A Question About Wheels

[mikelo]

I haven't been around much the past couple of weeks between work and the local Goodguys show. Anyways, I was talking with a friend who does 3D renderings, who just happened to have a similar idea as I have had for a while now. Since he has almost all wheels from several wheel manufacturers, he wondered what kind of demand there would be for accurate, true to scale, replicas of real life wheels. It is just in the planning stages now, I am just trying to see how much, if any intrest there would be for a product like this, along with an idea of how much you would pay for them. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

[JamesW]

I would love to see scale replicas of real wheels, KMC, AR, Lowenhart, Giovanni, etc. I think anyone building a scale replica of an actual 1:1 car would love to see them as well. I think as high as $20 would be a fair price.

[george 53]

20 bucks for a set of 4, WITH tires sounds fair. Pegasus can do it so we KNOW it's doable,But, if your gonna be copying REAL wheels, won't those a$$hole Lawywers be callin bout trademark, or Patent infrindgement?

[Harry P.]

I agree. Copying someone else's work (especially if it's copyrighted) is asking for legal trouble. And licensing fees, even if the company was willing to license you to make reproductions, would be cost-prohibitive.

After all, there's a reason that the tires on the new kits don't have manufacturer lettering on them anymore..

[Guest Gramps-xrds]

Why not reproduce steel and artillery wheels and tires. Some of the old dodge and plymouth stamped spoke wheels would sell like hot cakes and no worries bout copyright things.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Gramps-xrds

[Ricks]

the copyright issueis real easy to overcome..Do it just like the big boys do.. Change some of the angles a little and call it a day. Look at torque trust wheels there about 10 1:1 makers of them. All a little different. As long as you change the wheel a bit you should have no issues. as for tires a sidewall like mr model does would be nice. simple with size and his name on it.. Gives it the detail without worry of copyrights..

If you do it I will buy a whole bunch. You can never have to many wheels. Ive looked into doing my own wheel line but its out of my budget now. Wheels in 18-24 inch scale would sell. Anything smaller wont sell much remember xs tuning wheels. I would love to see some billet style wheels. Centerline, Bonspeed, Bad billet and so forth.

[mikelo]

I know the tires are an issue. We haven't really talked about them too much, but I did tell him that I thought tires should be included. As far as the licencing, While we were disscussing this, a top dog from Billet Specialties walked by, stopped and talked pretty buddy buddy to him. He already does a lot of workfor all of them, hence how he has so many styles in 3D on his computer. Plus the way we are looking at doing it would also make them a little different from the real ones. The tires will be a seperate issue. We still have to get together and talk more about the wheels, and how to be most cost effective.

Thanks for everyones input. It's not far from what I was thinking.

Mike

[Jello]

Only IF someone would produce factory steel wheels for '60s-'70s cars, I would be more than happy to pay $$$ for them! Even wide steel wheels would be great. Perhaps if someone was to make the wheels in 3-pieces and one can change out the centers for a different one? Finding good chrome reverse wheels is hard.

My biggest problem and I really wish someone could produce those Ansen 5-slotted aluminum wheels..theres nothing like a nice set of polished aluminum wheels! Even Cragers would be great!

I feel the wheels/tires we chose for that finish model car makes the difference between a winner or a so,so model pretty the same way a paint job does.

~ Jeff