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      10-11-2011, 06:41 PM   #13
Eddy@ApexWheels
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Drives: E30 M3, F10 M5
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Bay Area, CA

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I'll go into great detail in a special thread on the subject later for now I'll just touch a few basic points:

JWL is a self "certified" test that is close to meaningless on it's own due to shady industry practices. It's performed in-house by the manufacturer, and it's cheated in numerous ways due to zero regulation. There is no master list as it's self certified, so you can't verify what is real and what is not. It's easy to fake (companies stamp many of the logos onto anything), and I could name many wheels that do not even conform to this basic test even though they claim they do.

JWL for that reason is no where near as important as true VIA and TUV certification. This testing cannot be performed in-house to receive an official certificate for a wheel. It has to be sent out them for independent testing. Manufacturers again lie about this process, simply because their in-house testing equipment has been certified to have the ability to recreate those testing standards. That by itself is again meaningless. That's like saying you take practice SAT tests in the same format the real test is given (no college would accept the self test).

To have a wheel certified by JWL or TUV, you first need your own equipment certified, and perform your own in-house testing using their standard. This means each wheel has to be crush tested multiple times in-house (not FEA). After in-house testing is done a sample is sent to the VIA or TUV for official testing by them (3rd party). If you do not send them a sample, then that wheel cannot be certified. They must have a real wheel and tire shipped to them to verify the results of the in-house testing. Once a wheel is certified it will be listed on an online registry database.

This is why I am more concerned about those that lie about VIA/TUV certification. It would be like making the claim that a car received a 5 star crash safety rating, when in fact the NHTSA never even touched the car.
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