Import Wheels.

[mad082]

i was talking to my mate who used to manage a tyre shop and he was saying that all the aftermarket wheels that come into the country on imports are illegal due to not being load rated high enough. apparently most wheels made in japan other than stock wheels aren't load rated high enough.

has anyone had problems with this when it comes to insurance claims and things like that?

[GTAAAH]

wheel load indexes? i didnt even know they had them.. Although i have seen a helluva lot of mis-loaded, illegal imported tyre combo's. Are The wheel load indexes the same amounts as the tyre load indexes? Ive never heard of an incorrect wheel indexing before, but plenty of tyre indexing.

Edited June 2, 2006 by r32 gts-turbo

[mad082]

yeahm i know all about the tyre indexing. makes it hard to get big wheels for mini trucks. i'm going to sus out the whole wheel thing tonight when i talk to him again.

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

maybe he was talking about tyre ratings. Alot of jap tyres don't have the correct certification on them which makes them not legal in aus. they are perfectly fine though.

I'm not aware of any wheel load ratings

[mad082]

no i'm pretty sure it is the wheels. will ask tonight. i think it is to do with the lightweight drift and race wheels etc.

if you look at a lot of wheels they will have things like 17x8JJ. i think the letters are the load rating.

[n15m0]

I think he's refering more to tyre load ratings that come from Japan...

Wheels??? Are u trying to say a set of Work/Rays/SSR forged wheels have a lower load rating that some bling 20" from Tempe??? I highly doubt so...

[mad082]

but you think about how light a lot of the import wheels are. when they are lightwheight race wheels then there is a chance they aren't going to have the strength that something chunkier does.

[mad082]

and 20" wheels aren't legal on most cars.

[D-limo]

This dose'nt make sense.. How is it possible then to get drift cars and such fully engineered? And why have'nt the Police caught up on this lucrative Revenue raising venture?

Sorry I think your mate is telling fibs.

[sedanlover]

the whole "20 inch wheels are illegal on most cars" thing... is wrong.

its all about rolling diameter fools!

[mad082]

yes i know it is all about rolling diameter.

ok, i had a chat to my mate and got the info. it is about the load rating of the wheels. a lot of import wheels haven't had any load testing done. if you look at australian wheels have a JJ or JJJ rating after the size. and the reason why they don't ploice it is because the japanese manufacturers caust on and started stamping their wheels with it, even if they haven't been tested so they don't police it.

it is one of those things, they got out smarted by the manufacturers and there is no way to test it without destroying the wheels so they gave up.

[D-limo]

lol cool.. Sounds good to me Bah "Structural intergrity" Who needs it

[J-Boy]

Forged wheels from japan are light yes, but that does not mean they aren't strong, in fact they are stronger than wot is produced elsewhere like taiwanese ones or even aussie ones...

[gazza750]

the whole "20 inch wheels are illegal on most cars" thing... is wrong.

its all about rolling diameter fools!

you are wrong there .

well in west australia anyway

we have whats called a plus 1 and plus 2 rule

that means you cn only go up to 2 inches over factory size

eg... r32gtr comes out with16 x 8 rims can legaly only go to 18 x 8 rims .

we cant go over 8 inches wide law here states that ya can only be wider than 7 inches if your vehicle came from factory with wider than 7 inch and if it did you cannot go wider than genuine factory width which is stated on the tyre placard inside the passenger side door

[gazza750]

yes i know it is all about rolling diameter.

ok, i had a chat to my mate and got the info. it is about the load rating of the wheels. a lot of import wheels haven't had any load testing done. if you look at australian wheels have a JJ or JJJ rating after the size. and the reason why they don't ploice it is because the japanese manufacturers caust on and started stamping their wheels with it, even if they haven't been tested so they don't police it.

it is one of those things, they got out smarted by the manufacturers and there is no way to test it without destroying the wheels so they gave up.

well my jap spec rims are rated at 680 kg load each when the stock gtr rims are rated at 650 kg each so my jap spec aftermarket rims are actually stronger than factory nissan rims

they are AME Circlar GTA

[scathing]

Wheels??? Are u trying to say a set of Work/Rays/SSR forged wheels have a lower load rating that some bling 20" from Tempe??? I highly doubt so...

You think the crud that Tempe sells are made in Australia?

[scathing]

and 20" wheels aren't legal on most cars.

That's not the case on the eastern seaboard (I've checked the VSI documents for NSW, Vic and Qld).

I could put 20" diameter rims on a MGB if I could find the right ones, and get tyres for it.

[mad082]

The rim diameter may be varied from the standard size but the overall diameter of the tyre must not vary by more than +15mm or -26mm.

taken straight from the qld transport website.