I got stuck stuck in a storm while driving back from my buddy's house which is a couple hundred miles away. It's the first time I've even driven my car in the rain, and hopefully the last! The barrels of my HRE 542r wheels filled up with water, and COMPLETELY threw the balance off! It felt like the car was going to shake to pieces when I got over 70mph or so! They sure look pretty, but those are not the wheels to have if you daily drive your car!

 

I think that's characteristic of reverse drop center wheels in general. Conventional rim configs (with the stepped lip outers--mine, for example, also HRE's) have the contours in the reverse and don't have issues w/water.

 

Let me add to that, HRE really suck even in terms of quailty. I had my HRE547 for 6 months. They went thru about three rain storms and I didn't clean it for about a month. I cleaned them today to find that the chrome on the lap is flaking off. Can you believe that! On both the front and back rims. I didn't pay $1300 a rim to get this kind of quality. I know a lot of you on this board has HRE's, is anyone else having this issue.

Gobie

 

Did HRE chrome them? I know they really don't like to do it because of problems like this. I think I've had problems with flaking on just about every rim I've ever had chromed. Damn! You left your car filthy for a month??? lol

 

I had a set of 540s on another car which were out of round from the factory. I have a friend that had the spokes crack on his 547s multiple times which required them to be recalled. I have yet another friend that had 546s which never held air from day one.
From my personal experiences, those of my friends and those of what I have read, I would never recommend HRE to anyone.

 

Hmmm I've never had any problems with them other than the rain thing, but that's just the nature of the reverse lip beast.

 

The same thing happened to me. I honestly thought the wheels were falling apart.

 

FYI HRE does not chrome their wheels anymore. They were having too many problems with the chroming outsourcing. So if you bought your wheels recently and they were chromed, they werent chromed through HRE!

 

I had a set of 545R's on my 540i, and it was my daily. Everytime it rained, I prayed. The car shook VERY violantly when decelerating off of the highway. That was my first, and last set of HRE's. I run K29's on my Porsche now, and haven't had a problem. I have hit massive potholes, and even though I have 25 series profile tires on the rear, and a 5" lip they have never deformed. Oh well, HRE's have always just been "stylish", its not like people purchase them for there non-existant light weight, and durability, right?

 

As Dave (Super D) had mentioned, it had to do with the barrel for the reverse lip model. This applies to a lot of reverse lips wheels, not just HRE.

 

The lips are chrome by HRE, at least i recieved it in HRE boxes and packaging. Does anyone know if they will warranty this type ofdefect.

Thanks
Gobie

 

HRE don't chrome their lips. Someone else did that for sure.

 

HRE does not form metal. everything is sourced out. chrome is always a option though they don't recommend it.

 

I know Sean has had the same issue when he had 19's. I also know he said HRE was very good with customer service for anything but the rain issue was not solveable. When i had an issue during valve stem replacement, which we were able to fix locallly, my contact at HRE said if we couldn't I could send the rim and they would fix for me. I think they stand behind their products but probably people buying certain rim designs should be warned about the water issue since it's a known problem.

 

I have 841R's with chrome lips. I haven't had a problem with the chrome, quality, or even rain imbalance. My wheels have been great and I'd buy another set.