HRE vs. Fikse wheels
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Joined
·
4,030 Posts
Fikses can be had for a little less money. You can get them sooner in most cases as well. For racing it may not make a difference, but HREs can be had with a high polish or chromed wheel center whereas Fikses only come with their technifinish which isn't as lustrous as HRE's high polish center. Both can be had anodized. I had Fikse FM5s on my last vette and have HREs on order for my 02Z. Both are excellent wheels. 
I've heard that the Fikse's are much lighter than the HRE's. I had a set of HRE 540's on my Acura (8"x18") and they weighed 21 lbs (Chrome Centers/ Polished Rims). I read an article about 6 years ago by Fikse wheels, and they said they cut the weight of the stock Corvette wheel in half from 32 lbs to 16 lbs. I can't remember which Corvette wheel it was, but I was very impressed. Must have been a C4 wheel. I bought the HRE's for my Acura Rl, and was more concerned with appearance than unsprung weight. Any thoughts??
I wrote this a while back in response to another wheel thread here.. I decided to hold off on posting it. The info is dated, so I post it now just as an FYI..
About five years ago I needed some strong 16x12's for a road racing application with TRANS-AM slicks.
Mind you, I had friends who had ripped the centers out of wheels running big slicks while autocrossing. Road racing is far more brutal. A whole season of *heavy* autocross is often less than a single day at the track. So I was looking for *strong* light wheels (rear slicks are 27x14).
I considered Duralights due to their favorable cost and light weight. But feedback suggested they were fragile and probably more suited to autocross.
I initially went with HRE's. There were some issues with lug nut seat inserts (only half the holes had them), the offset not being quite right, and poor deburring on the center castings. They weren't able to correct after a second try.
I think it took about 6 weeks to get the wheels and then I had to ship'em back and get'em again only to find that nothing had really changed.
The wheels they have today are a very different design, so I'm not in any way implying that these comments still apply. I haven't even had a chance to look at their current wheels closely.
I then ordered a set of Fikse's. Those took a really long time. They apparently hadn't done the centers in quite that way before and had to generate a new cutter path for the CNC machines.
Just as it seemed they were close, Boeing sent a big job to Jim Fikse's primary vendor for anodizing and my wheels had to wait 3-4 more weeks.. But when I finally got them, the quality was outstanding. They completely blew the HRE's away - they weren't in the same league.
Unfortunately, Jim made an error in the dimensations. He had a drawing of my brake measurements and simply didn't look at one of the critical dimensions. They would require a 3/4" thick hub-centric spacer to clear my calipers.
He offered to make the spacers, but knowing how hard I was going to drive this car at the track, I had to decline. If I ever switched hats or hubs, I'd need a new close tolerance set of spacers, etc. Not to mention the worries of thick spacers.. I hated to do it, but I had to send them back.
From what I have been able to see, the HRE wheels of today look mechanically similar to what Fikse was doing back then. Based on what I saw 5 years ago, I'd go Fikse over HRE in a heartbeat. At that time, Fikse was doing aerospace quality work, HRE was makin' wheels.
BBS.. Ah, BBS. There is a reason why they supply so many serious pro teams. These are the guys who can supply a pro rally team with 60 sets of wheels.
I called them on a Monday. My wheels were assembled on Tuesday, shipped Wednesday and arrived on Friday. They were perfect. I was completely stunned.
They were very different from the Fikse's. The Fikse's had a perfectly machined anodized finish that made you want to treat them as art. The deep magnesium cast centers of the BBS's made them seem a lot more rugged. They've been flawless workhorses over the years.
Five years is a long time, and I'm sure both of these vendors have grown a lot. All of the vendors were a pleasure to work with, all were professional.
About five years ago I needed some strong 16x12's for a road racing application with TRANS-AM slicks.
Mind you, I had friends who had ripped the centers out of wheels running big slicks while autocrossing. Road racing is far more brutal. A whole season of *heavy* autocross is often less than a single day at the track. So I was looking for *strong* light wheels (rear slicks are 27x14).
I considered Duralights due to their favorable cost and light weight. But feedback suggested they were fragile and probably more suited to autocross.
I initially went with HRE's. There were some issues with lug nut seat inserts (only half the holes had them), the offset not being quite right, and poor deburring on the center castings. They weren't able to correct after a second try.
