WheelProfessor.com

The OEM’s vs Aftermarket Wheel Industry

I’ve watched this battle brewing for over 20 years. Now it’s getting serious. The OEM’s (original equipment manufacturer, i.e. GM, Ford, Chrysler) want custom wheels or as they say “styled wheels” to be sold for new vehicles only by them. I figure since they can’t make a profit on their own, they want the profit the Aftermarket is making. Don’t confuse the OEM’s with the auto dealers. I believe the dealers like the situation just the way it is. The dealer buys custom wheels from a distributor and puts them on new cars then adds some profit. The dealer’s happy because he made a profit, the customers happy because he had a huge selection of styles, finishes and sizes and didn’t pay an arm and a leg. The only one that’s not happy is the OEM’s. As it is, custom wheels are still affordable. Buy them from a dealer, who got them from the OEM, and the prices will be “Whoa Nelly”. Ever have to buy a replacement plastic hub cap from you local car dealer? You’d think they were made of 24kt. gold. Now imagine what a replacement 20” chrome alloy wheel would cost. Also consider the limited selection of styles and sizes they could offer.

Speaking of styling, the wheel styling that comes from the factory leaves a lot to be desired. The OEM styling is the main reason the Aftermarket exists. Two years ago, the Wheel & Tire Council within SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) gave a life time achievement award to a General Motors Engineer from their wheel division. I think the reason he got the award from the Aftermarket Wheel Industry is because his designs were so butt ugly, he helped build and sustain the Aftermarket business. You’d think that the OEM’s would go out and hire some of the Aftermarket wheel designers just to give them a little help. I would think that would be a whole lot quicker, less expensive and easier than using lame ass warranty and complicated system monitoring devices to try and discourage a bunch of innovative, entrepreneurial gears heads from being in business and, heaven forbid, making a living, much less a profit.

To make a simple statement and sum up the situation, the OEM’s want the Aftermarket Wheel Industry to go away, at least in the new car market. They have made several attempts in the past to make this happen, but have not succeeded. They have used voiding factory warranties, but couldn’t make that stick. Now they are using the new federal TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) and the ESC (electronic stabilization control) requirements as their latest assault. Both these systems are going to be mandatory equipment on all motor vehicles at some point (TPMS – Oct. 2007, ESC – 2012). These are mandated by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). How they do this, for example, is by making the TPMS sensors different on just about every make and model so they are difficult if not impossible to mount them in Aftermarket wheels. Then they program them (the sensors have small radio transmitters) with different signals (and their secret) so you have to use the original sensor and cannot use a replacement or universal sensor. The Aftermarket guys aren’t sitting still though. They are coming up with creative ways to get around the OEM road blocks. Some vehicles (Fords for one) come OEM with a strapping system to strap the sensor to the rim inside the tire. The Aftermarket is making universal straps that can replace the OEM straps and fit several sizes of wheels. Most sensors are made as part of the valve stem, so the sensor sits inside the rim and tire and the valve stem fits in the normal place. In many cases the sensor won’t fit the contour of the Aftermarket wheels so the sensor can’t be used as intended. If you leave the sensor out then a warning light comes on somewhere on the dash. In some cases, the vehicles ignition system is disabled as long as a sensor has a negative reading. In short, there’s an annoying light that’s always on or worse case, the vehicle won’t start.

The Aftermarket is coming up with some pretty neat ways to circumvent the different systems. They’re creating mounting devices that attach the sensor in an Aftermarket wheel inside the rim and tire. I’ve seen a new valve stem that has a small ring on the tire side of the valve that the factory sensor attaches to. Then the entire sensor is inside the tire and functions properly. The coolest and most innovative method I’ve heard is a Tire Buster (the guys that actually dismount and mount tires on wheels then install them on vehicles) couldn’t get the sensors to fit the wheels and the customer didn’t want the light to stay lit on the dash. The customer didn’t care if the system didn’t function (alert when the tires loose 25% inflation) since he had gone for 30 years without this absolutely necessary (says NHTSA, thanks to Firestone and Ford) system. The customer said he wanted the wheels so bad he would go for anyting that worked. So the Tire Buster just took all four of the sensors and put them inside the spare tire. The sensors were happy because they were in a pressurized tire and the light on the dash was happy because it said pressure was still over 75% inflation. The only draw back is that if the customer has a flat tire and he uses the spare, I doubt the sensors will survive long.

I guess by now it’s pretty obvious that I don’t have much good to say about the OEM’s. I don’t, and I’ve got plenty more to say regarding this War we’re having with them. I’m going to take a break from bashing the OEM’s until I cool down a bit and can come up with more stuff to say without using foul language or questioning their mothers reputation. I’ll be back with more in about 2 weeks. I’m going to the Street Rod Nationals next week (Jul 31-Aug. 5) in Louisville and then to Reno for Hot August Nights. If you’re in Louisville, stop in and say hello. I’ll be in the HRH Classic Alloy booth.

Until mid August,

Stay tuned

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 8:45 pm and is filed under The Professors Causes & Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.