The differences between expensive and cheap wheels
How do cheap alloy wheels differ from expensive ones?
And indeed, the spread of prices for alloy wheels of the same size is too wide (sometimes several times over): how do you choose wheels without paying too much money, while still getting the quality you need to ensure safety and the car’s standard handling?
You need to understand that everything you can read on this site about how cast wheels are made is theory: the quality of the finished product depends very heavily on the quality of the alloy and on how strictly every stage of the process is followed. Given that, when choosing a wheel manufacturer you need to study reviews and tests of its products carefully, and if there are none online, buying that manufacturer’s products is, to some extent, a risk. Unlike, say, engine oils, car wheels do not go through certification at independent laboratories, so the only criteria available to a motorist for judging the quality of alloy wheels are reviews, price and common sense.
As with all other goods, the price of wheels includes the cost price (including the cost of labour in the country of manufacture), delivery to the end customer, and a premium for the brand (the trademark). On top of that, the price can have a marketing element to it, for example dumping (selling at or even below cost price) to break into a new market. As far as wheels specifically go, paying for the brand generally makes sense, but paying for a “fashionable” design and other cosmetic features generally does not.
In any case, when buying wheels you need to think first and foremost about not buying a fake, because it is counterfeit wheels that most often fall short on quality. So it is strongly recommended that you do not buy alloy wheels second-hand, from unfamiliar sellers at the market, and so on. The best-known case of counterfeit wheels being sold on a mass scale is the virtual brand replica wheels, which are, in essence, fakes in any case, simply with quality that varies because there are so many makers of them. But specific well-known wheel brands are counterfeited too, so buying fake wheels is actually not that hard at all.