An indepth look at horrible ideas…Part 6…Fake wheels with authentic stickers…
Damn, sorry this update took so long. Believe it or not, I’ve actually been busy working. I had a couple Honda Tuning magazine features to finish up so I haven’t really been able to knock this out and get it up as quick as I wanted to. I’ve been writing alot the past couple days so excuse me if the following post has very well-spoken and understandable english. Anyways on with it….
….
Now let’s get one thing perfectly clear. It’s no secret that I don’t like fake/knock-off wheels….but if you have them, that’s your perogative and you do you. My major issue, is when people rock the fake wheels and put on the stickers of the real deal wheels and try to front like they’re legit. Nothing says “fakin’ the funk” more than when people try to fool people into thinking they got the real shit when they don’t. It’s almost like clothing and shoe collectors you know. I mean I personally don’t collect Bape stuff or Dunks or whatever but if you see someone rocking fake Bape shit, you’re gonna call them out on it. If you’re one of those guys with fake wheels rockin’ the real stickers, what makes you any better than that guy that has fake Jordans or knock-off Nike SBs? Shit just ain’t right. Some people call hardparkers “Hypebeasts” but these people who front are the biggest hypebeasts of them all. Obviously rockin the decals ain’t gonna make you feel any better about yourself. You’re doing it purely because of the fact that you just want to impress others…
Above is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Obviously, these are not TE37s, they’re not Volks of any kind actually. A reader passed this along to me and I actually found the original Craigslist ad for it. The seller claims to have originally bought them for “$1000″ and added the typical “my loss is your gain” statement. It’s weird because he stated himself that they were replicas. I hope he really didn’t originally pay a grand for these wheels. If that really is the case then this dude got royally fucked. Speaking of Volks, they actually have manufacturers now that sell knock-off wheels with knock-off stickers…don’t know what I mean? See for yourself….
Uhh….Vorks? Ravs Engineering? It’s unreal. I don’t really see why companies would go through the effort to alter the original decals. Almost seems like it were done for comedic relief or a direct slap in the face to the original manufacturers. Look at the “V” in “Ravs” and the “V” in “Volk”, it’s not even the same fucking font…
I wonder if there’s anyone out there who actually own these things. If so, what happens when people ask them what wheels they own? Do they actually tell people that they own Vorks?….
I guess Ray and Rav got their cousin Roy into the game also….
Here’s an image from stage-infinity.com of another fake ass wheel with a fake ass sticker. SSP Speedy Star Type C – cast from high quality Motor …Sport and Racing…Power?…
Anyways, back to the fake funkers. Here’s an owner of a set of low-offset Rota Grids who is proudly rocking his Volk stickers. Even went as far as to get the authentic Rays valve stems…Doubt those are real Neo-Chro lugs, if they were than they cost more than the wheels did haha…
This is perhaps the most popular wheel for posers to pass off as real. The wheel above also demonstrates another stupid trend that I can’t stand which is putting Honda centercaps on every fucking thing. If you’re really trying to pass those off as real CP-Rs, at least leave all the other random shit off of it. Fake CP-Rs with stickers are usually very easy to spot though. The originals have letters painted on, quality of metal is better which means the lips have a better finish, and OG CP-Rs are two-piece welded so the face isn’t seamless with the lip of the wheel. Oh and it doesn’t have the generic rubber valve stems on them either.
Another Sprint Hart wheel that has gotten the same treatment are the CPFs. I don’t have any pictures of it and even if I did it would be very hard to distinguish them from the Spun CPF-G copies. When these came out, posers around the nation began printing the original stickers and pasting them on their Spun wheels. They even put them on the 16-inch versions and real Hart CPFs didn’t even come in that sizing!
