After owning these wheels for just over a year I have come to the conclusion that I will NEVER buy HRE's again... My latest problem is the chrome lips... If I remember correctly the chrome lips were $1600 or so extra over high polished, which at the time seemed VERY expensive, but for the sake of not having to deal with polishing and cleaning all the time I went ahead... WHAT A MISTAKE! The chrome is flaking off of one lip right now like tinfoil (well actually thinner). At first it was just a little bit (see second pic), but now the whole lip is pealing to the bare metal . I emailed HRE's about this problem and left Mike at HRE a message when the small section was pealing with NO RESPONSE. Well I assume they won't do anything now, so I am just going to share with everyone to make sure others don't go through the same thing...
The Pics:



Cliff Notes:
HRE Positives:
-Look Great

HRE Negatives:
-Somewhat heavy
-EXTREMELY overpriced
-Paint Quality Sucks (I Have more rock chips on these $10,000 wheels than my $2,000 wheels on our daily driver truck)
-High Polished Lips Suck (Require way more cleaning than other wheel companys with High Polished)
-Chrome Sucks (Pealing Off Like Tinfoil and very expensive to start)
-When it rains, it make the car drive worse than a Pinto (Rain collects on the inner lips)

Best Regards
Evan

 

I agree on the rain part...

The high polish is HIGH maintenace, but i knew that in advance.

They do look great, and i am on set #2.

 

No warranty on such an expensive set of rims?

 

Sorry to hear that Evan. I had a pair of 547Rs on my M and instead of chroming the lips I had them polished and clearcoated. Clearcoating the lips helped to keep that shine and made cleaning them up a snap. I would keep on trying to contact HRE, what happened to your wheel is unexceptable...

 

my cargraphics are polished and I clearcoated them as well... what a difference.

 

Sorry to see that Evan. I have to admit that flakeing looks really bad and will only get worse I imagine.

 

WOW Evan, i cannot believe that. I hope HRE offers some type of help for this

 

There was a thread on Audiworld about HRE's being banned from competition due to structural failures.

http://forums.audiworld.com/lrqc/msgs/41036.phtml

However, I have no personal experience with HRE.

 

That's the only way to go, I'm gonna get my lips re-polished and clearcoated when I get the centers powdercoated either gunmetal or asphalt titanium.

 

HRE does not Chrome plate themselves, they send them out for that if you can talk them into it, because they usually do not recommend it. Maybe the place you bought the wheels had them chromed for you without telling you. That could be the reason why it cost so much.
BTW, do not clearcoat your lips. You can always polish non-clear coated lips back to original, but can not do it with a clearcoat. The clearcoat will eventualy get dull. I speak from experience.
Also, if you curb your wheel, you will have to send it in. If it is just polished, you can buff it out yourself. I speak from experience on this as well.
Now, if HRE did sub out the chroming work, they need to step up and take care of it. Just because they did not do the work, it does not take away their responsibility to you, the customer.

 

That's weird, I have my wheels for about a year and I never got any dulling on the lips. However, I did regularly wax the lips with the same stuff I waxed my wheels with....maybe that had something to do with it.

 

Evan,

Consider a set of Fikse's or Kinesis.

 

HRE did the chroming (well sent them out). I was the second person to get chrome lips from them (the first being Gary on here). His had to be sent back to them due to terrible quality and mine took somthing like 6-8 weeks to get because HRE kept sending them back to the chromer due to issues... Well they finally got the chrome job GOOD ENOUGH to send them out (still had some pits and stuff when they arrived). I don't see how they can "not reccomend it" when there are so many other CHEAPER wheel companies that do it and are perfectly fine... I cannot believe they cannot find a chromer that can do a good job... All AVUS wheels come with chrome lips (EXACT SAME LIP MANUFACTURE AS HRE) and they never have problems...

HRE really needs to get their act together, its amazing with all the problems they have that people still buy them based on looks alone... I have learned my lesson, this is my 3rd and final set....
Evan

 

I have my serious doubts about ubber expensive HRE's, there was a hipe about them and now they seem not so good. They certainly cattered some special fitments and finishes and claimed to be light but why not go with proven formulas like BBS, OZ, Speedline, most people on this board drive fast and on track, why settle for less I ask?

 

All the reverse wheels have the rain problem ... not just HRE ... I also believe that HRE used to have an amateur do their chrome work but since then (last 6 months) have found a reputable company that do a supposed impecable job ... I will know the quality of the chrome in 3 weeks