A new campaign, dubbed ‘Genuine is Best, has recently been launched in Australia to help raise the awareness amongst motorists on the potential risks faced by them should counterfeit wheels be employed on their vehicles. The campaign is backed by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and is spearheaded by both Mercedes-Benz Australia Pacific and GM Holden.
To further highlight the importance of fitting genuine wheels to one’s vehicle, the campaign saw a demonstration take place at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground in which several units of the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG and CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake were fitted with both genuine and counterfeit wheels. Said cars were then driven over a pothole at 50 km/h to demonstrate the build quality between both wheels.
Unsurprisingly (and frighteningly), a piece of the counterfeit wheel broke off upon impact while the genuine units remain unscathed. A second test which saw the wheel hit at different impact points (between the spokes as opposed to at the spoke) yielded the same result with visible damage done to the counterfeit wheel.
“Travelling at 50km/h is a real-world speed and you can easily see people encountering this situation. A piece of rim breaking away is not only dangerous for the people in the car but also for those on the side of the road considering how far the piece flew. Based on those sorts of results I wouldn’t want to put those rims on my car,” commented Mercedes-Benz Australia senior engineer, Timothy Clarke.
Making matters worse is also the fact that said counterfeit wheels were purchased online with no issues encountered along the way whatsoever – the wheels themselves were advertised as suitable for use on the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG by the online vendor.
“This is not a handbag or hat. This is an item you’re placing you and your passenger’s lives on,” added Mercedes-Benz Australia Pacific senior manager of communications, David McCarthy. The campaign is set to shed more light on other counterfeit equipment that could see use on an individual’s vehicle. Wheels were used this time round because it represented one of the common parts of a car that an owner would replace.
GALLERY: Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake
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I feel sorry for those AMG cars…
So true, but still even Aus dollar using Global pricing… well in Malaysia aka Bolehland all price remain up even global pricing going down… Cronies policy??
This article has nothing to do with Malaysia at all, except to warn rim enthusiast dun by cheap replicas. Dun be childish. If you wanna talk politics only go back to Mkini, Harakah, Rocket
Kid do your car use rim, except you drive on Mars then nothing to do with Malaysia… This’s human Rakyat Rights to get fair pricing !!!
Oh I din know my car came from factory without rims, thank you for letting me know Your Majesty
My pleasure
Clearly john didn’t understand george’s statement about the rims. His english is not perfect but I think most people got it – “doesnt your car need rims? Of course you do and therefore this is relevant to malaysia”. But then john goes on about george saying cars dont come with rims. Poor comprehension la.
@Bass
Thank you for your understanding.
@Blass
Thank you for your understanding.
Here in Malaysia a lot of people buy taiwanese brand rim for the sake of cheap product. Although the look good but they easily dent and does not have the quality. So it better to stick to your original stock rim which is more quality product.
Now even worse,there’s a counterfeit wheels made in china too.They are not well balance,easily dent and you must do balancing more often.Agree with Khai,just stick with your original stock wheels.
Stock or ori Japan rims are best. But if wanna go for taiwan/thai, still ok as long as make sure reputable brand and not counterfeit.
its not about the country of manufacture, but poor quality “counterfeit” rims. There are many reputable aftermarket brands in the market, but the more popular they are, the higher the chance that they will be counterfeited.
Do we have other option than taiwanese replica rims when buying? Infact we are
paying as high as original’s in Malaysia. Thanks to gomens. Our live is at stake for those making moneys.
Buy from reputable brands otherwise stick to stock. Oh wait, the great George Abdul says your car dun come with rims, so you should salah Gov.
john, you drive on Mars so “nothing to do with you in Malaysia”.
Youre correct. Everywhere else sells cars with rim except for Malaysia. How true of you.
Your comment that started “nothing to do with Malaysia”… Now you keep talking about rim how childish.
Siapa makan cili, dia terasa pedas ;-)
Go back to trolling school la john.
The moral of the story is don’t hit the pothole no matter what rim are you using. Hoq abaout those kompang and rim besi on standard variant?
Tak apa…. kat M’sia….. asalkan gaya mesti ada…