Alibaba Wheels

[Hoonin]

Guys I’ve kind of noticed a trend while looking for wheels. A good 75% of every wheel company’s designs are all the same, from the lowest tier to the highest. They are all using alibaba or something of the like to source their wheels. For the Ferrada FR5 I’ve found at least 30 different companies offering nearly the same exact rim with minor differences. It’s likely that these company’s are buying semi complete wheels and then machining their own features. The wheel coatings also probably play a role in the cost.

What’s your guys’ take on this?

 

[THIC.KIA]

I would not trust my cars safety to anything for Alibaba.

 

[Hoonin]

I would not trust my cars safety to anything for Alibaba.

Which is why I wrote this. It appears that all of these premium companies and lower tier companies are sourcing a good portion of their wheels from the same manufacturer. I dove even deeper into the rabbit hole last night and I believe I found the Chinese manufacturers.

I also found that quality can be adjusted to the retailers request, so companies like Ferrada, Rohana, etc likely purchase a higher quality product and audit the quality as well. So I guess it’s not much of an issue. It just seemed odd that I found 30+ manufacturers all offering the same wheels.

 

[Hoonin]

So check this out! I had already went back and forth designing my own wheel to have manufactured in China, either through the forging process or flow form process. I wasted my time only because of my suspicions that “premium” wheel manufacturers were doing the same and wanted to confirm. The final price imported, ended up being relatively similar, to if I were just going to buy a set from a “manufacturer” in the states (due to lack of quantity). So I went ahead and ordered some Rohanna RFX11s and paid a premium price for rims. Again, these rims (almost exact) are offered by companies like Aodhan and XXR for a much lower price....

After extensive research, I knew all of this going into the purchase. Rohana offered the finish I wanted and I didn’t feel like waiting to have a cheaper wheel powder-coated.

Either way I’m happy with the wheels, I will report back once I have them installed. Sorry to the rain on everybody’s parade when it comes to wheels.