I also have to say something about the VIA/JWL marks and JAWA labels. Alot of people out there will tell you that knock-offs are “just as strong” and they go through the same rigourous testing as Japanese wheels. Uh…no the fuck they don’t. The companies that replicate these wheels simply take the mold of the original wheel and don’t bother removing the VIA marking. They then copy the JAWA test labels and apply them to their wheels. You can tell alot of the times when looking at the label inside the wheel that it’s fake because it’s just a bunch of japanese and no serial numbers are present. All legit JAWA labels have certification numbers for that particular brand of wheel. So if it’s numberless and just a bunch of japanese script, your ass just got ripped off. I’m sure knock-off wheel companies have figured out a way to replicate the serial numbers by now so it’s probably harder than ever to determine authenticity sometimes. The only way would be to judge by the quality of the wheel and the finish. The cheaper metals used to create a replica will never have that high polish that an authentic wheel would. That’s why you see more people trying to fake the funk nowadays with the Rota P45rs and Grids. Those wheels are all one-piece cast and usually coated a certain color. The only way to really differentiate those are to look closely at the spoke design and texture of the finish on the wheel.
With all that said, posers will be posers. Some will argue that they don’t want to spend money on the real thing because it’s overpriced. To them I say “that’s fine” but don’t go and put the authentic sticker and try to pass them off as the real thing. You say it’s overpriced and that’s your opinion but don’t try to fool people into thinking that you paid for the real thing. That’s called “hypocrisy”. How are you gonna bitch about the price of something and then try to act like you own that shit? There are also people out there that say “oh well I can’t afford the real thing and I like the look.” Okay, that’s cool too. But again, if you can’t afford it, don’t try to front like you can. That’s called “fakin’ the funk”.
I created this after I saw the pics of the Vorks. I still can’t get over that shit haha. Anybody down to rock some Rotamaster EMOs?
I’ll be returning to the regularly scheduled updates now so make sure to check back daily.
I think that your right in some cases but just because they are volk/rays/whatever doesnt mean they dont make knockoffs as well. Ive been rockin my enkei DM5′s for a couple years now (i know i need to update wheels) and right after enkei created the dm5/Em5, Volk came out with the GT-C’s which one of your phase2 doods have.
But you are right tho. There are a lot of knock off wheels flooding the market. But i can see why, why pay thousands for the brand when you can get the same quality, same style for half the price, just another brand
April 14, 2009 at 7:51 am
I think this post is whack. Making fun of people because they rather pay $2 for a valve stem than $15. I mean come on it’s a freaking valve stem. That reminds me of Geeks who buy $200 mouse pads. That’s just plain stupidity.
And yes Honda center caps on anything that fits is pretty darn ugly. As for the rims who gives a fuck if people wanna embarass themselves with that low quality junk. It’s clearly visible to the trained eye what looks good and what disgraces the rest.
May 9, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I’d rock some Vorks…
April 14, 2009 at 8:27 am
i’d rock them vorks
April 14, 2009 at 8:28 am
Some just like the style, they dont need the quality behind..
all show. no go.
[img]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i175/triple8sol/Motivational%20Posters/automotivator7.jpg[/img]
April 14, 2009 at 10:00 am
One of your best rants to date!
April 14, 2009 at 10:05 am
ROTAS are very common in Miami…so wack….great story though.
April 14, 2009 at 10:34 am
^ tru.dat
April 14, 2009 at 10:41 am
Uh same quality for half the price? I have seen my share of fake wheels and I have yet to see a quality set.
The only thing I miss about the 90′s and early 2000′s show cars were the legit wheels everyone rocked.
April 14, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Good article bro you hit alot of good points!! The Honda Center cap thing also gets under my skin so im glad you covered that…. The only thing that really surprise me is that they make replicas of my SSR Type C’s I had never seen those before so im like WTF you dont see too many white Type C’s on DC5′s so now I gotta worry about a ass clown faking the funk and parking next to me LOL……..
April 14, 2009 at 2:00 pm
yea chris is right… thats one thing i truly miss about the bodykit days…. people would really do things with their own style in mind. instead of all these people trying to copy spoon or mugen or js racing bla bla bla…..and yea not to mention everyone back then would rock real rims. at meets nowadays, looking at cars can get boring so fast because the JDM scene is so overdone with the same stuff over and over… its no longer attractive at times. please be real to your parts and be real to your own taste. stop the copies! ugh!
April 14, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Preach!
April 14, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Those were the days. I/H/E was considered “souped up” and pistons with headwork was “fully built”.
