I have read some of your statements before and I have agreed almost entirely with them, however, I`m very surprised to see a statement like this coming from you.

HRE's are not all 100% forged, only the monoblok series is and uses a 4000TON forging which is the lowest in its class (Versus 6000TON, 8000TON and 10000TON). The 2PC/3PC are made from extruded or spun aluminum which is not by any means forged but is not techinically cast either. They are not really lightweight either.Their P40 weights a behemoth 26lbs in 19" E92 M3 fitment compared to the NEEZ (Made by Champion) at 23.5lbs, MORR at 22.8lbs and RAC (Made by Champion) weight of 23.2lbs.

HRE does not own a forging plant either. So what does that makes them? I have come to known of times where HRE used to do all the coating over-the-board (Mexico) to save manufacturing cost. Also, as far as I have experienced, I have only seen HRE's FEA as a proof of testing. I have never seen a report from STLABS, TUV, VIA/JWL or any idenpendent testing facility. And even if provided, I doubt they can show testing reports of all their wheels in all available sizes. I`m sure not all fitments/sizes are tested.

To everone, VMR is a great company but please lets not compare it with a Forged wheel manufacturer and HRE is a great company but it is very far from being the best at what they do.

 

If HRE is not the best who do you think in your opinion is the best at forged wheel manufacturing?

 

HRE is not a manufacturer. They do not forge their centers, blanks or extrude or spun their barrels. They are a distributor who does final assembly of their wheels in house.

As far as "best manufacturer" you would have to define "best". Volk has the best technology up to date, while BBS has an amazing engineering capability and Taneisya has excellent quality although the prices are ridiculous. So thats very subjective.

 

What Wheels Look Close To P40 But A Little Less Pricey

 

Here is an alternative...we were gauging interest on these a few months ago, but it never solidified. If we can get 5 sets, we can put them into production. For 19s, the price is $4250 + shipping. For 20s, the price is $5150 + shipping.

 

They should have done that wheel for Porsche long time ago... Given the great success in the BMW Communities.

 

Andrew those wheels are very nice but probably the same price HRE's down here in CA. , we still need to find a good alternative like the VMR's

 

Comparing retail to retail (which these wheels should sell at), the Morr wheels are at least $1200 cheaper. If there are people interested in the Morr wheels, I need 5 people to make it happen.

I am still trying to look around for a cheaper alternative though! I will keep you up to date.

 

Andrew , who buy's retail now on this days?? , I have a friend selling a Ferrari 599 brand new with 500 miles , white/black a lot below Retail and thats unheard right.

We know you can do much better , HRE's P40 19" are like $4,500 now

 

I hear ya. The thing is that HRE has very strict guidelines when it comes to Monoblok pricing. Dealers who are found selling below MSRP will have their accounts suspended or cancelled altogether.

Feel free to give me a call at 647.827.0825 if you would like to talk about wheel options for your car.

 

Cheap wheels are cheap wheels, there are only a couple of foundries in the world that can do this, yes one's in japan where they do the champions, and probably hre cores as well. Don't scrimp on rims, I've had heavy, cast, ebay junk myself, NOT worth it at all on a 130k car. Might as well keep the stockers. Forgedwheeler is right on the money.
About the only thing I'd mount on 900$ wheels on my car would be snows. They might be good for that, but surely not the track.

 

HRE uses Aluminum Precision Products for its forgings http://www.aluminumprecision.com/. They're here in Santa Ana and their main customer is Boeing. They're also a supplier to Ferrari, Maserati, Aston, Lambo, and the MBZ Black Program on the OE automotive wheel side; using essentially the exact same forging process they use for our Monobloks. We don't get our forgings from Japan although we're not against getting our forgings from anywhere as long as the quality is good. APP is actually the high cost supplier in the U.S. so we are always under a lot of pressure to switch. You know what? We tried and it didn't work.

We've tried to work with APP's main automotive competitor here in SoCal on 4 different projects (3pc rims, 1pc forgings, 1pc barrel, 2pc forgings). The price was great but the quality was insufficient so these programs never got past prototypes and initial orders (notice that we don't make a 2pc wheel?). They have a great resume with OE contracts and such, but at the end of the day they couldn't meet our specs. APP laughed at me when I went with their competitor and laughed even harder when I came back to them with my tail between my legs. You get what you pay for in this business. Anyone that thinks our forgings are junk hasn't done this for real because everyone in this biz knows APP makes a quality part. That's why I don't mind telling everyone who we use. Our competitors that don't use them already know. They just don't want to pay for it and have to rely on clever marketing to convince you how their option is better.

As for powdercoating in Mexico, unless Mexico is suddenly inside our building, this isn't true. We did try a chromer in Mexico but it didn't work out so we left them. We now get our chrome in SoCal again.

In the end, HRE's strategy is to always do as much as possible in-house. However, when we have to use an outside source the quality has to be our standards. Time and time again I've been told by old suppliers/vendors that they wouldn't change because HRE was the only company complaining and they did the same thing for a lot of wheel companies with no complaints. You know what? That's why we bring the stuff in-house or find another supplier. We can't accept the same quality as yesterday or as everyone else. We have to keep moving forward.

Once again, we're not the biggest guys out there so I'm not going to act bigger than we are and say we forge our own product. We don't. That doesn't mean our supplier still isn't the best in the business and we don't make a great quality wheel. In the future you will see HRE spinning its own rims, but I doubt we'll ever make our own forgings. There is way more to a great wheel than just the forging, but it does help if you're using a great one. That's just what we're doing and all the marketing BS in the world isn't going to convince us otherwise.

Sorry guys. You get what you pay for. We know there are times when we've stumbled but we get better and better and better everyday and if you know us, the continuous progression upward is obvious and there for everyone to see. I can't even recognize this place from even just a YEAR ago. At the end of the day, we take this business very seriously and will do everything we can to make the best product we can. We want to have your business for life. It is that simple.

 

Great response Alan. I can say I love my HRE wheels and the quality is top notch.