Could not pass up the price they were offering right now. Went 17's. Love the look of these. They are like $1200 for a set shipped. Made the decision easy over R99's.

Anyone have pics of their Froged Uber Grey rims on a DS/W mini. I think it should look good, but want to be sure.

If not, I'll post mine when I get them on next week sometime....

 

congrats on your SportMax wheels

 

At the end of the day the SportMax 003 (Palo Uber Signature series or w/e) are just like knock-off Volk CE28's...

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=86126

 

I actually could care less if the rims are made by Fisher Price...they look good, are light and forged. Works for me. But thanks to PGT for pointing out the major faux pas on my part....

As a Marketing guy, I love brand people like you. You keep me employed....

I had seen that post over on the GT board about these which turned me onto the price....

One more thing. When I look online, the SportMax rims look to have a different finish and are quoted at being 1 pound heavier (15 versus 14). I did e-mail PU when I purchased mine and asked for confirmation on this. If they truly are the same, then I would just go with the SportMax and save the $$, but right now my assumption is that the PU are different/lighter. We shall see. Regardless, if you wanted to "help" PGT, you could do it in a more friendly manner...

 

if I was any more friendly, you'd need a proctologist.

Nice of you to call me a 'brand' person, whatever that means. I bought the real thing - Volks (with assured quality, provenance and everything that comes with it from Rays)....you, a knockoff....wait! a rebranded knockoff with some über l33t nonsense that too many people have fallen for hook, line and sinker. Of course PU will tell you they are different. Duh!

I have no doubt that your new wheels are decent....most everything on the market today is (I considered Sport Max for my other vehicle). Just don't fall victim to the very marketing and 'brand' nonsense that you somehow think I advocate.

 

Well even though you bought the real ones, you still spent significantly more money than Nor_cal_Mini, which isn't the discussion at hand. The discussion at hand was wether or not Nor_cal spent too much for Uber rims which really happened to be sportmax rims. But, let's not beat a dead horse, he got rims he liked, and he spent money that he thought was fair, so let's leave it be.

 

The "real" comment proves my point. Had you said "Hey Nor-Cal, you might want to check out the SportMax rims as they are more inexpensive and many people believe these to be the same rim" then I would have said "thanks", but your post was obviously more about "ha ha! you got ripped off".

I don't know Palo Uber or SportMax from any previous experience, so brand played no part in it for me. I asked some questions, did some looking around, and made a decision. I traditionally buy BBS rims, but didn't want to spend that much on my $20K Mini. Again, looking past a brand preference for my needs this time around.

I'm glad Volks are the real deal for you and that they can't be topped. I'm going to go with the direction I've chosen. If you have some hard data on why Palo Uber stinks, other than the thread previously referenced, then you don't have much info for me. Like I said, PU claims a lower weight on theirs and I am not sure how they could subtract 1 pound of each wheel they knocked off. If I find their claim to be false, then I would certainly consider the SportMax rim. I looked as Kosei as well, but like this look much better.

Please don't feed the HypeBeast....

Oh yeah, I also bought the MINI branded Garmin 360 NAV. I paid more for that too as I wanted the warranty provided by MINI with it. Feel free to knock me on this as well.

I also think I am going with the MINI DPSM for the same reason. Again, I could have saved money and gone with some well known audio brand, but this was a better fit for me...

 

^ I think you are misinterpreting PTG's comments. The fact of the matter is that PU rebrands other manufacturers' products without giving them credit for the R&D and manufacturing. They go so far as to say that the other company ripped the design off of them. I guarantee you that a weight difference does not exist. Put the wheels on the scale when you get them in and prove us wrong...

 

I talked with Bryce today at PU. He claims the wheels are 14.8 pounds. So this means only .3 pounds lighter than SportMax. This could easily be two different scales. This means they could be the same rims.

He also states that SportMax is no longer selling the same version due to their actions. I am not sure if this is true, but the site I checked does note the SportMax as being low stock.

Either way, I could have saved about 300-400 on SportMax by my calculations. Even if they are the same, I am cool with the PU assuming they keep returning my calls and helping me out like they did today. My time is worth more than the $400.

I am going to look at the SportMax a bit more. I can always return the PU if they don't seem to be up to the standards I want. I won't say that PU blew me away with their explanations, but they answered the phone. Now, I just need to see the rims when the arrive and that will allow me to make a final decision. For now, I am about 85% sure I will keep the PU.

 

thank you...this is my point. For every wheel PU claims to be original and 'designed in Germany by Dietrich, ya!', we can find a correspinding, identical rim from either SportMax or Axis. PU claims they are being copied....that's a bit odd since nobody outside of NAM has ever heard of PU and the other brands have been around for quite some time. Targeted marketing is at work here. Doesn't make them better or worse....in fact, they are the same.

 

lol here we go again. again. again. again. again.

 

So let's bring the discussion full circle then to the post I made about 1 month ago. I paid $325 a rim, including Tax and Shipping, for these rims.

I want 17" rims that are light and forged. Someone suggest an alternative in this price range...Kosei KS T1 are not for me...

