Their quality of construction makes them sub-par.

I'll take a bit of extra weight in exchange for having confidence that my wheels won't fail any day. If you're worried about weight as well as strength, I'd look into higher quality wheels (I suggest looking at Volk's forged offerings, I run the 17" CE-28N's personally, but there are other high quality brands out there). Rotas are fine for driving around on the street (I suppose if you don't mind supporting yet another company that can't come up with an original design of their own), but I personally think they're a liability to you and those around you on a track.

Saw this on a blog the other day and got a chuckle out of it:

 

Except that I've still yet to hear a story of a Rota failing from anything besides an impact that would have bent or destroyed any other wheel. I've never seen data that shows failure rates for Rotas versus other wheels. I can find you tons of pictures of non Rota wheels that have been destroyed. This is all especially if you limit the population to cast wheels (you know, like the Honda stockers).

This is a classic case of finding data to fit the assumed conclusion instead of drawing a conclusion form the data. I can put witty subtitles on pictures of wheels to, it doesn't make me an expert on wheel manufacturing.

 

Don't get your panties all in a bunch. If you'll read my post above it stated (as is most everything else people spew on here) that it is my opinion that Rota wheels are constructed in a sub-par maner to higher quality brands and are certainly not subjected to the same testing that OEM wheels are.

Its my opinion and I consider them a liability. Not only am I entitled to my opintion but it's an opinion I've formed after owning (a long time ago) a set of the exact same wheels that were asked about in this thread. In addition, I feel that a company that doesn't bother to do its own design work or R&D probably doesn't put its product through the same quality assurance standards and probably doesn't have as stringent a manufacturing process as firms that develop new and original products. Sure its an assumption, but that assumption combined with what I have personally observed in terms of quality is what I used to form my opinion.

I'm sure you can put all the text on photos that you want, if you'd read my post you'd see that I didn't make that and merely came across it on a blog and thought it was worth a chuckle.

You can't provide any data that Rota wheels meet the same quality standards as OEM wheels can you? No? Then you're statements are based on just the same amount of conjecture that my statements are. Mine is an opinion formed after owning OEM (duh), Rota, and Volk wheels, can you even say that much?

 

I have Stockers, Rotas, and Regamasters (Whoops, my experience is more relevant than yours. It's fun talking about people you don't know on the internet!). None of them have randomly blown up on me (I've daily driven and tracked all). It is a reasonable assumption that a mass produced wheel will not randomly fail. Therefore, the burden of proof is on you, who says they will fail.

In conclusion, everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if they are not based on actual facts.

 

Let me clarify though: I'm not trying to say Rotas are the same quality as Enkei (stockers) or Regamaster wheels; they are not. But they will not randomly blow up on you like some people on the interweb seem to be set on saying.

 

My original point was that the quality of OEM was superior to Rota and that if weight was an issue the OP might want to look at higher quality wheels. I didn't mention the Regamaster Evo's because I thought I remembered seeing that they were discontinued (at least the Spoon SW-388's are) so he couldn't go out and source a set as easily as an in production wheel (the EVO's may not be out of production, they just didn't jump to mind because I had a feeling they might have been). I did however mention Volk, which I have had direct experience with.

So no, your experience is not more valid as I was comparing quality of Volk to OEM to Rota so my experience with the three brands I mention was most valid.

You objected to my opinion that "OEM > Rota" and I told you that in my opinion the quality is inferior. Get over it.

I still maintain that simply because you haven't had Rota's fail on you (nor have I) doesn't mean that they don't fail any more than finding a picture on the "series of tubes" depicting a broken Rota means they fail (which again if you pay a little more attention to your reading comprehension was a statement I never made). You attacked me for jumping to a conclusion that was based as entirely on conjecture as your own.

Again everyone's entitled to their opinion and you attacked me for not providing any data on the failure rate of Rotas..... however you seem to have neglected to provide any data to support your opinion that they aren't a liability.

I just think its to call someone out on having no quantifyable evidence for their opinion when you're unable to provide any for yours.

 

[QUOTE=FormulaRedline,Nov 5 2007, 06:13 PM] How so?

 

5th gen preludes can fit 4 ap1 front wheels no problem and a lot of prelude guys like this setup, so if you buy 2 sets of ap1 wheels you can sell the fronts on a prelude forum and get a large part of your money back.

 

[QUOTE=Vitt,Nov 2 2007, 09:47 PM] Based on what I've read on this board, I suggest 4 rear AP1 wheels with a bigger front sway bar.

 

any machine shop and some wheel shops can machine out the center bore very easily. it's not that big a deal.