Tag Archives: safety
Buying Aftermarket Wheels
Aftermarket wheels is one of the biggest markets in the world, measured in billions of USD. Due to increasing numbers, it not surprise that many new companies have appeared in the market to get a share from this big pie.
Especially companies from far east have started to manufacture and distribute alloy wheels in US and European market. Selling at very cheap prices, these aftermarket wheels have rapidly become very popular in the world market. But it did not last very long for customers to understand the quality and safety issue about these cheap alloy wheels.
If we come to think from a customer’s point of view, everyone wants to purchase a nice set of wheels at a cheap price, but what about the quality of the material? After all, we will be driving on these wheels and since they are carrying the whole car’s weight on the road, they should be manufactured according to some safety standards.
That is where a quality manufacturer separates itself from these companies.
European market responded to cheap alloy wheels by setting standard and safety rules for all manufacturers. According to ETRTO (The European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation), wheels and tyres are recognised as making a major contribution to road safety. Therefore they are required to meet specific technical and safety regulations. European manufacturers have to comply with these regulations otherwise their products are not allowed for international trade, export and import which will obviously have an effect on the business.
Setting these regulations is a very good idea for this type of market. First of all, it is good because the safety standards have been specified clearly on alloy wheels. They must manufactured by a certain quality aluminum material, must meet the technical standards and must have gone through a series of quality checks before selling.
Although the regulations and rules are introduced clearly, there is still a gap in the market where low quality alloy wheels find customers. Buyers have to be careful about a few details when buying a set of aftermarket wheels.
1-) We cannot know all the wheel brands in the market so make sure you check the brand and manufacturer on the internet. If it is serious company, then they should have a website with all information you will need.
2-) The wheels that are coming from an European country is very likely to comply with the safety regulations.
3-) Also ask the reseller if they offer any warranty on alloy wheel packages. Low quality wheels cannot last very long so these manufacturers offer a very short period of time like 6 months.
4-) A proper warranty period should be at least 2 years and there should be a warranty certificate given by the manufacturer in the wheels package.
A few examples for what the warranty should be covering:
All part of the property are under our guarantee.
During the guarantee period any malfunctioning due to production and montage faults, will be fixed and all necessary parts will be replaced without any charge with any under name.
Goods; In case of repetition of same technical failure twice within 1 year period from the date of delivery or due to continues malfunctioning because of repetition of 4 different technical failure;to exceed the 30 days for repair.
Procedure; a technical reports which are prepared by service station or seller, agent, agency, importer and producer shows the product is nor repairable; are changed with free of charge.
The terms above is a good example of a proper warranty. Resellers, dealers or the distributor has to offer this to the customers. So make sure you confirm that with the seller before buying the wheels.
Wheels are very important for a safety drive. Please do not underestimate the quality of the product.
By saying that we are not suggesting you to buy the most expensive wheels on the market. There are some manufacturers who produce high quality wheels at affordable prices. They offer 2 years warranty on all product range and also hold important quality certificates.