I recently had to buy a new wheel due to a bent/damaged wheel. I saw an offer too good on ebay and took it. The ebay company claims that the wheel is an OEM wheel that had cosmetic damage and was refinished (no structural damage).

The first 3 pics are of the old wheel and the last two are the ebay wheel. The differences:

1) The new wheel does not have the OEM marking on the outter rim opposite of the stem. It seems as if the new wheel is made in CHINA.
2) The markings and design of the back of the spokes are slightly different.
3) The new wheel weighs about 1.5 lbs more than the other wheel (tested on a bathroom scale).

Were RX8 wheels ever manufactured in China? Did I get taken advantage of?

FS

 

I remember reading something about these wheels a while ago, but from what I remember they defiently are not OEM wheels I think they even looked a little different on the front.

 

The only difference in the front is that there is no OEM stamp like my old wheel. Other than that, I cannot tell any difference.

FS

 

Those are knock offs. I too remember hearing about those. I just snapped these of some OEM wheels I have the garage. None of the spokes have anything stamped except one spoke that has this DOT stamp:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9krpmrx8/5548491977/
But if you cannot tell well........... Just hope you didn't pay full price. I would demand a partial refund.

 

How bad are these knock-offs? Ever hear stories of them failing on track days?

FS

 

I have never heard of any horror stories. As long as they balance ok you should be ok.

 

Definitely a fake, I used to work in an alloy wheel shop about a year ago. Strength-wise, it will be fine. You'd have to be giving it an insane amount of abuse on a track to worry about the strength. Depending on the aluminium content (cheap wheels have less), chances are it's more likely to crack from pot-holes. The genuine wheels seem very robust against impacts, chinese rims like this are almost always very soft.

 

Just so you know, there are two subtly distinct versions of the 18" OEM wheel that look different from the rear. One is made by Hitachi (and is marked with a circled 'H', as can be seen on OP's photos) and the other by U-Mold (marked with a stylised 'UM', where the 'U' merges with the 'M'). The Hitachi ones have the waffle-iron-style pattern on the back of the spokes, and the others don't.

Ages ago I bought a used set, and when cleaning them up I noticed they were a mixed set, which is what got me curious to do some research.

I believe both the Hitachi and U-Mold wheels were both product of Japan. Although, it may be possible that some U-Mold wheels were made in USA, as they were/are part of a larger company (Ube Machinery Corporation Ltd.) that had a wheel factory in the US, but which I think was sold off not too long ago.

So, no, I don't believe any of this style of OEM wheel to have been made in China.

 

Thanks guys. I ended up returning the wheel and getting one that I believe is genuine. The center hub backing is a little different in that more material is shaved out of the indentations next to the bolt holes (if that makes sense).

FS