Too much of anything is bad. And well, like you said, there’s just way too many “JDM” cars. It gets boring and having more = making it less valuable, having more people do it = less challenging.
Of course if you happen to roll out in a white 2009 GTR modified to run mid 10s, you’ll turn heads in a good way. And I guess what’s what Ricers never learned, people weren’t looking at their cars because it was nice. People were just wondering what in the world that person was thinking.
May 9, 2010 at 5:04 pm
I rock Rotas for dailies on my ride, but I don’t fake the funk by putting stickers and passing them off as real.
nice rant.
April 14, 2009 at 8:40 pm
The saddest thing of the fake wheels really is the real stickers. I agree with Joe, if people can’t afford to get the real wheels, that’s fine, but putting on the real stickers to front is just lame.
I like Chris and Ojay, said, the late 90′s and early 00′s was great with wheels. We all took it for granted every aftermarket wheel out there was legit and quality.
People are starting to realize the differences between knock offs and real wheels, I had 2 valve stems in on my MF10′s stolen leaving me with 2 flats…fucking haters.
April 14, 2009 at 11:49 pm
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this is the reason why i sold my authentic Gabs and RSZ-R years ago…
April 15, 2009 at 1:16 am
Some jerk called my te37′s rotas from my gtr, they dont even make rota grids in 18 let alone 18×9.5+22
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/danceofcurse/DSC00393.jpg
April 15, 2009 at 3:11 am
this is the best rant yet,i mean too much fake and knock off parts really affect the real design and the creativity such a shame they trying to make fake products look better with stickers…
waiting for some more…..from you….
April 15, 2009 at 4:58 am
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i cant tell you how many times people have asked me if my advans are rotas, its like the fakies are so popular now that people just assume. well written and i couldnt agree more!
April 15, 2009 at 11:37 am
Good post, but I think I/We got the point you hate it when people put stickers on the fake wheels, hahaa
April 15, 2009 at 1:01 pm
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lol afropastepanda really wants some vorks apparently
April 16, 2009 at 5:40 pm
If you cant buy expensive wheels, at least support a company that makes their own shit and stop trying to imitate.
April 16, 2009 at 7:25 pm
You hit the nail right on the head! Fake wheels..fine, go ahead and do what you do BUTTTT…. slapping the stickers on is going waaay overboard. At least spell the names right! Vorks. I can’t hate on Rota for raking in doh peddling these blatant knockoffs to the no sense having f$%ks!
April 16, 2009 at 9:25 pm
That shit is just plain sad. Vork Racing…wtf!?!?
Nice article. I have a set of Works and I once had some rota-rocking goofball come up and ask me what kind of wheels I had, only to watch is face twist up in confusion after I told him what they were. Must feel even worse for you guy with the Volks and Advans. What is this world coming to…sigh.
April 16, 2009 at 9:43 pm
i want the “IM FAKIN THE FUNK” stickers!
April 20, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Might not be a bad idea…hmmm…
April 20, 2009 at 6:09 pm
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scandalous lol
February 6, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Honestly I can agree with Joe for the fact that being in the Industry I see this shit everyday when people buy Rotas or some other brand and then try to ask for the “replica” stickers right afterward… i mean I understand that not everyone has the money to purchase the whee;ls they really want or they like the look or whatever…. but this is the shit that ruins the industry and loses originality in the first place… Everyone keeps saying that oh i see the same shit i see the same shit…right ?? That’s because people are not willing to pay the price for the original real parts… Look at ARC.. some of the nicest well made quality original parts ever produced…. GONE, Zero Sports…GONE….how about when voltex had to stop making a variation of the EVO8 hood a few years back because someone ripped the mold and it was soooo popular in the replica form that it was monetarily impossible for them to continue making it… My own rant is over hahaha, I love real parts… i love originality (look at my s2k I rock a rare and not very used bumper) But i cant stand seeing people trying to act like they have something when they dont…. some people save for a year to buy one part….dont even try to but something with 1 paycheck i might have waited almost 2 years to buy !! ROCK REAL NOT REPS !!! Jason@pannauto
February 6, 2012 at 6:21 pm