Originally Posted by bullitt5897

Chris,

You and I agree on this whole heartily on the subject. The budget thing is totally understandable I had the same constraints when I bought my set of Strasse Forged. Honestly, Strasse Forged is not HRE as HRE has been in the game before I could even drive... Now I have had Iforged wheels and they are nice... I have had friends who could afford HRE's and they were really nice. Strasse Forged wheels from what I have seen and as a owner of their wheels as well I feel their quality is on PAR with these brands. You may feel otherwise because those other guys have been in the game for many years and have "earned" their level of prestige and high prices...

Volks, rays, SSR, Work wheels and many others have their wheels stamped out in certain specs and colors which is why their wheels only cost 600-800 a wheel. Try asking them for a custom offset or color... I did twice it took them 6 months and cost me an extra $1500 for the custom colors. For instance it cost me nearly $4500 for a set of 18" volks shipped to my door and 6 months of wait time. Honestly, as a customer I would have rather paid the $4500 to wait... only a month, maybe two and get what I dreamed up in 3 piece 20's. That's just my opinion as a customer. Forged specialties is trying to reach a certain customer base and for Instance HRE is trying to reach a totally different customer base. You wont see very many HRE's on accords and civics... HRE priced themselves into an Exclusive market where their wheels hold their value. Strasse Forged is in a similar model sporting their wheels on High End cars from the 370z all the way to Lamborghini's and other exotics. The point is like HRE, Strasse Forged has positioned themselves in quality and in price point so that their product maintains its value for the customer.

For example try selling a set of used volks you paid $3600 for... You may get $2000 for them used. Now a set of HRE's You buy them for $5000 because of the name and the quality your more likely going to get $4000 for them. The lowest I ever saw a set of 20" HRE's go for was $3600 and they were really used...

It comes down to exclusivity, quality and market value.

dont get me wrong Forged Specialties are nice wheels! Ztarga has a set on his car and I liked them at SEMA but would I have bought them over my Strasse Forged. The answer honestly is no... I know I would have paid as much as Dean and Amy plus a few hundred for the custom color and hand painted centercaps. Strasse Forged wheels are not crazy expensive and are affordable...