[mikesis]

Originally Posted by ADV.1 Matt

ADV.1 Testing Procedures and documentation
Due to the recent rumors circulating the internet we felt it was necessary to explain our testing, engineering, and warranty procedures for those interested.
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Nice post. However I have a few questions:

Originally Posted by ADV.1 Matt

All of our forgings are initially engineered around a certain range of vehicle fitments / load ratings. Normally we design the forging die itself around a 2000lb. per corner load rating umbrella. This means that so long as all wheels using this forging are engineered around the tested / certified material thickness minimums based on the test certification, no further testing is required unless an order violates these guidelines for any reason.

You speak about "originally tested 2000lb / corner rating". What are you referring to? Are you referring to the forged blanks? A forged blank doesn't have a load rating! They have a material thickness, allowed tolerances, etc. But they do not have a load rating because it is a BLANK! It doesn't have any designs in it, any shapes, any finalized dimensions, any patters, it is a piece of aluminum, with a rough surface, with extreme run-outs, because it hasn't been finished! So how is ADV.1 certifying this? This doesn't make any sense. How are you:

1. Determining this sample has a load rating of 2000lb / corner?
2. Testing and certifying a forged blank?!?

You also say that as long as the wheels are designed at less than 2,000lb per corner they don't need any testing? Are you serious? Please tell me I misinterpreted that.

Originally Posted by ADV.1 Matt

For any wheels which do in fact contain material in some areas which is less than the tested / certified guideline minimums, we then use our in house xxx testing equipment. An example of this would be on wheels like our new SL series where they are engineered for the exact vehicle the order is intended for thus the material thickness tolerances may be too conservative for the subject vehicle in question. For example, if we're engineering a set of SL's for an R8 like the schematic below illustrates, the load rating of the vehicle is much less and the necessary material needed for safe use on this vehicle may be much less than the originally tested 2000lb / corner rating. With this being said, we use FEA analysis software to effectively determine the necessary material needed for this car. Once finalized, a physical test wheel is made for destruction testing on our radial and fatigue testing equipment which we've obtained for this exact purpose. Based on the resulting data of the test we then are able to confirm or deny the file which leads to either production of the wheel. revisions to engineering and re-testing, or additional reduction of material in order to further tweak the file for maximum weight reduction.

In regards to your SL product line, this is the only product line that you actually make the wheels weight optimized, you also make a physical wheel that is presumably structurally tested at STL Labs and certified. However, for this SL product line you charge $24,000 for a set of wheels. That's right. $24,000! So can we assume that you do not physically test your other products since they are sold for much less than $24,000 for the set? If you do test your other products, do you have any physical wheels that have been tested that you can post pictures of? Why do you test your SL product line but do not test your other product lines? Why do you pass on the cost of R&D and Engineering/Testing to your customer instead of ADV.1 being the one carrying that cost as part of product development?

Originally Posted by ADV.1 Matt

This is where it gets REALLY interesting.

This is a STL labs certificate/documentation for a testing done a 18x12" Porsche 5x130 wheel correct? It surprises me that the paperwork does not say ADV.1 Wheels or MHT Wheels anywhere as other documents from other companies do have the name but that's beyond the case. My point is, this wheel is a Porsche 18x12" wheel. For a Porsche rear you are looking at a load rating of at least 650kg. For the front you can go much lower, but for the rear since the engine, differential, axle, and everything is in the rear you need a much higher rating. On this certificate, you can see the test load rating is at 1200lbs or 545kg. 1200lbs! But yet the weight is listed at 23lbs? An 18x12" wheel with a 23lbs weigh will have a load rating of about 1600-1700lbs. So either you are making a Porsche wheel with a 1200lb load rating which is extremely underrated for that car or either you are making a Porsche wheel that based on 23lbs should have a load rating of around 1600-1700lb and are testing it at only 1200lbs per corner, of course it's going to pass!!!

Originally Posted by ADV.1 Matt

You have the same issue with your own internal testing rating the BMW wheel at 1200lbs. Of course it`ll pass. Test it at 1600lbs and that's a different case. You are pretty much undertesting your wheels and then claiming they are certified. Does ADV.1 have an actual engineer in their team?

Also, on your PSA documentation, it says "JWL" in one of the documents. Are you claiming your wheels are JWL certified or built based upon JWL standards? Why does it say JWL on those documents?

I don't know what to say. MHT is not a performance wheel manufacturer. They don't have any experience manufacturing performance wheels or motorsport oriented wheels, or being subject to strict tolerances and pushing the limits of engineering. MHT makes "bling" wheels. Big and heavy wheels for cruising and looking "good" and ADV.1 product line is reflecting that. It does not matter how many wheels you sell you cannot put yourself in the same level as the other manufacturers that build performance, track proven, and tested and certified wheels. And there is nothing wrong with making "bling" wheels. There is a market for all products but you cannot sell performance wheels when you have no background, prior experience, or proven record of how to do it and especially when you can clearly see that engineering is almost non-existing at ADV.1.

This failure is a result of lack of engineering. You take a forged center, cut it, attached it with some bolts to two different barrels, stamp a $20 aluminum center cap and charge $10,000 for it. If you had tested and properly engineered this wheel based on the vehicle application, style, hardware configuration, size, diameter, bolt pattern, offset, and even the tire used makes an impact, it doesn't matter if it's a 22" or a 26" this catastrophic failure could have been prevented. But with 100 sets of wheels coming each month (I'm right on that number am I not?) it is too much of a workload for ADV.1 to make sure all configurations are tested and properly engineered in just 4-8 weeks lead time and you decide to sacrifice safety instead of sacrificing a sale or extend your lead in other to prevent a 306Forged episode all over again. Engineering is the foundation of a wheel company, not sales. You`ll last a few years and then have to come up with another name unless you start taking engineering seriously.

This is where the wheel industry is heading and it is sad. Anybody with a high school diploma with virtually no startup cost can contact MHT or COR and start a "wheel company" and make expensive pieces of metal and call it a wheel company. No engineering, no testing, no certifications, nothing.

Out of all the wheel companies that are sponsoring this site, have you stop and checked which ones are even registered as a legal business? What's their legal name? Who's behind them? Is it a one man operation? Are they tested? Certified? FEA done? Do they have a physical location or just exist online? Do they have an engineer on board?

Think before you buy. Let's this thread be an example and serve as a knowledge base for your next wheel purchase.