those of you saying "that the tire should be damaged", or "i dont understand the failure", etc etc i think are missing the point. i think the entire point is; look how this wheel came apart in this totally ridiculous way, and it wasnt even severe enough to tear the tire apart.
you can tell those wheels were mint 5 min before that pic was taken. there is no evidence of curb rash or any type of previous abuse. from the portion of the lip that can be seen in the pictures, it didnt even take a direct hit, it actually failed from the pressure of the tire pushing it.
i nailed something with my advans on my 350z. the tire survived, but the lip took a small bend where it hit. it was minor enough to be repairable, but i just replaced the wheel anyway just in case.
i am not saying that i would never run replica wheels. not at this point in time while my 370z is still an expensive car, and not when my 350z was worth a lot... but now that 350zs are worth dirt... eh whatever, i would consider replicas if wheel shopping for it. matter of fact i did shop them, until i found a brand new set of different advans for it for 1300
if i had a replica wheel and it failed like that... whatever. no surprise really, wouldnt shock me at all. i would just replace it and say well good thing they are cheap.