Currently I am having a hard time finding wheels available for the ELR. As I posted above I really want the Morder 007 wheel in black. I went to Les Schwab and they said they haven't even heard of that brand and gave me 4 brands with their sub-brands to look at. That was a waste of time as nothing was available or I didn't like any of the designs. Honestly I can't even believe that people can even buy 99% of the wheels out there they are so fugly. The ELR wheels are definitely a good looking wheel, I just have to have black and wanted a wheel with a little more depth to it.
The ebay store (AudiocityUSA) that features the Morder wheel of course states that they can deliver those things to you in 5 days...yeah right so I called and it took some guy 15 minutes to tell me they are out of stock. But he did say that a container would be in within 3 weeks with them. I don't believe it but when he said China I went - uhhh - crap. Then he said "all wheels are made in China". I knew that was BS but I'm sure he's right to a certain degree. I do know that Ford and BMW use Chinese wheels for some of their cars.
So, armed with the dark news that my wheels would most likely be made in China I researched that issue. It kinda hit me fast with the cost. The wheels I want and many just like them are going for about $1000 a set. I just thought it was a good deal. Nope, it's because they're made in China. I should have known better. Basically from all the wheels I've ever bought I thought about it and it makes sense that any American wheel is going to be 2 to 4 times more, which is what I've paid for all my other wheels (around $1700 to $2500 a set). Obviously there's wheels that are very costly especially when you go up in size. Then I read about all the counterfeit wheels made in China. They look just like the real ones. The examples shown showed how they try and fool you. If your wheel was a BBS-1234, they would put BB5-1234. That 5 is hard to see and notice, and then it's done in rough casting so it's even harder to see the difference between a S and a 5.
Then there was the website that showed what happens when you put on counterfeit (I think they were trying to say Chinese but didn't want to come right out and say it) wheels and then hit potholes. They showed this low profile rim hitting a pothole in slow motion at speed and you get to see the front part of the rim snap and go flying off! Of course the thin rubber of this type of wheel style isn't helping but it was to show that casting quality is an issue. And of course, if you're buying off brand or Chinese wheels, but a fifth just in case.
I'm going to keep checking back and see if they actually do get my wheel in. I'm not too worried about rim damage the 20" wheel isn't too low of profile. And I will buy a fifth just in case. At just $1250 for 5 wheels I guess that's not much money to take a risk on as compared to a lot more if they were American made. Of course I would gladly pay the extra if they were available in this country.
