A question of Wheel Authenticity
 

Good afternoon, I've gotten myself in a little bit of a pickle. I have been wanting a set of the Vulcan XK R-S forged wheels both because I like the design and just as importantly because I want the weight savings. Shopping these vs aftermarket forged wheels, staying genuine seemed like a great choice.

I purchased a set from a wheel refinishing warehouse and they just arrived today to be to my eye, very obvious imitations. The first obvious flaw is they weigh in at nearly 32 lbs, which would be the standard weight for a 20" cast wheel. The second is a complete lack of markings on the inside of the spokes for part numbers, country of origin, etc.

Contacting the seller of the wheels they insist they are genuine because of the stamping barrel of the wheel picture below.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...ce4238218b.jpg

Now, I may have never had this specific wheel in my possession before, but I've never seen a factory wheel marked this way.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...87429bea1c.jpg

The seller's comment is, "This is 100% an authentic wheel."

Would anyone happen to have this specific design of wheel on hand that they could look at the inside of the wheel and conform my suspicions or even better, weigh one in comparison. Maybe I'm wrong and these really are made in Taiwan and weight 32 lbs, but that doesn't sound right....

Any comments to prove my case would be very helpful.

Thanks so much!

What did you pay for them, including shipping.

Plent of wheel photos but I can only find this inside view showing the markings on my current Kalimnos wheels, As I recall every other alloy Jaguar wheel I've seen has similarly had the manufacturer's markings on the spokes in raised letters.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...acf0b4b91c.jpg

Graham

I paid a bit over $1,000 for them delivered. This was the primary source

Home page | Factory Wheel Warehouse who insists they are genuine and are getting offended that I tell them otherwise.

But yes, as GGG notes, I've never seen a wheel not etched in some way on the back of the spokes or at least on the seating area. I've got my other XK and XJ wheels here as well as plenty of others of different manufacturers that are marked in the same way.

The country of origin alone is highly dubious, as well as the type of stamping. It just looks like a cheap knock off but the seller won't agree.

The face looks OK, but it's a refinished wheels, so it is what I expect. The price is fine for really about any Jaguar for a set, but I only bought them because they were supposed to be the forged wheel.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...0c95ccb66f.jpg

Not sure what to say exactly as the price really is quite good, I just didn't want another cast wheel set as I have plenty...

Maybe there are multiple variations of Vulcan wheels that not all are forged? The front wheels weigh in at 31.5 lbs vs my Sentas at 32.5. It would seem to me that them being forged should have more of an effect than just 1 lb? Though, Vulcan's are 9" wide for fronts vs 8.5 for Sentas, but still, I expected more of a weight change than that.

What makes you believe that the Vulcan wheel is forged, and not cast? Didn't the price indicate that they were cast alloy? Forged wheels are much more expensive.

To the best of my knowledge, only two Jaguar XK models came from the factory with forged wheels - the Europe-only 4.2L 2008 XKR-S and the 5.0L 2013/14 XKRS-GT.

See my posts ##22 and 23.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-tough-186289/

If you asked the vendor "Are they forged?" and he replied: "Yes", then perhaps he misunderstood your question and confirmed your suspicion that they aren't genuine.

Contact them and ask them.
Forged Wheels - SuperAlloy International

I was going by the assumption of forged primarily by press releases for the XK R-S and also the sales brochures for North America

http://www.auto-brochures.com/makes/...%20XK_2012.pdf

I would take them to a good tire shop and at least check to see if they are round. No Joke.

Vulcan wheels are defo not forged but cast, the ones fitted to the XKR-S GT were however forged and mightily expensive, I almost got my hands on a set but that was an epic fail, new from Jaguar they are £11k a set!!! No name designation for them as they are just too rare

As to the finish and markings, I have a set in my conservatory and have just (now after midnight her in the UK) gone and weighed them for you :)

Rears are 10.5J and weigh in at 17.3kgs/38.9lbs
Fronts are 9.5J and weigh in at 16kg/36lbs

Natch I used human scales which may not be accurate. Also (and I'd not noticed this before) the wheels unlike any I've had before don't have a raised/embossed part number but on the inside of the rim...the bit that's hidden by the tyre it has a manufacturers part no and manufacturers date.

