Rota's are knockoffs! why didn't anyone tell me.

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NickBeam

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Rota slipstreams are a knock off of the Spoon SW388. The Spoon wheel weighs just over 8 lbs, not sure how much the Rota weighs but It's probably twice that. Also, Rota wheels are not forged, there cast. Now that I know what I'm looking for I've found lots of cases of Rota wheels and other knockoffs breaking. How did Rota's get so popular with people who race if there a cheap heavy knock-off? Has anyone on here ever had a Rota wheel crack or break on them?
 
Rota slipstreams are a knock off of the Spoon SW388. The Spoon wheel weighs just over 8 lbs, not sure how much the Rota weighs but It's probably twice that. Also, Rota wheels are not forged, there cast. Now that I know what I'm looking for I've found lots of cases of Rota wheels and other knockoffs breaking. How did Rota's get so popular with people who race if there a cheap heavy knock-off? Has anyone on here ever had a Rota wheel crack or break on them?
well rotas are cheap knock offs, and that why ppl buy them because there cheap..but they are lite weight, and ive heard alot off ppl bending them and stuff but ive never had a problem in the past with them.. but the slips are 11lbs for 15s and 14 lbs for 16
 
if your not going to be helpful than STFU. Nearly all of your comments are worthless and sarcastic.
lol but he's right. You're asking a question that has been answered a million times. So search on here and more than likely on H-T to get your answers.

As far as the weight of Rotas, they ARE NOT twice the weight of there 'brand name' counter part. 15 inch SW388's weigh around 8 lbs, Rota Slipstreams in the same size are around 12 lbs. They got popular because 1) a brand new set of 15's can be found for $500, sometimes less and 2) they are still lighter than most wheels in the same price range.

90% of the import scene has people on a budget, so it's $2000+ for a set of Volk TE-37's or a set of Rota Grid's for $500... you choose...
 
if your not going to be helpful than STFU. Nearly all of your comments are worthless and sarcastic.
whoa buddy, no need to get your panties in a bunch.
1) a brand new set of 15's can be found for $500, sometimes less and 2) they are still lighter than most wheels in the same price range.

90% of the import scene has people on a budget, so it's $2000+ for a set of Volk TE-37's or a set of Rota Grid's for $500... you choose...
i have a set of real TE-37's on my nissan. it's annoying because now everybody thinks they are knock-offs. doesn't do any good to buy the real thing any more when people think it's a fake.

same think with LV purses and expensive jewelry. might as well buy the fake because everybody assumes it is anyways.
 
i have a set of real TE-37's on my nissan. it's annoying because now everybody thinks they are knock-offs. doesn't do any good to buy the real thing any more when people think it's a fake.

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all they have to do is look at the friggin casting in the wheel..
 
Who cares knock offs or not. I got an ebay 4-2-1 header knock-off as can be and it's holdin up great so far and I've been doing at least one red-line pull a day since I wired in vtec. With Rywire's topnotch wiring subharness by the way EXCELLENT quality shipping took forever but it was worth the wait well worth it.

Only thing that sucked about it was that the o2 sensor (4-wire) was stuck and stripped as hell to my old manifold, so I had to use the 1-wire from the d15b vtec and splice it into the 4-wire subharness it's ghetto as hell but I'm not having a cel for o2 sensor :D.
 
Well...the main reason for the price premium on name brands is that they tend to be a little better quality and they have greater performance. A $150 ebay header is nowhere near as good as a $1500 SMSP header (HP gain difference of about 15hp).
 
Actually my ebay header was only $60 shipped haha. And I'm pretty sure it's close to the performance of a DC 4-2-1, and yea, a fucking $1500 header damn well better gain me at LEAST 15 hp.

By the way, after I finish up my exhaust with an ebay test pipe and catback I'm gonna get my set-up dynoed just for fun at the TSTC tech institute in sweetwater haha. Wonder what numbers I'm making with my set-up looks like this (items in red are coming soon):

d15b vtec swap with tranny and ecu
Akimoto Racing Sports short-ram intake
ebay header
ebay test-pipe
ebay n1 style 2.5" catback

So I'm gonna get that dynoed for the hell of it and then dyno again after I get my nitrous kit. I'm gonna take a wild guess that the above set-up will make around 135-140 hp at the crank maybe 145 this is judging by the stock specs of d15b vtec it's supposed to make 128 stock.
 
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I'd say 10hp is probably a decent assumption based on what you've got. With a ported head + SMSP header, fully tuned exahust you'd probably get 30hp over stock.
 
I'd say 10hp is probably a decent assumption based on what you've got. With a ported head + SMSP header, fully tuned exahust you'd probably get 30hp over stock.

Umm...how exactly would you "tune" an exhaust? lmao but I may send the head out to get PNP'd ;). By the way how much do you think a PNP with a good clean-up and lubrication would cost?
 
Oh. I thought you were just supposed to buy an exhaust system in all the right dimensions rather than actually tune it unless you're talking about machining it and bending it all custom.
 
The reason you pay $1000 for a header and $500 for a Spoon wheel is because alot of time and money went into engineering them to what they are. Thoes knockoffs are basically an exploitation of someones money and hard work.
 
And those knockoffs in a way steal a lot of money from the original developers of the good stuff because not a lot of people want to pay that kind of money for a wheel or header. But I'd DEFINITELY buy those Mugen rims for $1,000 a set if I could afford it.
 
I guess i'm sensitive to stuff like this because it happens in the field i work in. I work at a composites shop, and everything we do is extremely labor intensive, so alot of engineering time goes into designing the manufacturing processes going on.

Recently the we discovered that the head of sales was sending pictures and drawings of our tooling to a composites shop in mexico. The guy got fired and is currently being processed by the law; however, this company in mexico, which has far lower labor costs, now has our technology for nothing. Fucking pisses me off.
 
The bang for your buck curve is not linear, it's exponential. For top of the line equipment, engineered to the highest specs, you're going to pay 10x more than a product that delivers 75% of that performance. Before you jump in and say, you'd have to be a retard to buy that stuff, realize that it's mostly professional racers using that equipment and getting that extra 5hp can be a huge advantage for them.
 
did u not know about the spoon wheels or they sell them to u as spoon wheel i dont get it dont feel bad there the nicest knock offs your gonna get
 
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