices have to be exponentially more than a set of BNIB, 'store-priced' Volks from your local vendor? I honestly don't know. If it's all mark-up that's pretty lame.
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It's funny you mention those brands, cause one of the companies you mentioned might as well be Chinese if you catch my drift.
Well, for one thing. A good amount of Japanese wheels aren't forged, they're cast. Most of the higher end companies in the US multipiece market are forged. Some aren't and sort of ride the wave and get away with charging stupid prices bc Americans are easily fooled by marketing. I'll get to that.
Then, there's concave forged multipiece wheels like someone mentioned earlier being exorbinantly priced. A concave face requires more metal and tooling time. Then there are intricate face designs which require extra tooling time. Most wheels are made by a third party. You usually pay a flat fee per set with a set amount of tooling time but then pay $x.xx/min thereafter. So that is usually factored into the price. A lot of popular Japanese wheels are relative simple from a CAD standpoint.
Finishes are also a major factor. Most people ordering fancy US wheels from me usually opt for premium finishes whereas I sell pretty much all my JDM wheels in standard finishes. Maybe upgraded hardware on occasion. Even if I offer someone a standard finish 90% similar to what they want, they want want to go the whole 9. A lot of these companies outsource their finishing (you'd be suprised, some of these companies literally don't even physically touch their wheels lol) so if they outsource, that company is marking it up, now the wheel company is too.
Back to marketing. People start a lot of these companies as of late because the market is expanding and although we don't necessarily see it reflected on zilvia so much, more people are willing to drop $5k+ on a set of wheels than 20 years ago. Very few companies want to spend $2k+ per set to just sell them for $3k. The companies that do own their own equipment OR probably get their faces cut overseas. At that point why not just get the rim halves there too if they aren't already? Lol. Just offer premium finishes as standard and have some pretty designs and nobody will be the wiser.
So...sometimes it's markup, sometimes it's legitimate, and sometimes it's a legitimate markup. I'd go more in depth but 1. my friend just got here and 2. I don't want to burn any bridges lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaby2089
It is all mark-up. US forged wheels aren't any stronger or lighter than Ray's
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It's not so much strength, it's the cost to manufacture.