alin2

I'm not going to wade into the proprietary offset debates, but I do want to vouch for @WheelsB .

I'm not a huge addict or connoisseur of aftermarket wheels although I've owned 3 previous sets of HRE, 2 sets purchased via WB and 1 set purchased via TAG.

Where David at WB was super helpful, in addition to discussing offsets, was in his responsiveness and sound advice re: visuals (he actually steered me away from a more expensive wheel S104SC since he correctly pointed out in OEM sizes the wheel would look smaller than the monoblok P104SC). He also had a good picture of every wheel and finish I inquired about. He committed to helping me sell on consignment my P204s from my previous R8. Oh, and he's super price competitive.

I did my due diligence especially with aftermarket wheels that are >$10k for a set, and WB was the most responsive, helpful, and price competitive.

My 2 cents.

Tobeit

I actually agree with you from all I have seen and that is so much more important to be a successful seller than a secret offset. That's my point it's not neccesary.

minn19

It would annoy me to spend that much on a set of wheels and not know all of the specs. I, like many others here I’m sure have bought and sold many sets of wheels and it’s obviously very helpful when reselling to have the offsets. I’ve bought Forgeline wheels and they had no problem giving me the offsets, I’m guessing they work quite hard to provide a quality product as well.

I also don’t get the Wheels Boutique claim of competitive pricing on HRE’s at least. I’ve only received full list quote from them. Last year when I was deciding on which wheels to buy for my 992, I emailed them asking for a quote on a set of HREs. I got an email back asking if we could talk on the phone, I asked if I could at least get pricing first and then we could make time to talk and never heard back.

Not saying they nor HRE are necessarily bad, obviously many people are happy with both of them. Point of the story is there are many other quality brands that are sold through a lot of reputable vendors so it pays to call around sometimes.

Wilder

@Tobeit thank you for bringing this up. It's not difficult to figure out the best possible fit for any given car. It just takes a bit of time and homework. Knowing that a wheel dealer has that information but won't share it unless a purchase is secured completely turns me off from buying anything from them. It's arrogant and pompous over something that is not a trade secret and is available to anyone. It never fails to amaze me how people's egos get in their own way of doing business and making money.

I recently attempted to get a set of custom made wheels for my GT3 that required a minimum of five sets to place an order. I created a thread on the GT3 forum to solicit others who might be interested in buying one of those sets. This vendor proceeded to question the quality of the wheels when in fact they use the exact same quality standards than the likes of BBS and HRE. Again, it blows my mind how people do the exact opposite of what they should do in order to build a business. Here's the link for those who want a fun read: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...with-pics.html

ndmiller

Many brands incentivize resellers to NOT advertise a discount on their products, called MAP Minimum Advertised Price. The incentives are large, and while a reseller won't advertise a discount (print, web, email), they are still free to sell at whatever price they wish (Thank You US Government). SO, while I don't know anything about HRE, they probably wanted to tell you pricing, rather than put it in an email to avoid advertising the discount.

These policies exist across most if not all product sold at retail for large recognizable name brands. It's why you have to put something in a cart to see the price sometimes when you're buying online.

alin2

The custom aftermarket wheel space seems like a pretty competitive one.

NO ONE doing ANY due diligence is paying retail pricing for most HREs or other reputable manufacturer's wheels. And, I can assure you WB IS SUPER price competitive.

From asking around, HRE dealers may also have to contend with MAP policies set by HRE...although I'm speculating as to why most HRE dealers I inquired with email quote retail pricing.

Shogunade

I betcha Josh at Meraki and Eric at Supreme will beat their prices. 😉

alin2

How do you know I didn't contact them?

As with all major purchases including our beloved 992s, it's worth doing due diligence.

minn19

I’ve gotten email quotes a couple of times in the past from WB before with no issues in the past until the last time. They were not competitive.
I’ve never gotten a quote on HREs (FF or Forged) that was less than list and this was from quite a few different vendors. Every single one claimed HRE wouldn’t let them. I’ve had no problems getting email quotes that had nice discounts on many other brands from the same (various) vendors.

alin2

I can assure you for all 4 sets of forged HREs (P40SC, P101, P204, P104SC) I have not ever paid retail and all had decent discounts. Definitely worth calling around.

minn19

Good for you, that wasn’t my experience and as stated a couple of times now, I did email/call around, it didn’t matter. No biggie, plenty of brands being sold by plenty of vendors. As you also said, it is a pretty competitive market.

AlterZgo

This is what makes buying super expensive wheels a PITA sometimes. Some vendors will want to talk to you instead of just giving you a price, or push you or some sort of commitment. Well, how can I make a $15K decision without knowing all the details first? I asked one vendor (not WB) 3x what's the price and they kept giving me MSRP pricing and said they would give me a deal or just ballparked some numbers. So I asked what's that actual deal and could never get a straight answer. However, every time I've spoken w/ Eric or Kim at @SupremePower , they straight up tell you or email you immediately here's retail, here's what discount we can give, here's approximate wait times, no BS, just straight up clear explanations. After going back and forth with another vendor for a couple of weeks and never getting a straight answer on price, I ended up buying rims from Supreme Power after a couple of emails b/c they didn't waste my time. We are talking about $10K to $15K+ rims. We are all adults and business people. We are not kicking tires. We are ready to buy and don't have time to F around. I appreciated that Eric respected my time and was very transparent with pricing, offsets, etc. Did I get the best deal? I have no idea b/c the other vendor never gave me a price. But it doesn't matter b/c Eric didn't make me jump through hoops just to get a straight answer and he actually calls or texts me updates on what's going on with my order.

alin2

Sounds like you're happy with your aftermarket wheels which is great!

I do think it's likely MAP policies by HRE that prevents dealers from emailing prices other than retail. As I said, every email quote I got was initially for retail list pricing but with the caveat to call for a discussion of prices. It wasn't until calling, that I got significantly more competitive pricing.

minn19

Agreed, the above is what has kept me from buying a set of forged HREs. I’m tired of the games at these prices. I had it down to a set of HREs, Forgeline and the Vossen’s I ended up buying. When I go to buy a set of track rims I’m going to get Forgelines, loved my experience and previous set I bought from them. They got back to me very quickly with a nice price with no games.

I’ve heard and had great experiences with Eric/Supreme Power. If I ever buy my Kline Inconel exhaust, I’ll give him a call.

minn19

I can understand that, but I can’t understand the ghosting. He very easily could have said something to that effect in a follow up email.