djlink21

So you can get a set of TSW's for a little over 1000 and some HRE's for 3200 ish. They both look very similar. Other than the price what's the difference ? I don't know much about wheels so I'm deferring to the knowledge of the hopefully unbiased forum.

http://www.tsw.com/alloy_wheels_nurburgring.php

http://www.hrewheels.com/wheels/hre-flowform/ff01

C7pimp

HRE 's are a much more attractive wheel, you have tons of options for finishes.

TSW are a bargain wheel though. Not enough choices at that price point, and the Cray brand don't do it for me.

On looks alone, HRE by a mile.

For value per dollar, TSW.

Glen e

The HRE'S are cast, I think, the TSW is rotary forged, a bit stronger. I like the Cray's and just mounted the ones below for 475 a wheel. Look at forgeline too, they are reasonable priced.

djlink21

They look almost the same.

CW4L

HRE's hands down the best wheels money can buy and are vastly superior in many regards including the testing and engineering that goes into any of their wheels before they release it for sale.

Any questions give us a call

djlink21

They may be true about the forged ones they make in-house but the FlowForms outsourced to a company Japan and a cast/forged.

leadville1

A true Forged wheel is much stronger than a cast wheel, Rotary Forging is somewhere in between. Z51 Wheels are forged, HRE wheels from the US are forged. When you get to the Free Form wheels in structural integrity I would argue if there is much of a difference between TSW and HRE, astheticaly though they are amazing. My BMW has BBS and I can say I have never had a structural issue with them in 14 years.

Wheels are getting better Rotary forging is definitely an improvement over a pure cast wheel and lighter. I wouldn't knock the TSW's or the Cray's they come out of the same factory.

I just bought some Cray's for a track wheel, I am keeping the stock Z51's as my street tire.

jdoelger

TSW look awesome in photos and in person and you won't need to refinance your home to own a set

Motohead279

I'm looking into Forgelines right now myself

RicK T

People keep posting that Z51 wheels are forged. I haven't seen any reliable source that confirms that as fact.

Do you, or does anyone, know of a source that says Z51 wheels are forged? Thank you to anyone who can offer a source.


Apologies to OP if this comes across as a hijack.

GZire

I thought that in one of the presentations by Chevy there was a picture of their presentation in the background that stated the wheels were forged?

I dunno, maybe I'm thinking about something else?

mjw930

Z51 wheels are cast, they are not forged. I have confirmed this with one of GM's wheel suppliers. The primary loading specs for the Z51 are 1800 ft-lbs for 70% of their duty cycle and 3000 ft-lbs for 30% of their duty cycle. ZR1 and the new Z06 wheels are rated at 3000 ft-lbs for 100% of their duty cycle which can only be achieved with a true forging.

Base C7 wheels are rated at 1800 ft-lb for 100% of their duty cycle, I.e. No track use.

I'm 90% sure TSW rotary forged and HRE flow formed come out of the same factory and aren't really forged wheels. The wheel is cast then the barrel is formed with a rotary press. The result is a barrel section that closely approximates a forging. Both are certainly lighter than a fully cast wheel but the part of the wheel that gets the highest load is still cast so in reality neither of these wheels are any stronger than the factory Z51 wheels.

To the OP's original question, there is no performance or quality difference between the TSW and HRW, only the price.

G352C6

Crays are actually manufactured by TSW.

I considered Crays for the new Z06 before the car was revealed. Good news for the wifey: I am no longer considering aftermarket wheels after the reveal. The z06 wheels in the grey with machine lip is a winner. This may be the first time I'm not getting aftermarket wheels.

leadville1

Then GM is flat out lying it is in their product brochure and their sales material.

CW4L

Completely incorrect about them being made in same places. And nowhere does HRE claim that their FF wheels are Forged. They are flow formed which is a cast wheel hence the exponentially smaller price tag than their forged wheel lines. You want answers all you have to do is call HRE and compare apples to oranges all, but you start making comments about things you aren't knowledgeable that does nothing but cause trouble.

Just the same as all forged wheels are not created equal despite the companies claim they use the same T6-6061 aluminum. There is a heck of alot more that goes into a successful wheel company than just Forged or Cast and cheap vs expensive. When you perform research and structural integrity on sets of wheels and make sure the wheels can withstand the conditions they will be subjected its at that point you know what you have. Most of these so called Forged companies are Private Labels with no quality control, poor lead times, and no follow up. Yeah you pay alot for a set of HRE forged wheels but being in this business along time I can speak from personal experience with everything from fit to finish there is not another company that stands behind its product like HRE. If there's ever an issue they fix it, they dont give you the runaround or some story. To get TUV approval is no small feat and their wheels have earned that, lots again of companies say they have that but they dont. If it looks like a Rolex and you buy it in NYC for 30 bucks is it a Rolex, I'm here to tell you its not. Only a true Rolex is the example of perfection, same with wheels and I'll leave it at that.

Walmart and Sears sell wheels as well so if you are looking for cheap, one off imitations there are plenty of them out there that will take your money and in a few months when you trade up, or decide for yourself what you really bought its only then that you understand what we are talking about here. If all these wheels were created equal you'd not see the presence HRE has.

Would you bring your C7 to a handyman to install your supercharger, tune your vette, or work on it? I dont think so, so why in heck would you trust a non proven company to sell you wheels at any price??? Those that understand quality know what HRE stands for and why they get the money they do for wheels. Trust me its not smoke.

Rotary Forged, Flow Formed, Flow Forged are all just fancy ways to say CAST but as not all Forged wheels are created equal don't believe for a second all Cast wheels are created equal.

Best of luck on your choices

http://www.hrewheels.com/wheels/hre-flowform/ff01

mjw930

Here's the final multi page brochure, no mention of forged.

http://cdn.dealereprocess.com/cdn/br...4-corvette.pdf

BTW, I thought the same but I don't think you will find any official document that calls out forged. I think some bloggers and writers published it early on but were mistaken.

djlink21

Guess I'll go with TSW since they're both "Rotary Forged". The money I save will go to tires and powder coating.

leadville1

If you search you will see GM claims Forged Wheels on the Z51

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-g...g-5-0-a-2.html

RicK T

Okay. Thank you! I've never seen that Powerpoint pic with Tadge and I never looked at that thread because of the title subject.

So, I guess that settles it, Z51 wheels are forged!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1586358122-post35.html

0HRE_Wheels

We can guarantee you our FlowForm wheels are not manufactured alongside TSW, under the same roof. Our FlowForm wheels are made in Japan by one of the best wheel manufacturers in the world - these flow-formed wheels are up-to-par with our standards in terms of production, quality and safety.

We prefer to stick with the term "flow-form" as it accurately describes what we are selling, in an effort not to cause any confusion with rotary-forged, which is technically not describing a forged wheel.