3 piece wheel cost - is it worth it for a street car??

[ProdigyCustoms]

We sell quite a bit of Billet Specialties and they are a very nice wheel and a real bargain. You cannot really compare the very popular, heavily used much cheaper Billet Specialties to a much more expensive, less known, more exclusive Forgeline, Fikse, Boze 3 piece. Both are round and hold tires and do what they are supposed to do. Because they are so popular and such a good deal, with the Billet Specialties, you are very likely to pull up beside another car with your EXACT wheel at the local cruise or show. But unless you come to RTTHS, you most like WILL NOT pull up beside a another car with trick 3 piece wheels.

Cost wise? We sell the Billet Specialties for less then 1/2 the cost of our very best smokin deal on the Forgelines, so wallet heft is a big factor.

[DriverzInc]

I've said it before, but I have an ongoing personal argument with 3piece wheels vs. 2pc wheels.

All made from the same material, 6061-t6. 3 piece is repairable for anywhere from 300-400 dollars a wheel. 2 piece is repairable for anywhere from 300-400 dollars a wheel. Both can be re-shelled, or re-rimmed for about the same.

The benefit to the 3 piece is if you need "exotic" sizing that can't be achieved easily in 2 piece, like an 8.5, 9.5, 11.5, etc. If your looking at running, or can run just as easily a 2 piece wheel, that you love, don't get talked out of it because 3 piece is "better". "Better" is yet to be really proven in EVERY situation.

Lighter? in some cases three piece wheels are because some companies take the time to lighten out the spokes, and lighten out the pad. HOWEVER, Shott wheels for example does the same thing to all their designs, lightening out the spokes, the pad, and in some cases in other areas with added machine time. So, there is a two piece wheel, lightened out and in some cases, as in the Schott I-Force and G5 may even be lighter than some 3 piece wheels.

So take what you may from this information, but if anything, don't just believe something is better because someone tells you it is better. There are MANY contributing factors that go into each and every wheel that might make it "better" than the other, and the criteria that makes any wheel "better" is dependent on the end users definition of "better".