I run SSR GT1s on my own car, and there are more than a few guys here at Tire Rack who run the Comps on their own vehicles.
I understand the concerns posted here regarding the SSR competition if you look at only the number of posts regarding this wheel. In seaching across various forums, there are very few posts directly from customers who have had personal experience with bent wheels. There are a number of the negative posts that are either repetitions of the same complaint or statements from a third party.
There were understandable reasons for many of the damages reported, such as impacts with significant road hazards or mounting machine damage by a shop. We don't have the specific reason for every replaced wheel. The number of replacement wheels is consistent with what we see in any brand wheel. We work only with manufacturers with whom we have full confidence in their design and production expertise. All of the wheels we sell meet or exceed either the Japanese (JWL/via) or German (tuv) testing authority standards. They exceed US DOT standards by a considerable margin. The Tire Rack representative responsible for working with wheel manufacturers came to us after 14 years with BBS in both their racing and street wheel programs. He has considerable experience in wheel design and manufacturing techniques. We would not accept product from a manufacturer if we were not confident in their design and manufacturing capabilities.
I"ve posted this before, but feel it is worth mentioning again here :
SSR does perform destructive testing on random production samples to ensure consistent high quality. They X-Ray test every wheel they produce to check for hidden structural problems. The material for the wheel is delivered to the mold as a cylindrical billet of aluminum alloy. All billets are made from a precise alloy formed in a specific process that aligns the material in a spiral pattern. The weight of the billet is specific to the wheel being formed. The alloy is heated to a specific temperature and forged to the basic wheel shape. SSR then machines the wheel to specific applications. They optimize the machining so that they wheel meets the load requirements of the vehicle using the least amount of material. We have found that in general the demands for lightweight, strong wheels in the Japanese market are much greater than in the US and the SSR wheels meet the Japanese market demands well. We have found that SSR does as much if not more specific vehicle application design work as any wheel manufacturer we represent.
That being said. There are other wheel options out there that are worth considering, like the OZ SL's. I suppose my point of this long post is that if you like the OZ's better appearance-wise, and are willing to pick up a few more pounds in weight and save some money over the Comps, then go for it, its a great wheel! However, if you'd be buying this wheel only because you were scared off by concerns of the quality of the Comps, I'd ask you to reconsider.