I think it took about 6 weeks to get the wheels and then I had to ship'em back and get'em again only to find that nothing had really changed.
The wheels they have today are a very different design, so I'm not in any way implying that these comments still apply. I haven't even had a chance to look at their current wheels closely.
I then ordered a set of Fikse's. Those took a really long time. They apparently hadn't done the centers in quite that way before and had to generate a new cutter path for the CNC machines.
Just as it seemed they were close, Boeing sent a big job to Jim Fikse's primary vendor for anodizing and my wheels had to wait 3-4 more weeks.. But when I finally got them, the quality was outstanding. They completely blew the HRE's away - they weren't in the same league.
Unfortunately, Jim made an error in the dimensations. He had a drawing of my brake measurements and simply didn't look at one of the critical dimensions. They would require a 3/4" thick hub-centric spacer to clear my calipers.
He offered to make the spacers, but knowing how hard I was going to drive this car at the track, I had to decline. If I ever switched hats or hubs, I'd need a new close tolerance set of spacers, etc. Not to mention the worries of thick spacers.. I hated to do it, but I had to send them back.
From what I have been able to see, the HRE wheels of today look mechanically similar to what Fikse was doing back then. Based on what I saw 5 years ago, I'd go Fikse over HRE in a heartbeat. At that time, Fikse was doing aerospace quality work, HRE was makin' wheels.
BBS.. Ah, BBS. There is a reason why they supply so many serious pro teams. These are the guys who can supply a pro rally team with 60 sets of wheels.
I called them on a Monday. My wheels were assembled on Tuesday, shipped Wednesday and arrived on Friday. They were perfect. I was completely stunned.
They were very different from the Fikse's. The Fikse's had a perfectly machined anodized finish that made you want to treat them as art. The deep magnesium cast centers of the BBS's made them seem a lot more rugged. They've been flawless workhorses over the years.
Five years is a long time, and I'm sure both of these vendors have grown a lot. All of the vendors were a pleasure to work with, all were professional.
I considered the Jongbloed and Simmons wheels as well.. I the Simmons were nixed because they are made in Austrailia (I felt that was too far to deal with for very custom wheels). And Jongbloed seemed small and not widely used.
One question to ask is what you'll do if you damage a wheel in 10 years..
One question to ask is what you'll do if you damage a wheel in 10 years..
Joined
·
3,213 Posts
Mufflerbearing,MUFFLERBEARING said:Fikses can be had for a little less money. You can get them sooner in most cases as well. I had Fikse FM5s on my last vette and have HREs on order for my 02Z. Both are excellent wheels.
Change that to 'had' HRE's on order. You should see them by Thursday, Friday at the latest, at your door.
Less than 4 weeks turn around time
We emailed you also.
Let's see some pics after they are on.
Thank you again for your business.
RG
Your 543's
Joined
·
4,030 Posts
Just a point of fact about anodizing. Most of the aluminum rims on the market are a 7000 alloy. Anodizing will turn the rims gray to a very flat mill finish. What some manufactures do is a process called "Bright dip". This applys a high luster to the aluminum and a good base for clearcoat. Buffed and waxed makes a very favorable look. But unlike chrome will not crack or flake with age.
This is sounding like mr science, I'll quite. MY2cents
This is sounding like mr science, I'll quite. MY2cents
Joined
·
3,213 Posts
RG--
Oh yes--can't wait--those red brake calipers will look awesome behind those wheels!
RG--be sure to check out www.gunterring.com
It's a new motorsport country club in Frisco---it will have 3 tracks plus lots of other amenities.:guiness:
Oh yes--can't wait--those red brake calipers will look awesome behind those wheels!
RG--be sure to check out www.gunterring.com
It's a new motorsport country club in Frisco---it will have 3 tracks plus lots of other amenities.:guiness:
Joined
·
3,213 Posts
Yep, just saw your post on MISC about it. Can't ever have too many tracksjnation said:
RG
Joined
·
3,213 Posts
jnation,
Guess what? They are shipping to us tomorrow. I'll see ya' next week with them
HRE is back on a 'normal' 4 week time frame they tell me and I'm ordering up some stock...hopefully I can resist the 543's that come through
RG
Guess what? They are shipping to us tomorrow. I'll see ya' next week with them
HRE is back on a 'normal' 4 week time frame they tell me and I'm ordering up some stock...hopefully I can resist the 543's that come through
RG
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Join the discussion
