HRE wheels interview

[Chem14]

[twelve535i]

Very informative video.

I love my car, and I love HRE wheels, but I can't afford $10K HRE wheels......

[Chem14]

Same here.

[Alan l.]

Excellent video.

He really goes over pretty much all the different types of wheels and manufacturing methods out there.

From I understand HRE makes all of their wheels in house. There are maybe two other companies out there in the US that makes wheels one being MHT. They make wheels for all of those small no name forged wheels out on the market today. Lots of other forged wheels have a forged face but the barrels are imported from China. Guess where the wheels fails the most?

HRE, BBS, VOLKS, FORGELINE, ADVAN are the top wheel companies in my book.

Alan

[twelve535i]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

Excellent video.

He really goes over pretty much all the different types of wheels and manufacturing methods out there.

From I understand HRE makes all of their wheels in house. There are maybe two other companies out there in the US that makes wheels one being MHT. They make wheels for all of those small no name forged wheels out on the market today. Lots of other forged wheels have a forged face but the barrels are imported from China. Guess where the wheels fails the most?

HRE, BBS, VOLKS, FORGELINE, ADVAN are the top wheel companies in my book.

Alan

MHT seems to be a good company. They offer low pressure cast wheels with load ratings listed on their website. The manufacture Niche, Dub, and Foose wheels, which aren't "premium" brands, but they don't have the same mark up as other companies, like Vossen.
I've been looking at some of their design because they are very reasonably priced and most of 22" wheels have a 2000lb load rating

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by twelve535i

Very informative video.

I love my car, and I love HRE wheels, but I can't afford $10K HRE wheels......

HRE are nice. I too couldn't justify the cost, especially how fast I trade my cars. I went with BC Forged, a very reputable brand for fraction of the price. They too use T6061 alum and TUV certified. I've done hours of research, their quality is solid.

It's a plus that PYSpeed.com is based in the U.S and offers great customer service.

Their price is between Forgestar and HRE. I heard too many stories on Forgestar, wheels crack and orders delays. My research returned 0 complaints on BC's wheels integrity.

Also, it literally takes 4 weeks to build and 1 week to ship. There's no way in hell I'll wait months for a set of wheel, too many guys are waiting months for their Morr setup. Mine is coming this Wed, I ordered it on 9/28...

[stewy604]

Agreed on the cost for the HRE's. I was seriously considering the P101's in 22, but the high list price, and a weak Canadian dollar makes for an expensive investment to say the least.

[Alan l.]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

HRE are nice. I too couldn't justify the cost, especially how fast I trade my cars. I went with BC Forged, a very reputable brand for fraction of the price. They too use T6061 alum and TUV certified. I've done hours of research, their quality is solid.

It's a plus that PYSpeed.com is based in the U.S and offers great customer service.

Their price is between Forgestar and HRE. I heard too many stories on Forgestar, wheels crack and orders delays. My research returned 0 complaints on BC's wheels integrity.

Also, it literally takes 4 weeks to build and 1 week to ship. There's no way in hell I'll wait months for a set of wheel, too many guys are waiting months for their Morr setup. Mine is coming this Wed, I ordered it on 9/28...

BC Forged does seem pretty legit. I've seen their videos online and looks quite impressive. I believe some OE BMW wheels are now made in Taiwan too so wondering if its by BC Forged... I almost went with a set of their wheels for my F10.

MHT is big and they they make anything from $800 set of wheels to several thousand. Don't believe they are involved in any racing series so to me that puts them in a class behind the brands I listed. The problem when these small companies all start selling wheels made by MHT it makes me wonder if there were any testing involved with a particular design or does MHT simply just make the wheels to the specs their customer wants and thats it. Seems like there isn't much engineering involved if this is the case which is a hit or miss depending on the wheel and what car its going on.

Alan

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

BC Forged does seem pretty legit. I've seen their videos online and looks quite impressive. I believe some OE BMW wheels are now made in Taiwan too so wondering if its by BC Forged... I almost went with a set of their wheels for my F10.

