Hello,

This site came up often after doing a google search for HRE rims, so hopefully some owners can give their experience. I recently bought a used set of HRE wheels for my Cobra. The previous owner did not take care of them at all as all 4 wheels had noticeable curb rash and there was a bend on the inner lip of one of the front wheels. About a week ago, one of the rear wheels decided it didn't want to hold air anymore so I just ended up taking the wheels off the car and dropping them off at HRE for inspection. After wheel disassembly, it turns out that all inner and outer rim parts have issues with a bent & out of round condition So I decided to fix them right and replace all inner and outer sections. I'm also going to have them change the centers finish from gloss black to brushed aluminum with a clear coat. More money than I wanted to spend, but I guess safety first and the wheels will be pretty much new when I get them back from HRE.

So I guess my question is, how many HRE owners have had to replace their inners or outers? Is this pretty much a general maintenance for light 3 piece wheels with some years on them? The streets in Hollywood aren't the greatest to say the least so I'm a little nervous once I get the rims back on the car. HRE did tell me that my particular set was close to 8 years old and had a history of being rebuilt from an outside source and not balanced per their individual rim run out. So maybe I just rescued an abused set. Here are a couple pics of my car btw. Hopefully you guys don't mind a mustang owner joining your site

 

Everyone is welcome on this site... Three piece wheels can bend like that. I don't think it's too abnormal. Especially if the previous owner was not careful.

 

hre are simply the best.....

 

You can bend light alloy wheels on rough roads; generally heavy steel wheels are the only ones that can stand up to jagged terrain and consistent bumps, but even those are somewhat vulnerable when combined with low profile tires depending on the speed you're traveling when you encounter the bumps. Hard to be careful if you don't live in areas with smooth surfaces, things happen, so you can expect over time that you'll naturally do a little damage to your wheels under normal driving if you hit potholes. I've hit some potholes at night and that's just unavoidable (and frustrating).

Definitely take it easy on rough roads if you can, avoid them if possible. I tend to do that anyway, simply because my cars are always lowered and have upgraded suspensions so it's no fun to get roughed up in the driver's seat.

One of the advantages of modular wheels is that you can replace damaged components instead of investing in cumulative repair labor to address aesthetics or disposing of the whole wheel.

Those wheels look nice on your car, be sure to post up pics when you get the refreshed set back and installed.

Btw, Mustang owner here too. Fun cars. My family has had several. I was driven to kindergarten in a '69, my wife had a '65 Shelby, her mom had a '64, and I was sorta due for one. (My kids loooove it! Whenever I take them for a drive, they yell "go faster, punch it!")

Here's a little test video clip I made with a video cam on my back bumper. Turn your speakers on, sounds pretty nice. No, not close to stock.

http://www.vimeo.com/5090384

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'm already super careful driving the car since its pretty low. The previous owner seemed like a complete tool so I'm actually glad to be getting rid of all the crap that he did and making these wheels personally mine. So far HRE has been a pleasure to deal with and their warehouse was super clean inside. I'll post some pictures when I get the wheels back in a few weeks.

Hey Super D,

Car sounded nice in the video. I'm guessing full Bassani? I'm running their headers on my Cobra.

 

Wow, you've got some ears!

Yep, full Bassani.

Ceramic Coated Bassani Longtube Headers
Bassani High Flow Cat X-Pipe
Bassani Catback Exhaust System

And a long list of other mod's.

 

it is nice to have a three piece wheel so that you can replace certain sections but with my old set of HRE's, i was constanty getting my wheels repaired. The inner barrel is not strong and any pothole will easily bend the rim.

guess its just the cost of having nice wheels. in my personal experience i told myself i would only buy 1 piece wheels from now forth.

 

Thanks for replying. What model HREs did you have and how old were they? On my repair bill, they have the new barrels being 6061-T6 aluminum. I could be wrong, but I'm not sure if they used that grade on their older wheels?