Rota Wheels

[keith6110]

You like the Torque better because its cheaper.

Rotas as dream wheel....:door:

Response to Blue8g without cluttering up another member's thread... Open for discussion?



From Sti Forums

I'll just leave this here. Dan from wheeldude posted this on another forum and I thought it'd be fitting for this conversation

There are many misconceptions with Rota wheels, most of the time these are posts made by users with no experience with the wheels. One misconception is Rota wheel weights, most models are actually very light. Rota wheels are cast wheels so they will never be the lightest wheel made, however that doesn't mean they are heavy.. Most new models like the Rota DPT in 17x9 fitment only weigh in at 18 lbs

Another misconception is the strength or overall quality of the wheels. I've seen broken Work, Enkei, Volk, etc.. in all my years modding cars and tracking my car. Any wheel can get damaged given the amount of force however these wheels do not just "grenade" on the track. The majority of our customers are buying Rota wheels for strictly track use and they are very happy with their performance. Also a time attack team who is constantly winning events runs Rota wheels {thumbup}

Quote from GST Owner/Tuner Mike Warfield

"We have smashed burms, jumped the car and done all things brutal we can and we have never hurt a Rota rim ever.

For sure the best wheel for the $ and strong as hell.

Mike"

Rota P45R



Rota Torque R







Another misconception is the amount of R&D that goes in to a Rota wheel. I've been to the Rota plant and seen these wheels produced, tested, etc.. There is definitely a lot of work involved in to making a wheel and money is saved as labor in the Philippines is cheaper and they are a cast wheel so the entire manufacturing process isn't as expensive.

I definitely stand behind these products as I truly believe they are quality wheels. I've ran tons of wheels over the years including Volk, Work, etc.. and I still love Rota wheels and run them daily on my car on the street, on the track, etc.. PAWI (the company that manufactures Rota wheels) has been in business since the 1970's and has been producing quality wheels for a long time. They manufacture a ton of wheels for the OEM markets (Toyota, Ford, Datsun, Isuzu, Mercedes-Benz, VW, etc..). We also visit Rota and fly all the way from the US to the Philippines to attend meetings, review our upcoming wheels, monitor production, etc.. This is a product we believe in and hope you guys can see that


A few pictures from our last trip a few months ago




looking over different wheel finishes for our new releases




no R&D?? please.... every wheel is blue printed, goes through computer simulations for testing, produced, tested on various equipment to ensure all JWL/VIA standards are met, etc..




again you say no R&D? Every new wheel is tested thoroughly to make sure they exceed all JWL/VIA test standards, this alone proves they are strong wheels and can withstand a lot of abuse



Toyota? Yep the largest car manufacture in the world runs Rota's




Rota Wheels, Engineered to perform!

[wetamup2k3g]

Only thing I don't like about Rota is they replicate wheels from other brands. I don't flame folk for having them, but I want the original joints.

[keith6110]

so what is the original Rota torques?? I'm interested to know. I just like the design!

[wetamup2k3g]

Work Emotion Cr Kai



Rota Torque




There's slight differences, but you can see they're almost the same.

Edit: Although much more different, Enkei Racing PF01's look similar too, but they have more ornate lips and the spoke design is different too:

[Dominicano]

All though they are very similar i find that sometimes the originals don't come in a size/offset combo that someone may need in their application. They are all three reputable companies right?(unless you ask blue8g:-) )

[kolio]

I love my rotas,

all companies make similar style wheels. you might call them knock offs, but there are only so many styles of wheels to be made. it's like saying, if a company that first started making mesh wheels is considered the original. Then every company since then who makes them are called knock offs. Including the wheel companies that cost an arm and a leg

The only real difference is forged and multi piece wheels. they are superior


btw with the example greg gave, the biggest difference is where the spokes meet the lip/ barrel. and the spokes have a beveled edge. even evo 9 split 5 spokes look simillar

[wetamup2k3g]

btw with the example greg gave, the biggest difference is where the spokes meet the lip/ barrel. and the spokes have a beveled edge. even evo 9 split 5 spokes look simillar

'tis true:

[G-spot]

A misconception from the younger crowd is when they primarly associate Rotas with Hondas. I dig certain designs but those colored ones?

[Ivory8g]

Before Blue8g comes in with his incessant trolling.

Oh Keith I got you too.

LOL

@Blue8g
Dont come barging into my build thread spouting off at the mouth, why type it? Who cares? Say what you have to say IN YOUR OWN SPACE (aka not in peoples build threads). Why type it? You cant just say it out loud to yourself and let that be good enough? You make yourself out to be a fragile person who seeks attention of others by saying negative things to trigger a response. Positive or negative you dont care its attention.Like your disagreeing with me is REALLY going to change my mind? I suggest you start learning how to keep things to yourself lest you run into someone who isnt tolerable and snaps you in half and shotputs your corpse into the nearest body of water.

