Hello guys, we all have something we like a lot and thats the shoes on our cars, of course I mean the Wheels or Rims whatever you want to call it, all of us would like to have new ones every couple of years or every year if posible, but there is one problem for some of us that live on a budget, we cant really buy really expencive wheels like Volk, Roja, Works, BBS, Gram Lights every year or never for some out there, instead we go for the good looking ones that fit our budget, and Rota is one of the brands that fit at least my budget. But I heard that they have really poor quality materials or desing, I read that as soon your run the rims thru a pothole they are done, they bent really easy. And I want to open a topic on this, are Rota they only option for good looking rims?? Are they really that bad?? Who makes forged rims that are not in the 2500 area?? I know nasioc have a thread about rims that fit the 04 Sti and 05-07 Sti, but what else is out there??... Thanks
rota is the alternative to work, roja, bbs, and grams all rotas are replicas of other wheels try findin some used works or something on nasioc
There was a batch of Rotas a while back that had a casting issue IIRC. But seriously, the amount of failed Rotas to the amount of them still in service is a very very small percentage. They are fine wheels. Also, I don't know a single person on this forum that wants to replace their wheels once a year. My knockoffs lasted 5 years now. They need to be replaced as the roads here have finally dented them beyond the ability to balance them. Otherwise, they have served me fine. If you want the big brand name wheels, be my guest. But there is nothing wrong with Rota wheels.
^^^ +1 rotas have served many very well since the days of civics and integras...they are good quality rims, and if you put them through the same abuse as a set of works then there would probably be similar damage. Nothing wrong with rotas in my experience.
If you're serious about track duty, and you put a lot of $$ into the car, you should be able to get a set of good wheels at least Enkeis RPF1.... 5Zigen FN01R-C......good priced and lightweight. Rotas are a little heavy, but still not too heavy for some wheels look to be able to put up with the stress. I wanna run their 17x9 DPTs, OR 17x9 torques.
Keep an eye on tire rack's clearance sales. They often have some very nice rims that are a lot lighter than rotas and with clearance prices, they're often cheaper too.
I run rotas in the summer. ran them all last year while delivering pizzas in Duluth (they got curbed many times, lots of potholes, etc.). They're still perfectly round and straight. like readymix said, there was a bad batch, but the vast majority of them are fine strength-wise. Yea, they're a bit on the heavy side....but not terrible.
Or used. I got a set of 17x7.5 SSR competitions for $1000 shipped. That's cheaper (or the same price) as many knockoffs.
Rotas are fine. Yes, they had a bad batch some years ago where the spoke would crack, but I seem to remember that they replaced every single one that failed, and even did some pre-failure replacements for those poeple with wheels from the bad batch. Many a Rota has stood up to the rigors of AutoX duty on a wide variety of cars. Their Slipstream is the wheel of choice for a lightweight wheel on the Minis. But, Rotas aren't always the cheapest option. Enkei, 5-Zigen, Kosei and Koenig all make cost effective wheels. I'm also surprised by how inexpensive OZ and Team Dynamics wheels can be. The Pro Race 1.2's I was looking at the year before last would only have been $100 more than the Rotas I wound up with. The only problem was waiting more than 3months for them to not arrive got tedious, so I wound up cancelling the order. Shame, but not the end of the world. Many people rag on Rotas because of the snob factor. To me, they offer a wide variety of styles, at a reasonable price, and usually at a reasonable weight. Stuart.
I have had rota wheels for about two years and love them. I think I have about 1000 bucks rapped up in summer wheels and tires.
I would also like to know. All I know of it www.wheeldude.com $700 shipped. I'm about to pull the trigger on a set soon...any help finding a deal would be appreciated.
yea, if you look around RPF1s cost a very small amount more, especially if you get a lightly used set. I wanna run the 17x9 torque-r's too but et30! i'm already rubbing with et48...
I unfortunatly have broken more rotas than any other wheel. but then again, I lived in Chicago and the roads aren't very good there. So it probably could have happened to any wheel. just my 2
and I55, the Dan Ryan, the Edens and the Reagan or the northern part of Lake Shore Dr. Come to think of it, I dont think Chicago has a good road/highway.
Yeah, that was one thing that used to piss me off when I lived there. You have to pay and pay and pay to get around town, but the roads were utter ****.
Another company to consider is Sportmax wheels well now called XXR. Light wheels and a great price. Had a set of 501's before. http://www.xxrwheels.com/wheels.shtml
I have rotas on the neon... need I say more? You can find a number of good deals on forged/name brand wheels if you know where to look. Sadly the $450 prodrives I am selling are the last in a LONG line of wheels I brought back from Japan with me. It took a 9mo to sell as set of TE37's I had because they had some minor curb damage. I kept hearing "for $800 I will buy a brand new set of rotas" If what you want is cast knock off crap for the look, go for it. Good strong wheels don't come cheap, and when they do... put away the subaru owner name tag and fork out a little extra cash for quality
I think Rotas are fine for daily drivers. MN roads suck, if you put a dent in a rota, at least it didn't cost you an arm and a leg. They hold up well and look good too. Also, if you replace the rota center cap on them or just leave them off, few will notice the difference between them and the real thing. That said, I'd still rather go for a used brand name for autox or track days. It's all preference of course, but I want piece of mind when I'm careening around the peak of an apex at 60mph. Just search hard and you'll find a decent used set of good wheels for more demanding use, especially now since the economy is in the crapper and everyone is getting rid of their toys for dirt cheap... I recently picked up a set of great looking classic 17x7.5 gold Advan RGs for under a grand shipped on Nasioc. Just gotta keep your eyes open for stuff like that.
