Are Alibaba Wheels Safe? The Truth About Alibaba Wheels

There is a growing trend across social media where car influencers show off their super cheap wheels that they bought from Alibaba and they try to make the case that Alibaba wheels are the exact same as the real wheels, but just a fraction of the cost. But is this true, and are wheels from Alibaba actually safe to use? The short answer is No and No, but continue reading so that you can understand why the answer is no. The truth may surprise you, especially if you have been feeding into all of the social media hype.

The first thing that I need to make clear about buying fake / counterfeit wheels from Alibaba , is that it is Illegal !! This means that you are breaking the law. Customs and Boarders Protection agents regularly inspect boxes that are shipped from China, and they can and do seize counterfeit and fake wheels from Alibaba. That means that yours wheels could be taken by US Customs and never returned to you. There is no refund nor reimbursement from the Alibaba factory or from US Customs when they seize your wheels. You have simply lost out, and end up with no wheels and no money. Also you can be fined for attempting to bring fake wheels into the USA. So you could out more money than you expected. Alibaba makes it really easy to buy fake goods, so you might not stop to think about if it is legal and if it is moral. The same people who buy fake BBS wheels on Alibaba would probably not go to a chop shop and by a stollen BMW M3, because they know its wrong and they know it is illegal.

Social media influencers have made the argument that real wheel brands are earning too much profit and are greedy. They claim that you can buy the exact same thing from Alibaba for a fraction of the price. But this is not true. There is no honor amongst thieves, and factories in China that are willing to make you fake wheels with the BBS logo, or HRE logo ect are not honest companies. Think about it, they are willing to sell you an illegal item, so why do you trust them when they say the quality and safety is the same as the real wheel. Below is a picture of a fake Apex wheel versus a real Apex wheel. Apex wheels are made in China, so one would think that the Chinese fake version would basically be the same as the real wheel. But that simply is not true. The fake wheel is super cheap, and the factory cuts corners in every possible way in order to get the price so low and still earn a profit. To the untrained eyes, the two wheels may look the same, but the fake version has a dangerous design flaw. From the front/ face view it is pretty much the same as the real Apex wheel. But look at the side of the spokes, and you will see that the fake wheel has about half as much metal as the real wheel. From a structural / engineering perspective, this is like building a house with 2X2 wood beams, instead of 2X4 wood beams. The 2x2 wood is cheaper and looks that same from one viewpoint, but it has half of the material and half of the strength. Take a close look at the two pictures below, and you will be able to see the difference in the depth of the spokes. This is why i can say that fake wheels on Alibaba are not safe. because they are made to look real, but they cut corners in areas that you might not notice, but those could be the most important areas in terms of strength.

Fake Apex wheel from Alibaba

Real Apex wheel.

The justification for buying wheels on Alibaba is that you are getting the same thing as the real wheel , but for Cheaper. Plus, most real wheels are either made in China, or made in the USA, with Chinese parts. So why pay more, when you can get them for cheaper buy going to Alibaba? First of all, that justification is simply untrue, as most fake wheels from Alibaba are copies of BBS wheels, which are made in Japan and or Germany, and BBS does not use Chinese material for these wheels. There are hundreds of wheel factories on Alibaba, and they all claim to has so much experience and expertise. But this is also a lie. The fake wheel market in China is relatively new. Even factories that have been making wheels for 10 years, do not have much experience with modern high performance cars. Real wheel brands like BBS and Apex and Litespeed Racing do a lot of R&D and testing on each new offering before they sell it to the customer. They test to make sure the wheels fit properly and can give you proper advice on what size and offset will fit your car. real brand even know what specs are needed to fit different OEM brake options. For example, Litespeed racing knows what size wheel can fit a Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brake vs a steal brake. Real wheel brands also do vehicle specific load testing to make sure that the wheel design is safe for the specific vehicle that you are planning to install the wheels on. While fake wheel suppliers only car about making the wheel look real, while also making it as cheap as possible. They do not test the wheel on a real car to make sure it actually fits, and they have no understanding of what size and offset range can actually fit. Below are pictures of a social media influencer who bought fake BBS wheels for his $100,000 BMW G80 M3, and the wheels did not fit. They hit the rear brakes and the wheels stick out too far past the fender. So there is nothing that can be done to fix these wheels. He just has to buy new wheels.

Fake BBS wheel does not fit on BMW M3

Fake BBS wheels from Alibaba, rub against the brakes of G80 M3.

When you buy from Alibaba, you don't know who you are really buying from. If you search through Alibaba wheel section and look closely, you will find that multiple suppliers will use the same pictures. They steal pictures from each other and repost them to make it seem that they manufactures those wheels. Don't think that China is all the same, and that all suppliers in China are the same. There are several levels on forged suppliers in China, with some using 6K ton forged presses, some using 10K ton and some using 12K ton presses. The super cheap Alibaba wheels that cost only $200 or $300 each wheel are made using the absolute cheapest materials, and are not as strong as more premium factories in China. The Alibaba factories often sell the wheels for less that is cost to make the wheels, and the only profit they earn is from selling the scrap aluminum that is left over after cnc milling. So even though your fake wheel is forged, but it still might be quite weak.

As a recap: Buying fake wheels is illegal, and your wheels might get seized by US Customs. Alibaba fake wheels are not the same as the real wheels, and even wheels brads like Apex that manufacture in China, can produce stronger wheels than the fake Alibaba wheel. Fake wheels undergo no testing, and are made using the cheapest materials and are made cutting corners to reduce production cost. Fake wheels often fail because they cut corners in critical areas of the design, which greatly impacts the structural rigidity of the wheels.