OEM vs replica

[reconabe]

I was looking at getting some m-parallel wheels. There is a substantial difference in price between the replicas and the OEM wheels. IS there a difference in quality. I dont like to buy crap, but I dont like to waste money either. any ideas?

[NLR]

I happen to have M Parallel replicas on my car and so far so good. I even hit my left front wheel with a median pretty hard and the wheel held up perfectly. IMO, you can't beat the value of the replica M Pars. Essentially you can pretty much buy 4 wheels for about how much one OEM one would cost.

Contrary to what alot of people say on this board, I would recommend Lakeshore wheel and tire. That is where I got mine from and couldn't be happier with them.

[Fastx525ixGuy]

Ive heard that replicas can be extremely heavy. Just make sure you know the weight before you whip out the wallet.

[carcrazed4life]

Extremely heavy, don't go through TUV testing or anything like that usually, finishes are subpar, etc. But if you buy pricey wheels and end up having mishalfs with curbs, potholes, etc... they might be for you.

If you search hard enough though, OEM 7-series M parellels can go for as low as $600 used in decent condition without tires. I'd do that over replicas IMHO. Remember, 18" M-parallels from an e39 wont fit due to the different centerbore size. So OEM M parallels only fit 7s or 8s.

[NLR]

FYI, I weighed my stock 17' double spoke II wheels with tires (both front and back, staggered setup) and they were about a pound or two heavier than my 18' M Parallels with tires. Both sets have Michelin PS2's.

[carcrazed4life]

FYI:

in 17x7.5:
Contours are 22.3#, DSII are 21.9#, DSI are 21.3#, and LTWs are 19.5#s.

A Michelin PS2 in 225/45/17 weighs 23#. So the DSII front wheel would weigh almost 45# exactly.

A 225/40/18 PS2 weighs 21#s. The 18" M Parallel Replicas in 18x8 weigh 28.8# so that yields almost 30#s. Now it seems like that is a 5# increase at each corner to me. Even simple 1 peice wheels from Breyton end up being 26-28#s.