What Do You Think Of New Wheel Technology?

[davelong9050]

I am reposting this from the "Wheel Forum." No responses.

I will be taking delivery of a new S7 in a few weeks and I'm not sold on the upgraded 20" parallel 5 spoke wheels- from an aesthetes perspective only.

As I look at the "gazillion" wheel choices, I keep getting drawn to "symmetric 10 spokes." Vossen has 2 versions of a similar 10 spoke wheel. One is the VPS 310 (forged) and the other is the VFS1 (flow formed).

"Forged" is the BEST quality wheel on the market however new technologies are emerging that look interesting and significantly less expensive.

I'm a believer of....."you get what you pay for" BUT has anyone had experiences with some of the newer technologies?

The cost difference is very dramatic and certainly worth a look.

Thanks for all opinions and advice.

[bobamoo]

I agree on the "you get what you pay for", has always served me well. But, $2000 for 1 wheel just seems extreme, I can't justify that expense. A friend put a set of TSW "bathurst" on his car about a year ago. They are TSW's version of "flow forged", think they call it "rotary forged". He loves them, has had zero issues, and I must say they are good looking wheels. I will be experiencing first hand with "flow formed", as a set of HRE FF01's are going on this Wednesday. Was going to wait a while, but the 20% off sale was too good to pass up. I think that as long as it's a quality wheel, there should not be any issues.

[davelong9050]

I agree on the "you get what you pay for", has always served me well. But, $2000 for 1 wheel just seems extreme, I can't justify that expense. A friend put a set of TSW "bathurst" on his car about a year ago. They are TSW's version of "flow forged", think they call it "rotary forged". He loves them, has had zero issues, and I must say they are good looking wheels. I will be experiencing first hand with "flow formed", as a set of HRE FF01's are going on this Wednesday. Was going to wait a while, but the 20% off sale was too good to pass up. I think that as long as it's a quality wheel, there should not be any issues.

Good choice on the wheels- how can you go wrong with HRE's?
Are you keeping the same tires or changing them as well?
Can't imagine HRE would jeopardize their reputation with a Flow Form if it was not excellent quality.
We are on the same page with VALUE. $10,000 for a new set of wheels is a bit much, particularly if you are not going to track the car. $4,000 is tolerable.
Let us know how you do and add a few pics. Thanks for the feedback.

[bobamoo]

Keeping the same tires. I just put the set of Conti DWS on last fall, they only have about 8k miles on them, I typically would not go with anything but new tires, but these 20 inchers are really pricey, and the shop I am using is a high end performance shop, they say it'll be fine, so I will use them. I am asking them to put the tires back on the same corners of the car to minimize any wear issues that could cause a shimmy.