On topic:
I like rota's purely for the design. I work at a performance shop and can buy whatever I want at cost brand new. I see Bmw's Porsches, Maserati's, all sorts of luxurious cars that roll around on all sorts of wheels.
I look at wheels like a blind taste test. I put rota grids on my evo x and rolled around on them and people ALWAYS ask what wheels I have. Of course they are super shocked to hear that they are rotas. A car in my area that is considered my X's twin bought Volk Te37's and didnt have center caps yet. same car same color same wheel color same ride height and people like the look of my wheels better. My friend with my cars twin gets enraged everytime he spent so much and people always ask what wheels I have cause they like them better. Explain that then if rotas dont look different. Real world experience trumps hearsay in my experience.

All I know is I've rocked rotas one all of the 8-10 cars I've owned. Drifted,tracked,daily driven, pothole dived, and ran into curbs and not ONE has been ruined. Its up to you if you want to listen to some fool on an ivory tower that spews over glorified CRAP, or you go out and do things yourself and have tried yourself

/end rant

[OMEGA PHX]

Of course I like the original wheels TE37, Advan RS, Work CR Kai's, etc... but they cost alot to buy new and in my case to buy used is nearly impossible, Rota's look pretty close TO ME, If a wheel whore can tell that they aren't real Volks or w/e I don't care good for him I don't want nobody to think they are.

The only thing I would find wrong is if the owner tries to pass them or sell them as the real deal, or when people takes real Volk stickers and puts them on their Grids thats just wrong.

I'll have some rotas in the near future...

[Skyforger]

Seems like Cody still likes to piss people off...

A good portion of my friends have run Rotas on their own cars without much on an issue...hell, a buddy of mine has a set of Rotas on his Lancer GTS for four years now...no issues.

I almost bought a set myself a few years ago, PF45's I believe.

There's a lot of good wheel companies out there, as well as bad ones. People can get real elitist about what brand is good and deem anything else they don't like inferior. Do your research on whatever wheels interest you want, and budget yourself so you're not spending a fortune.

[M-Rod]

Coming from somebody who currently has Rota wheels, I must say I can't find a single complaint with mine. They have no cracks or bends even with my constant abuse that I put my car through. Will I keep them forever? No. Do I plan to get an authentic name brand wheel in the future? Of course! But in the meantime, they have been and most likely will continue to be perfectly fine.

[4g63lover]

FINALLY!!!!! I have been telling people about Rotas for AGES. Maybe it's because I am Filipino and I am proud of a Philippine made product but Rotas have been around for a WHILE and I have never seen them grenade. Only Filipinos will recognize this name, but Richard Gomez Drove his Civic at full speed in Subic and the only thing that didnt grenade were the wheels. All the racecars there run Rotas and dont think for a minute that racecars in the Philippines are any different from racecars here. I remember seeing stock ass Corollas in the Philippines with Rota stamped on the wheels.

[polishmafia]

They say that Rotas are junk, and they crack, explode, kill kittens, etc.

This can happen to ANY rim made by ANY company. My set of Centerline rims that were forged... Well I cracked one. It can happen to any rim. Rota wouldn't have stayed in business if their rims were junk.

And the admin in me has to say this... Keep it civil. I won't let anyone start talking shit. If anyone does, bans will be handed out. I'm not fucking around.

[keith6110]

I love my rotas,

all companies make similar style wheels. you might call them knock offs, but there are only so many styles of wheels to be made. it's like saying, if a company that first started making mesh wheels is considered the original. Then every company since then who makes them are called knock offs. Including the wheel companies that cost an arm and a leg

The only real difference is forged and multi piece wheels. they are superior


btw with the example greg gave, the biggest difference is where the spokes meet the lip/ barrel. and the spokes have a beveled edge. even evo 9 split 5 spokes look simillar

This was exactly my thoughts! It's like buying an exhaust, I don't feel like the namebrand is a knockoff of another namebrand because of it's shape or style. I buy based on how does it sound, or how good do the welds look, or what material was used for muffling. I just wanted some responses oh how wheel you guys thought the wheel was made, design differences, or fitment.

Oh Keith I got you too.

LOL

Lol I know where to go on D-day!

And the admin in me has to say this... Keep it civil. I won't let anyone start talking shit. If anyone does, bans will be handed out. I'm not fucking around.

Just FYI:
I quoted Blue8g from a members project thread regarding the Rota wheels. I knew it would probably turn into a "this is the time to pull him apart about his wheel preferences lol" but it's not my intention for the topic. I just did some research with Blue8g's response in mind and figured I'd start a topic rather than clutter a members thread.




Good stuff guys! I'll have to give it a go myself to share my own opinion.

[Blue8g]

I don't give a flying **** about their quality.

I care about their straight up stealing other people's hard work. That doesn't fly in a developed state but since they're manufactured/based in a third world country NOGAF.

As for quality how do any of the things prove anything about the quality of Rotas? So 10 people have had good luck with them? AWESOME. And they were tracked without destroying themselves? INCREDIBLE, oh wait as long as you aren't hopping off massive curbs tracking isn't that hard on wheels.

Also, looking at their R&D, I see a sketch of a six spoke wheel and claims of exceeding standards, yet I see no proof of such testing or real engineering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJeFB6SRslk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=PNbHWHVax7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=eEq8C5ZIezY

I don't see any similar vids from Rota.