MHT is big and they they make anything from $800 set of wheels to several thousand. Don't believe they are involved in any racing series so to me that puts them in a class behind the brands I listed. The problem when these small companies all start selling wheels made by MHT it makes me wonder if there were any testing involved with a particular design or does MHT simply just make the wheels to the specs their customer wants and thats it. Seems like there isn't much engineering involved if this is the case which is a hit or miss depending on the wheel and what car its going on.

Alan

I've been going to BMW track events for a few years, I haven't seen any BMW race cars sporting HREs. I would say 80% of them use Apex and the rest use BBS/Volks, flow formed wheels. That doesn't mean I want Apex wheels on my X5M.

BC Forged sponsored a few drift and road race cars, but nothing crazy like BBS/Volk/HRE. Which I'm ok with it, as high marketing/sponsorship dollars would only drive my cost up as a customer.

Not familiar with MHT, but BC, Taiwan Bor-Chuann Enterprise Co., Ltd is no small company. They just received another $300M USD to expand their plant.

FYI: BC doesn't pay me a dime for this post. I post lots of well researched product reviews. I've been an advocate for random companies/products from DWS tires, to BMS jack pad adapters, to AWE-tuning, to Bimmertech amps. I've done my research and want to save others the time/headache searching for answers. And my research shows that BC makes very strong/light wheels, for less than other forged wheel companies. Their products are well backed up by solid vendors and there's no report of any wheel integrity issues. So would I want to pay double the price for a set that's 1lb lighter? Nah. But if I'm running a 1/2 million dollar race car where every oz of weight counts, then yes.

[Alan l.]

All good. Just sharing information on the forums which is why we are all here (most of us at least lol)

HRE had its fair share of controversy in the past. They were banned from some racing series when a few of the cars running their wheels had cracked wheels on the track. This was a long time ago and I believe they were bought out by a new company since that happened. Either way I can't afford to drop 10K on wheels anymore. Certainly not living in NYC in my family hauler.... I had a set of HRE 448R's in the past on my E46 and loved them but the clear coat finish was peeling off in certain spots even before I had tires installed. This was when a set of 19"s were about $4500 not what they ask for today's prices...

[stewy604]

^^^ Love your choice on the BBS anyways Alan.

[Alan l.]

^^ me too!

In my eyes not many wheels suits the X5 better than the BBS SV without costing double or triple the amount of money. Sporty yet brawny enough to suit the bulldog stance of the X5.

[stewy604]

Exactly. I'm looking into some other options right now as well. Might end up going with the SV's, I was just worried about the satin finish.

[twelve535i]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

Not familiar with MHT, but BC, Taiwan Bor-Chuann Enterprise Co., Ltd is no small company. They just received another $300M USD to expand their plant.

I'm not positive, but I doubt a big name company like HRE is worth anywhere near $300million dollars or has a factory worth that much. BC is a much more powerful brand that I've ever thought.

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by twelve535i

I'm not positive, but I doubt a big name company like HRE is worth anywhere near $300million dollars or has a factory worth that much. BC is a much more powerful brand that I've ever thought.

HRE does $7M+ annual sales.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may...heels-20130531

[r33_RGSport]

I can vouch for HRE. But BC, not so fast.
First, it doesn't stand for my name initial, so don't hold me liable for it.
Second, if you know the history of the company, I wouldn't buy or even support BC.
Don't get me wrong, Eric and PYSpeed is a nice guy and most likely he is a good friend with BC's owner also since he is also Taiwanese.
But again, all I can say, don't judge too fast on BC. They still have a lot of room to improve and proof.

[Alan l.]

Interesting...

Can you elaborate Ben? I must admit they everything I've read about them seems positive but this is only dating back a few years....

Alan

[r33_RGSport]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

Interesting...

Can you elaborate Ben? I must admit they everything I've read about them seems positive but this is only dating back a few years....

Alan

Alan,

Unfortunately those are what I can share for now.
Hopefully they can overcome and become one of the greatest.
Only times can tell. Anyone can make a wheel, while a good quality and design, it takes times and effort. Not just out of the blue some drunk crowd decided to just copy and start cutting 6061 aluminum in a simplist way then called it a wheel.