I've been daily driving my Buddy Club 17x9 rims for over a year now, and about 5-6 weekend events of HPDE with no strength issues. And they only weigh in at 14.4 lbs. I saw an old thread on here where they were trying to get a 18x10 shipped over, but not enough takers. Those supposedly weigh 16.1 lbs. If I saw those show up, I'd pull out the credit in a heartbeat.

 

though i have no evidence or objective reason to disagree, i would say that your logic is not sound--just because you have had no problems does not mean the wheels are strong. but again, i haven't heard reports of those wheels failing, but just logically speaking that even high-end brands like Volk do not make wheels that light is quite alarming. and i think you could comfortably assume that buddy clubs are not as strong--it is merely a question of are they strong enough. lightest wheels on the market for 1/2 the price of the next heaviest?

here is some food for thought:

buddy club seat rail welds failing:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=703146

buddy club exhaust welds failing:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=95335

(i drive a s2000, hence the s2k forum. i'm sure you can google for more examples.)

 

I agree that just because they haven't failed or been damaged yet, doesn't mean they are bulletproof or anything. But then again, a higher price doesn't always equal a higher quality. Does a $3000 set of Volks buy that much more quality than a $2000-2400 set of Buddy Clubs? I'm simply saying I haven't had any problems, just throwing something else into the statistics bucket.

 

that is true--good point. however, in this case, i do know volks are worth their price. there was a magazine, forgot which one, but they actually measured the density of the volks vs 5zigen fn0r? vs enkei rpf1 vs something else. turns out the volks were almost 2x as dense as the next competitor. that's pretty impressive. now, they also tested each wheel on a car and tracked them for time--and the results were inconclusive. so, whether a better wheel = better time is questionable. but there's no doubt that not only are volks one of the lightest, they are also one of the strongest.

i personally have 2 sets of ce28's for my s2000--one on street tires, and one for r comps. i was running the street tire set at streets of willow and spun out. when the car came back on the track, the wheel clipped the side of the pavement and totally bent up the knuckle. what used to be -3deg camber was so positive, it pushed out my fender. the wheel was all rashed up... quite a bit of rim ended up missing on a 3" section. welp, the next time i put on new tires, i watched the balancing........ still perfectly straight and true. balancing came out fine. i dunno if any other wheel would have survived that.

 

If you don't mind going for secondhand maybe you can find some Weds TC-005
18x9.5=17.6 lbs. I got them in 17x8 and they are under 15lbs.

 

nudge, are you currently in japan? How much is a secondhand weds tc105n 18x9.5 +10 go for, if bought locally in japan? I currently have a pair of these and in need of anther pair. Pls help.