See there is someone that does not agree with rest of you, hey and thats ok too, but this is the kind of reaction I was looking, I need everyone honest opinion so I can decide what to get this summer. Thanks
Well, it looks like you are just on a witch hunt for someone to say rotas suck so you can justify spending more money on other wheels. Rotas suck.:hsugh: Russ
^^ haha, awesome response! I'm considering Rota wheels because of this thread. I hadn't really heard of them before.
I'd run them all day long on the street, but they wouldn't be ideal for tracking, agreed. People worry too much about wheels tho. Bend/break one on the street in a canadian swimming pool pothole and its no big deal. $150 on a rim is VERY easy to live with.
I liked my rotas. I had the SDR rotas. Used them to autox and daily drive. never had a problem with them. I know of other people who use rotas on their wrx's out at brainard, doing the road course and they dont have any issues, and the guy drives them very very hard.
Wheels are wheels. You can run virtually any wheel for road/street use. For daily driving a steelie with work just as well as a Volk or Rays Engineering wheel. It all comes down to if you want the fancy name, looks, quality of a spendy wheel. Rotas look good and are cheap for new wheels. I would use them for DD, Rally-X, or Auto-x, they may not be designed for these functions (cast and kinda heavy) but they will get the job done. You go beyond those into the Track and Stage arenas and I wouldnt use Rotas. Heres the easy answer: Buy Bills Prodrive P7s. Made by speedline, near indestructible, look awesome, cast (but super strong), not that expensive, only downside is that they are heavy. Used wheels are the way to go. You can get really nice quality wheels and get them cheap. Then every year or two when you want something else you can probably find someone who will do a straight up trade with you.
Nah, why you said that man, is not that, I am looking for a good feedback from the people that have them and also from the people that dont and why they will not buy them, thats all. Thereason is cause I am interested in how they look and also tol help a lot of subaru owners out there, I know that people use this kind of forums looking for good information that will help them make a desicion.:hsugh:
You must be new to the Subaru thing. There's a site called Nasioc that has everything you could ever want to know about the Impreza. It's been around since the late 90's. There isn't a single thing done to an Impreza that hasn't been hashed out to the absolute max over there. And most of the Subaru owners out there know that Rota wheels are crappy or weak or whatever, because they are probably the most purchased aftermarket wheel for Subaru owners.
I've got the one's that were known to break (attack's) and they've been good for my spirited driving habit.
Fee-eye-ock. Buy some used Rotas and be done. If the rims are cheap they were made cheaply. Like anything else, you get what you pay for (to a degree). Also, hookers.
I had Rotas on my WRX, they were good DD wheels, never bent and the finish never flaked or anything. For the money they are good wheels, for track use or anything like that you should spend the extra cash on some nice forged wheels or something. But for DD I think Rotas are well worth it.
question is, did he cause that to happen, or was it the wheel that had him end up like that. personally i think if your breaking a rota, your volks or what have you are still going to be mangled and need to be replaced iv had my rota grids on the teg since 2004 and they are still working excellent for me. also whats this talk about heavy, personally i dont consider 14lbs a wheel to be all that heavy haha. (15s ftw!)
Sorry to drag this off topic for a bit but.. Does anyone know how much prodrive p1 wheels with decent tires go for typically? I didn't want to make a new thread for a few short answers. Thanks guys Also buy rotas and stop being a weeny. They are fine.
Cast wheels shatter, forged wheels bend. Either way you're going to be out a wheel. I bet Google would probably pull up a few sets of P1's for sale and you could adjust accordingly from there.
just bought a set of rota gforce in hyper black yesterday and picked up some potenza reo1r (got the last set in the size for the killer deal). I cant wait til i can put them on:yumyum:
Yeah you are right I am new, and I did my research on NASIOC and other forums, but most of those thread are old, so I didn't see nothing wrong to ask here locally to see what people think... So far I will base my decision base on all of yours comments... Thanks
I cant see the point in spending $1600 to $1800 on wheels when we live were we do with the roads and what not. I myself would much rather spend $800 to $900 on knock offs that look just as good and will last you for good amount time. I order a set of Torque's from wheeldude in 17x9, full royal sport bronze. There on order and wont get to me till the first part next month. I wanted the Hyper Black but he said they cant get them at this time... O well. The bronze will do just fine I think.
