No longer a Rota fan.

Put some new rota SDR's(17x7.5) on my son's wagon a couple weeks ago and ones allready bent! He got 2 wheels on the shoulder to miss a deer and the front caught a little getting back on the road. He noticed a vibration sometime after but didn't make the connection. Took the car in yesterday and found the rim was bent with an inch of wobble. What crap! These had about a hundred miles on them. Been driving for 30 years and have never bent a rim. Would not recomend these wheels to anybody. They look good so could be used for static display but not for driving!

I've ran the same wheels (SDRs) for two years on two different vehicles without problems. What size tires did you have on them?

Put some new rota SDR's(17x7.5) on my son's wagon a couple weeks ago and ones allready bent! He got 2 wheels on the shoulder to miss a deer and the front caught a little getting back on the road. He noticed a vibration sometime after but didn't make the connection. Took the car in yesterday and found the rim was bent with an inch of wobble. What crap! These had about a hundred miles on them. Been driving for 30 years and have never bent a rim. Would not recomend these wheels to anybody. They look good so could be used for static display but not for driving!

 

Why don't you ask your son what "really" happened.

Way too many people have run Rotas(SDRs on my STI as a matter of fact) for many years with nary a problem.(Me included).They are tough wheels fr the price.

BTW,,Myself and many dads have heard the "I had to avoid a deer story";)

Something else, they have great customer service. Several have had theirs replaced at no charge.

 

Contact them.

Rotas are excellent value for the money. See about getting replacements and try and get the real story out of your son before slandering a company..

Why don't you ask your son what "really" happened.

Myself and many dads have heard the "I had to avoid a deer while I was trying to learn how to drift my Subie";)

 

Fixed for clarity

Yeah...bending them from just driving on the shoulder? How is that not questionable?

I've hit tons of bad potholes here in Jersey on Formula Mesh with 225/40/18s and mine are still fine. I'm actually surprised with all of these people talking trash about them.

i drove my leggy on tarmac II's in hawaii for 8 months...with no bends

Yeah I call bs. +1 for finding out the real story.

I had one of my Rotas (18x8 formula mesh) crack after hitting a pot hole. But I don't blame rota, the pot hole was about 10" deep and about a foot wide. I knew it as soon as I hit it the wheel was bent although I didn't notice any wobbling, just a flat tire the next morning. The sound the car made when it hit that pothole, I'm glad no suspension pieces were damaged.

 

 

Here's the rim...

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/zmarko/CrackedRim.jpg

hahahahah yeah your son Effed that wheel goosing around deer my ass! I think your recommendation won't fly in here bro

+ 1 Rota fan. Lots of miles on several different models with no problems.

so, not a fan because he hit a curb???

 

Sounds like your not a curb fan....

Also, benefit of the doubt, could've simply been one defective rim.

Sorry I offended you Rota fans. I had heard good reveiws before purchasing. It's possible there is more to the story than I'm getting and I may have been a little hasty in trashing Rota's. Since this is my first experience with them and having never bent any other rim, think I'll go with a different brand in any case.

Perhaps you really need to evaluate this situation, since you weren't driving. Did you check out the lip/curb/area your son went off the road on?

 

Did you contact Rota about this and see if they'll help you out somehow?

 

Did you have a thorough discussion with your son about the sound/feeling of catching this lip/pothole?

 

I know for me, my General Exclaim UHPs bubbled when I hit a pothole with my wife in the car. I blamed the General's super thin sidewall, but I also realized it was the hardest pothole I had hit in my car in ~50k miles at that point....my wife's head nearly hit the roof. I expected a blowout. If I hadn't been driving, I might just say "General's sidewalls are too thin"....but to be honest, I'm impressed they held up as well as they did considering the force of the impact. Still a thin sidewall (18 pound 215/45/17 tire)

 

Joe

Sorry I offended you Rota fans. I had heard good reveiws before purchasing. It's possible there is more to the story than I'm getting and I may have been a little hasty in trashing Rota's. Since this is my first experience with them and having never bent any other rim, think I'll go with a different brand in any case.

FYI, I don't run Rota's, I run BBS's. I know you didn't mention how old your son is...but I'm just about out of my teens and I remember the kinds of excuses and BS my fellow teen drivers made when they broke something or wrecked. "I drove onto the shoulder" could've meant "I freaked out and swerved into a curb at 50+mph".

 

I believe that people have more of a tendency to lie and redirect blame than admit they did something wrong.

I know you said he's a great kid (your son), but it takes a little time to learn how to avoid things that can bend rims.

Seen this with lots of youngsters far from being veteran drivers. They're too focused on the big picture to be attentive to things like potholes, bumps, etc. Just staying in the lane and watching out for other cars is a lot until you learn to do it without even trying.

 

Another thing to help bend a rim is low tire pressure.

Rotas are great value for the money, but go to NASIOC and you can find plenty of instances of people bending them (also consider how young and aggressive many NASIOC members are). Takes a nice hit to do it though. But then people bend stock wheels on here too. Nothing severely difficult to do, just hit something really hard and you can probably bend a wheel.

...Seen this with lots of youngsters far from being veteran drivers. They're too focused on the big picture to be attentive to things like potholes, bumps, etc. ....

 

That goes beyond charitable.

Way beyond.

But then people bend stock wheels on here too. Nothing severely difficult to do, just hit something really hard and you can probably bend a wheel.

The stock wheels are some of the softest stock wheels I've seen.

Looking for a junkyared wheel after I trashed mine was a pain in the ass. Took 3 cars to find a single unbent wheel.

Man I wish I had a Dad like you lol My Dad would have been like, ok no problem, you'll be driving with the spare tire or stockers for the rest of the summer until you can pay for a new wheel.

BBS's are awesome wheels, none the less, I hit a 1 1/2 deep pothole with 45 series tires and bent both front wheels. I was doing less than 30mph. Just because the company makes good wheels, doesnt mean he got a crappy set, or they hit in just the right way. BRAND NEW parts fail all the time. Just my two cents.

That goes beyond charitable.

Way beyond.

 

Not if the kid is inexperienced. Then anything is on the table, good and bad. If he knows what he's doing, that limits it to really bad luck or poor decision making (probably latter).

 

The stock wheels are some of the softest stock wheels I've seen.

Looking for a junkyared wheel after I trashed mine was a pain in the ass. Took 3 cars to find a single unbent wheel.

 

I bent 2 going over 1 ice berm! In a damn driveway!

hit a deer... thats why its great living in New England.... that one always works!

 

Like others said, I'd check the validity of his story. Not so much lying, but stretching the story to lessen fault.