Discussing the quality of a rim can be a difficult business, as different rims are built for different purposes, whether for performance, for looks or for overall toughness. As a repair specialist, I spend the most time thinking about toughness; i.e. resistance to bending and other forms of damage.
Most rims are composed of an aluminum-nickel alloy; less nickel makes for a light and agile rim but one that bends more easily under impact with potholes or other hazards. More nickel makes a heavier, more stable-seeming rim which does not bend easily, but is often brittle and cracks under impacts that will only bend softer wheels. The best rims occupy a middle ground between these two extremes.
While I have plenty of customers who choose rims primarily for performance, or size, or even “bling,” the vast majority of my customers are daily drivers who want good tough rims that won’t cost them huge amounts of money to keep straight and looking right. One of my best markers of toughness is how often I see a particular rim in for repair. Here’s a list of those rims I see least often, followed by three wheel makers to avoid at all costs.
5. Ronal
4. Konig
3. Enkei
2. American Racing
1. BBS
3 Wheels to Avoid At All Costs
1. Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia is mercifully out of business now, but many used sets do remain floating dangerously about. Avoid these – at the shop we call them “Milli Vanillias” because they're only pretending to be wheels. Mille Miglias are hands-down the softest alloy wheels I've ever seen, and they bend if you look at them wrong.
2. Sport Edition
Coming in second in the “incredibly soft wheels” division are the Sport Edition brand, which are still sold by Tire Rack and other distributors. Sport Editions are quite inexpensive and moderately good-looking wheels, but I see a set of these nearly every week, most often with all four rims bent.
3. Maya
In addition to being very soft, Maya rims are mostly designed with a curved outer edge that extends beyond the spokes. This outer edge is notorious for cracking under even moderate impacts, and a crack on the front face of a rim is most often fatal. We generally tell our customers that if they must buy Maya rims, they should really buy five so they have a spare if one gets destroyed.