 

forged doesn't mean better! a cheap forged wheel is not as good as a quality spin cast wheel (like Enkei MATS). forged wheels have a tendency for catastrophic failure....they will crack whereas as a cast wheel will bend. A bent wheel is still functional (and possibly safe), while a cracked one is neither (not to mention it won't hold air).

Look at the Enkei RPF1 - strong, light and affordable. 17x7, 15lbs and $230 each. There are other options at this price range as well.

 

How about Center Line RPMs?
http://www.centerlinewheels.com/whee...ehicle&data=32

 

Motegi Tracklites
OZ Superleggeras
5zigen Fn01r-c
Enkei Rp03 and RsM

Will try to think of more...

 

Another rim that looks very similar to the Sportmax 003 and Palo Uber is the Brig MAG8
http://www.arcperformance.com/brigmag82.html

 

Those are pretty sick, esp. if the weight claims are true. Do you have any pricing info on them? I tried cursorily to find something online but was unsuccessful.

 

ssr.. those are up in uber price range i believe. and they look fabulous.

 

Agreed. The same thing could have been said without the bellicose wording.

That said, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the SportMax on the market before the PaloUber? (Because they do look strikingly similar.) Do you mean to say that PU originated the design?

On the same vein, the Volks (and I assume PGT means the CE28Ns) look a little different, with a deeper lip and a greater number of spokes. But they do indeed predate both the SportMax and PU by quite a margin.

Whatever the case, they are all beautiful rims, regardless of price paid. If the shoe fits, wear it.

Oh, and -- sorry -- I don't have any pics of a DS/W mini with the PU wheels. Don't forget to post some if and when you end up getting the wheels!

 

I'm running these on the street: MotoForge SG10, 17 x 7.5, 14.5lbs - Forged (with a flat center cap)


Whenever I can get track time, I run Centerline RPMs, 17 x 7.0, 13.5lbs - Forged.

 

My .02$

I have a set of the PU 18 X 7.5 in my garage (waiting on my MINI to arrive). I too went thought the same back and forth on the whole brand, who is coping whom nonsense. I looked on line at the sport max and the volks also.

I called and talked with Bryce, and after our conversation I got the "warm and fuzzies" from him. He seemed to be genuine and honest, although he could just be a great sales man. I did directly ask him who made their wheels and he assured me it was a company in the UK that made them for PU to their specs. I believe sport Max and Volks are not made in the UK; witch would support the fact that they are not rebranded wheels (although that wouldn't matter as long as they are quality wheels at a good price).

Now the first thing I did when I got them home was flip them over and check them for manufacturing stamps. Wheels will still have something stamped on the back of the wheel if you look. I found nothing from Sport Max or volks).

I think they are great looking wheels and they are a light as they claim. So I’m happy, and I think anyone who gets a set will be happy too.

 

After much deliberation, I moved today from a set of Palo Uber rims to the SportMax solution. I would like to share the facts and my thoughts on the debate in this and related threads for what it’s worth.

First, Bryce at Palo Uber was nothing but nice to me. They were extremely quick to not process my order when I asked it be put on hold. I can’t say anything negative about the way they treated me nor can I disprove any of the comments they’ve made about their product.

I would think that if Palo Uber were as evil as some people have suggested in various NAM posts, they would have said “Sorry, we’ve already processed your order and you’ll have to handle this as a return” hoping I would not want to deal with the hassle. There are some scenarios in which this wheel could actually be a PU design which SportMax infringed upon, even if the SportMax wheel was on the market first (i.e. PU registered the design, but was beat to market by SM). It may also be that PU is just too aggressive about the brand promise they want to deliver and have said some things they regret. Palo Uber is at worst misrepresenting the origin of these wheels but may also just be a small company who can’t catch a break and may not know how to handle a PR problem of this nature.

I looked at other solutions, mostly the SSR GT7, but could not find these rims in 17” or 18” anywhere. I really wanted to stick with 17’s.

In the end, I was able to get 5 SportMax rims for the price of 4 PU rims (good idea to have a backup since SportMax has stopped selling them). I believe these wheels are the same as the PU solution, though this is just my opinion. For what it’s worth, the PU version is only a few hundred dollars more and readily available. The SportMax solution is near impossible to find. I think I just got lucky. I probably would have gone back to the PU solution in the end as I like the design that much. As previously mentioned, I also have no reason to believe that this group is trying to defraud people. I think some people on PU related threads may have been a bit overzealous in their attack on this brand.

I hope this message helps anyone else who may have wondered about this issue…I’ll post pics when I get them on!

 

I'll have my PU on soon and I'll post pictures as I just got my MINI last night

 

Glad to hear of your experience. I think the issue had with PU, was that, in some instances, it appeared they were selling rebranded products claiming them as original designs and charging huge mark-ups for them. Then, on top of that, threatened to sue other companies. In addition, there was a period of time that no one could get ahold of anyone at PU to resolve difficulties. I am basing this simply on the threads I have read , one of which included a photo of PU rebranded struts, where you could clearly see the OEM label backing.