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….
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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
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.
I’d rock some Vorks…
i’d rock them vorks
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]
One of your best rants to date!
ROTAS are very common in Miami…so wack….great story though.
^ tru.dat
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.
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……..
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!
Preach!
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.
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.
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.
this is the reason why i sold my authentic Gabs and RSZ-R years ago…
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
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….
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!
Good post, but I think I/We got the point you hate it when people put stickers on the fake wheels, hahaa
lol afropastepanda really wants some vorks apparently
If you cant buy expensive wheels, at least support a company that makes their own shit and stop trying to imitate.
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!
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.
i want the “IM FAKIN THE FUNK” stickers!
Might not be a bad idea…hmmm…
scandalous lol
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
I understand what you’re saying but I sport fake wheels and with stickers all the time. I do it because thats all i can afford and I just like the looks with the stickers. When people asks about my wheels, I’m up front and honest. I have no shame admitting that they’re knock offs. I think as long as your honest and happy thats all that matters.
This shit gets my blood boiling. And the sad thing is that it’s getting to where fakes are the most common thing that they act like they’re the real thing. As if owning real wheels is disgraceful. Fuckin sad. Look at BBS RS wheels… People make copies of em left and right to the point where they come with BBS centercap stickers and you can buy replacement stickers on eBay or Craigslist. Stop supporting the fakes! There’s only one thing that’s fake and acceptable: tits. Everybody loves tits. Real or fake. To a certain extent of course.
Who hurt your feelings anyways? Lol. Seems you need just as much attention as these dudes rocking fake replicas. Who cares! As long as they aren’t trying to sell it off as the real deal or come clean about it being fake, what’s the problem? If they arnt trying to scam someone, who cares? You would only care because you paid a premium for wheels that you demand respect for, lol. Agian, let people rock what they want or what they can afford. I myself have real rays on my truck and CR01 on my datsun. No replicas for me, but I don’t make fun of or hate on those who rock the fakes…..agian, so what! 🤷♂️