The one 'quality' aspect of Rotas that I do care about and prevents me from even considering them is the finish. I've only had one new set of wheels and some of my used wheels were BEAT but even in their rough states, if I saw a car with Rotas on it at a meet/show, the finish on my wack, beat 10 year old quality wheels was worlds better.

Also, every set of wheels I've ever had was less expensive than the knockoff pos version of itself.

Maybe I'm biased, I hang around people who build cool cars and don't half ass everything because they're stance fanbois.

[greddy]

I love controversial threads on TGC, always nice to read after a long day in the garage, I will say this, if you can afford the real deal, buy the real deal, companies put a lot of time and effort into designing a wheel and that's why we have timeless classics like the TE37s and the CR Kai, which I would argue are two of the most commonly replicated wheels. But there comes a point where there are only so many ways to make a wheel. Rota, Konig, Sportmaxx, XXR, MB and Varstoen (or whatever the hell the company name is) all make wheels that look like a more expensive counterpart that was out first, you can look at rota's lineup and see designs that are extremely similar to advan, volk, weds, etc. This is the same argument as people who hate on a Hyundai Genesis Sedan because it offers everything that a BMW does for 20K less but doesn't have the badge. Now maybe the quality is the same, maybe it isn't, I'm not one to judge, but I do know that if quality was indeed as bad as it is made to seem by online forums, then people simply wouldn't be buying them. Again, if you can afford the real thing, buy it, because I think it's only fair to the company that made, if not, then buy the "reps" and rock them proudly, just don't try and fake the funk and pass them off as the wheel they are trying to imitate. That being said, I run volks on my galant, and I have a set of BBS wheels for track use, and had 5zigens before that, and works and assorted OEM evo wheels before that, and never had any issues and I feel like of the people on this forum my car does the most jumping off curbs on tracks. And that's the thing, my galant is a car that I put a lot of pride and time into, and I want it to look good, not to mention the volks I have been something I've been looking for for a long long time. Now I also have my beater miata, and I proudly rock cheap TR motorsports cast chinese wheels on it with assorted konigs or whatever else is available because that's the purpose of the car. My friend Nial has been tracking his miata hard for 4 years now on konigs with not a single issue, but he recently purchased team dynamics because he wanted something a little beefier. In the end, you gotta fit your budget, but from personal experience you can't go wrong in saving for a name brand wheel if for nothing else their resale value stays high and sometimes grows due to rarity in size, width and offset.

[Blue8g]

I'd also like to say this, I have much less beef with a dedicated track slut using cheap wheels than I do with the average hardparker/daily driver doing so.

On a track car even if not bent a wheel will work it self out of round/get beat up/etc. Wheels are a wear item.
When you're a hardparker, you have no excuse. "WHAT IF I CURB THEM!?" Learn how to drive. "WHAT IF I BEND THEM?" Acquire eyes and headlights, observe potholes. "WHAT IF THEY'RE STOLEN?" Acquire insurance.

[kolio]

My father was driving the galant one day. he was turning left with a green arrow, and some douche ran the a red light. being my car has 4 piston fronts and no abs he slammed on the pedal and locked the wheels up. he slid into a curb doing about 10mph. the rotas suffered some damage, but mostly scuffs. the car more or less rid the curb for a little not a perpendicular slam. otherwise the rims would have been for scrap.

Now what would i have preferred. having expensive name brand rims being damaged or my inexpensive rotas?


When you live in a city environment you cannot guarantee the safety of expensive rims. from theft or damage. especially when you have liability insurance and if you get jacked, your out 2k+ and need to buy an new set.


Ever since i put a decent set of rims on my 335 i don't like driving it certain places for fear of the rims being damaged. when i see potholes and other road hazards my heart starts to skip beats as i try avoid them.

[foxbrand]

if I may play the devil's advocate here, I'm very keen on my surrondings, including road conditions (pot holes and so on) because of how bizzarely shitty the roads are for such a large town I'm immediately adjacent to and drive through frequently, back when my Galant was my daily, I had to avoid being in specific parts of lanes from pot holes or damage road surfaces because it will easily knock my alignment out of wack, and I have a 30k mile warrenty on the suspension work done on my Galant (which covers alignment) and I don't ever want to go back to the NTB that did the work (long rant/story)

with that said, when Go Kart (my Civic) became my daily, I instictively kept doing this (although I've become a bit lax about this), the car rides on MB Five X's, which are decently well made Chinese manufactored wheels, do I trust them? Yes, I do far more than the structure of the car itself, even if they aren't quality products, they have survived the roads of where I live, they function as wheels, they hold air pressure with the tires. I am not concerned if somebody steals them or tries to, I have wheel locks and they cost $86 a pop (also something that will come in handy if I get a bent rim), this is the advantage of the car, it might look nice but stealing it or anything off it isn't worth the energy

I'm pretty sure a product that Discount Tire Direct has an exclusive contract with a Chinese manufactor (ok, not that much of a bad thing, but they only exist because of this) that can hold up to everything I have described, and this 'manufactor' (probably just the name of the company) has existed since around 2008 that a company that has existed as long as Rota