I just bought some 20's at 1k per wheel. I looked at every possible wheel at that price. The HRE's are good wheels , but they are a little overpriced. Corrrect me if I'm wrong, but some of their designs have been around for a while so that in itself should drive the price down a little.

 

HRE's are amazing. Are they worth it? If you have them you think they're worth it. If you don't you may not.

 

of course they're worth the money

 

HREs ONLY look good on a porsche and BMW M models, thats just my opinion. They look good on premium sports cars. Its a racing inspired wheel.

 

Question for you Bob regarding the weight of a particular HRE Wheel ( Hre 547r 19x8.5 and 19x10 ).

What is the weight of this wheel https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=88416 ?

I am curious to know the difference between the weight of that wheel compared to my OEM 17 inch chromes (99 GS400). Sometimes I think it is best to stay with the stockies rather than going to a bigger rim simply because of the weight penalty. Please convince me otherwise!!

 

The answer is not always so clear cut. Is a Patek Philippe worth the money? How about a Rolex? Breitling? Omega? Rado? Seiko? Casio? Timex? Calvin Klein?

Somewhere in the continuum each of us makes the worth decision. Depends on what you value.

 

I am interested to learn what the OE 17s weigh... I can tell you, they are not light! I have a set in my garage, but they have tires on them. Anybody know the weight?

Here are the numbers for 547R:
19x8.5 high disk: 26.4 lbs. (big brake capable)
19x10.0 low disk: 26.6 lbs. (3.0" outer lip)

Our wheels are occasionally 1 pound or so heavier than our competitors- but in most cases, we are lighter. We recently weighed our 440R series wheels versus the another brand of three-piece wheel (sold through the Tire Rack). Size-for-size, our wheels were about one pound lighter.

There is good reason for the way our wheels are designed. The center cross-sections are optimized to retain consistent strength throughout the different wheel styles. A fat-five spoke doesn't need as much cross-section as a more open style.

All HRE wheels must pass stringent Finite-Element alalysis (done in-house by our full time Engineer) and withstand intense radial and cornering load tests, performed by an independent outside laboratory. Sometime, we will 'fail' a wheel on purpose, to see what it will handle. Better safe than sorry. Like I said, we are serious about this. Our designs are created to meet techical & strength criteria first, aesthetics are secondary- I think we happen to blend the different properties extremely well. Did I mention we have been doing this since 1981?

One of the things nobody mentions beyond weight- rotating mass. If you can lower the rotational inertia, you can help improve acceleration and deceleration. Our inner & outer rims are very lightweight- most of the wheels' mass is concentrated in the center of the wheel. This is a good thing.

Also, the larger contact patch afforded by bigger/wider wheels and tires can help to offset a slight increase in weight. The 235/45-17 OE tires are really pretty undersized for a 3700+ pound car, let's be honest.
My GS400 is MUCH more enjoyable to drive with the 20s... wider IS better!!

Regards,

Bob

 

buy a Kia or Konigs. stupid statement, man. a lexus has better build quality than most cars, which means less downtime. if you buy cheap wheels or stick with stock, do you really think your car will be out of commission that much more than HRE? yeah yeah, dents and all that, but i believe it takes extreme situations and typically a retard to bend a rim.
knowing the right resources doesn't put everybody on the same playing field. gotta think retail

 

"just oh-so-barely worth it. what, $6 - $8k for most sets...that's just wild for something that serves the same as lesser wheels. quality and blah blah, and like they said, the wheels are overbuilt"


I won't bother quoting any more "stupid" statements.

On a side note, ever ride in a car with lesser quality wheels? Talk to those who have had 18"+ lesser quality wheels and then switched over to a high quality wheel...

To quote a good statement "HRE's are amazing" And so are any other top quality forged 3pc wheels.

 

a wheel doesn't really determine the ride when you look at all the other factors. performance is another thing, but we're talking small differences in the regular world.

i have cheap 18s, and good 19s and 20s, and prefer the cheap 18s if i want to really drive around.

lastly, there's no arguing that HREs are amazing. in case you didn't read the rest of my first post, i do actually like them and overbuild is a good thing

 

Hi Bob, thanks for the education.

I did not realize that an important consideration is the rotational inertia. What is the value of that factor for the wheel I asked about (547 R)?

 

BOTTOM LINE EVERYONE, HREs are a damn good wheel but some people dont have the 5500. Yea you do feel the difference with premium wheels and some garbage wheels. I used to have some 20inch enkeis and they felt heavy and unbalanced, got into some 19inch lorinsers and wow. You get what you pay for

 

I agree %100. I cant wait for my HRE's to get here. I used to own BBSrgr's from japan before they were availible here in the usa and they were some awsome wheels but i just needed something with more style so i went with the absolute best wheel out there, HRE baby.

 

nah, like i said, even with 540r series, if you get the right source, a set of 19 won't be more than 5 grands i think

bravo261, basically you go to most dealers other than HRE you get the cheaper price...

 

I think they were worth every penny.....