for most of us, we are shopping lightweight "racing" wheels. this means, that the wheels were made to be as light as possible. The manufacturing technology that the originals use, was used specifically because it is required to maintain higher strength with less material and weight. If the technology was not available, the higher end companies would have to make sacrafices in weight and make parts of the wheel thicker/heavier.
when you take a visual knock-off wheel, they are taking for granted that the original manufacturing process is what made the wheels durable while using that particular shape/style.
I believe that there are cases/scenarios where it doesnt make a difference, and you dont need to pay the premium for the engineering quality... and i also believe there are cases where its not worth the risk, and to have the stronger wheel would be desired.
for example... is your car a pig? do you run extremely sticky tires on a heavy weight car and fly around a track? is that car expensive? if you answered yes, you may want the stronger wheel. is your car a 2200lb honda with 205 width tires? you can probably get away with the knockoffs. is your car never going to be used to its potential, putting massive loads on the wheels? you can probably get away with the knockoffs.
its true, wheels are wheels and there are only so many different styles that look good. 99% of the world is never going to know that one guy paid 5 grand and another guy paid 2 grand for the same looking wheel. But there is 1% of us that will know. Just like most people have no idea how much I (or many of us) paid for a pair of "designer" jeans... I dont feel the need to put down guys who buy shitty jeans at target that are trying to copy the style/wash of the real trend setters. and ya... most people will never know the difference between my jeans and the other guys... its just for those of us into it. theres those of us with a taste that appreciates the real deal, and there are the people who dont give a ****, they just want to look like everyone else. we all fit into both sides of that equation, we are all just slightly different in what things we are particular about. jeans and car parts... thats where i waste money. ill drink shitty beer and wear cheap watches so that i can afford that.
afterall, we are only driving Z cars. i feel OK admitting to you guys here that i have 5 grand in my wheels and tires on my Z... but in 90% of situations in life, in conversations with normal people... i would be too embarassed to admit putting that kind of money into wheels and tires on a 30 grand car. its all relative..
buy what you need. in every single market world-wide, the real trend setters/designers are getting ripped off left and right by copycats. its just life. the guy who buys fake wheels was never going to buy the originals anyway, so the real designers arent losing any income.
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