Anyone familiar with Riax brand wheels?

[DJ Hellfire]

http://i4.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/ba/2e/21_1_b.JPG

Anyone familiar with Riax rims? I think they are manufactered by Motegi but I don't know for sure. Anyway, since my Konig Verdicts are all mangled, I was in the market for replacement rims and was gonna just get a totally different set of new rims since the Verdicts are more expensive and discontinued. I like these Riax wheels and we sell them at my job. With my discount I could have gotten 4 for $389, then I found them on Ebay for $355 shipped. But when I picked the rim up at the store, it felt very weak and cheap quality. Anyone familiar with the quality of these wheels as far as stregnth? It took a lot of mean pot holes to bend my Verdicts; they are pretty strong. I ended up buying 3 new Konig Verdicts (seller only had 3 left) for $528 shipped. I'll probably just get the current ones refinished and use them as back ups but I just wanna know about the Riax's for future reference because I really like the look of that wheel. Thanks!

[BlackElantraGT]

I'm not familiar with the brand, but after looking them up on the web, I found their webpage and on their about page, it looks like they're part of American Racing. American Racing apparently owns Motegi, RO_JA, Riax, and more. http://www.riaxonline.com/about.asp

Personally, I've never cared for wheels from AR. Motegi's tries to jump on the JDM bandwagon and attracts the tuner crowd with its Japanese name and knockoff looks, but most of their wheels are heavy and doesn't come close to Japanese engineering. RO_JA is a spinoff of Motegi, with the "celebrity" support of RJ DeVera. Of all the performance wheels, RO_JA has the best wheels but it's also the most expensive of the different lines.

Based on price, the Riax line is either the same or below Motegi. I don't think the quality would vary much between these 2 lines. It'll probably come down to the style of rims that you want. According to this website, it says the Riax wheels is covered by a lifetime structure warranty. I didn't see anything about that on Riax's website, so maybe you should give Riax a call. http://www.barretire.com/American%20Racing/riax.htm

At $355 shipped for a set of 4 rims, I wouldn't worry about quality. Most rims in this price range are going to have similiar qualities. If you're not buying Riax, you'll be buying some other "off brand" At least it's only a C note to replace with a brand new rim. And you get the comfort of buying from a company that's been around for awhile.

BTW, when you say your Konigs are all mangled, are any of them bent or do you just mean they're all scratched up?

[DJ Hellfire]

BTW, when you say your Konigs are all mangled, are any of them bent or do you just mean they're all scratched up?

All are sctrached, 2 are slightly bent, 1 is very bent, and the other one is severely bent. The two that are slightly bent are missing some of the paint because they were repaired last year. The heat from the torch ruined the finish. Then I slightly bent them again a few months later. I actually failed state inspection for this one and I don't know how it can still hold air without leaking at all:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/djhellfire/DSCN1732.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/djhellfire/DSCN1730.jpg

[BlackElantraGT]

HOLY CRAP, I've heard of getting 1 rim bent, but all 4?? Where do you live, the moon!? Man that's gotta be some nasty potholes!! How big are your tires? Were they well inflated?

[j0hnh0lmes]

Personally I love the look of those rims...but the quality and weight would be an issue...

[CornbreadXD]

i've heard of these wheels. people into the VW clubs/scene have them alot.

[DJ Hellfire]

HOLY CRAP, I've heard of getting 1 rim bent, but all 4?? Where do you live, the moon!? Man that's gotta be some nasty potholes!! How big are your tires? Were they well inflated?

New Jersey. 205/45/17. It took a lot of hard pot holes for these things to bend. I guess over time, they just got weaker from the repeated assault and battery. I've had them for over 2 years now. But for the first year, they would not bend at all even on some bad holes.