If the wheel's been painted over you'd not see it


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...e2fc90ea2f.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...5e6e96414a.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...452186f7fe.jpg

$1000usd=£760gbp and I paid £850 for my set, typically they got for £1500+ but bought the fronts and rears from different ebay suppliers as a 'best offer' So I conclude that you got a bargain.

As to weight saving I have wortec rotors which save me 20kgs/45lbs of unsprung weight, which is more than a forged set of alloys would :D

Wow. Thats the best example ever of this forum working.
What are the odds that anyone has a set of unmounted Vulcan wheels laying about and willing to measure them in the middle of the night.

Why do you have a set of unmounted vulcans in your conservatory mate?

I bought them to mount winter tyres on, but never got around to it as it simply hasn't got that cold.

Plus I've fitted a set of cross climate+ (sorry CeeJay!) to my C-HR for sub 10 degrees and am using that instead.

Current alloys are nice enough, and has been commented on, black wheels disappear on a white car....whereas the original alloys fitted stand out a wee bit more and add definition :)

Most likely will sell on, or else just shod them in MPS4S's (sorry again CeeJay) in Spring and keep as spares, my local mobile mechanic just charges me £15 to swap alloys over.

pic of current alloys, the GT alloy and my spare vulcans below

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...d01f002ba4.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...631959c806.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...cba89d920c.jpg

:icon_clapclap:

Saving the day and proving, strangely, that everything I had been reading for days is actually false! All the marketing and reviews for the 2012 XK R-S in North America that noted anything about the wheels say the "Vulcan are forged light weight wheels." There is no mention of a deviation for the GT version anywhere.

Now this make me highly suspicious that all the "forged wheel options" listed in the sales brochures for the F-type are also more of this "Faux Forged, just kidding, made in Taiwan almost knock offs." I'm pretty disappointed, if the forum had not chimed in I would have pitched a fit and insisted they were replicas.

See page 61 in the link below of "Genuine Forged F-Type wheels."
http://www.auto-brochures.com/makes/...pe_2014-v2.pdf

I still like the wheels, but see, here lies the rub, I didn't want to put them on a Jaguar, I wanted to put them on my Volvo estate. I already had a set of wheels for it that I very much liked, but was keeping an eye out for a forged option. I sourced a full set of 4 fronts and was really excited that I found a forged set of wheels that I liked for less than $4k.

So now I have two sets I like and it's a question if I care enough to mount tires on them since they weight exactly the same as the wheels I already have.

:( :icon_wheel:

You get snow in VA. Mount some snow tires on one of the sets and go play in the white stuff. It's a Volvo estate, it's made for that sort of thing.

I do the same thing in WI with my Impreza, although I just use steel wheels for the snow tires. ;-)

If I had a white XKR, and sitting on a pile of rims, I would try a set in white. It looks athletic, light-footed in person. And not as common as black. Only some cars can pull it off, the XK has to be one of them, so I think?
It looked stunning on the Ferrari.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...aaf616e2d5.png

Honestly, for my area of Virginia the amount of snow we get a good set of All Season tires is that's needed year round for an awd car. I am currently running a set of 18's though for this purpose though, and the gray on black was a stronger look than I expected, part of what made the gray Vulcans appealing.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...88bdac782f.jpg

The wheels I started with are the "correct" Euro spec correct wheel for my car. Please excuse the low resolution

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...d01f8e3c57.jpg

Which are an 8x20 weighing at 31 lbs. I current have these off and am over 1/2 way through sanding them down to a raw polished aluminum finish. I'm refinishing them myself and of course it's being a far more time consuming job than I expected.

I do have stacks and stacks of wheels though. I'm in the salvage business by trade (scrapper they're called on the other side of the pond) so finding wheels is never difficult. Currently I've sold off my actually usable Jags, but kept more than a few spare cars around for parts. Hah, you might say I'm a car farmer by trade. Cars grow surprisingly well in this VA red clay.

Hey why dont you contact the company I provided a link for.
Its got their name on it- and they claim only to make forged wheels.

Maybe these wheel are a forgery instead of forged.