cheap wheels from tyrerack

[alphabeatsco]

has anyone purchased cheap wheels from tyrerack?
they seemed to be ridiculously cheap.

18 inch is going for 600 a set of 4???
these are obviously cheapo brands, not the BBS stuff.
but are they safe and perform same?
im after the looks rather than the brand name.
im not going to buy a 3.5k set of BBS.
please share opinions.

[team_v]

They are cheap because the size of their market, shipping will probably set you back about $250 to get them here.

Anything over $1000AUD will incur import duty and gst as well as customs fees so just be aware of that.

[alphabeatsco]

yeah it's true
but even at 1k is cheap isnt it?
wheels in australia costs like 2k
im just afraid of the quality.
ive had aftermarket brands before like drifteks and rotas...and they were fine,
just dont know abouot these american stuff,

[Jace]

These wouldn't be any worse than Koya's or Rota's.

[Lorenz]

A lot of these wheels will come from the same factory (china and phillipenes). Rota and Koya are the same brand btw

[noone]

Lots of people have imported tyres from there, import is not cheap, but still frequently cheaper than sourcing locally.

Staying under Tax threshold keeps it cheap, otherwise it could be more than you expect and get stuck in Customs.

I dont think the brands they sell would be any worse than the brands you have mentioned

[Jace]

Rota and Koya are the same brand btw

Reeeeally not surprised by that.

Same ****, different smell.

[alphabeatsco]

well.
i just realised...maybe ebay is my answer.
same cheap ****...but just same price or cheaper.

[Lonewolf1983]

yaeh its only worth it for expensive wheels.
Likely i'll end up sourcing some OZ rims from there

[Ben J]

is shipping included in the $1000 before tax?

[gareth_oau]

the following table (which I prepared earlier!!) shows an example of how to calculate total cost of importing:



if the cost of the wheels ex tirerack (and not including freight) is under A$1000, then no duty and GST will be applied by customs.

However, if the value of the wheels exceeds A$1000 (not including freight), then customs will also add the value of the freight (circa USD250 for wheels) when calcculating the duty (5%) and GST (10%)

with todays excahnge rate around 0.91, then you can go up to around USD900 for the wheels and avoid the duty/GST.

Notes:

1/ make sure the freight is "door-to-door" otherwise there are a lott more agency costs for you when they arrive and you will have to collect or arrange a courier to deliver to you from the customs agency.
2/ before committing, contact a customs agency to seek professional advice and confirm my calcs. I'm not having anyone attempting to sue meif it all goes wrong!!
3/ dont order tyres as well, that will definitely blow the $1k threshold
4/ if you want tyres, get them consigned to a mates house/name

[McDub]

good summary. i've paid duties recently.
for your $50 you added, it's currently $55.20 for the Declaration Fee, plus was another $11 for a security fee, so $65 odd.
I never new about that charge so was a little annoyed when UPS added that. Customs site doesn't seem to mention anything of the sort.

[dainese]

the following table (which I prepared earlier!!) shows an example of how to calculate total cost of importing:



if the cost of the wheels ex tirerack (and not including freight) is under A$1000, then no duty and GST will be applied by customs.

However, if the value of the wheels exceeds A$1000 (not including freight), then customs will also add the value of the freight (circa USD250 for wheels) when calcculating the duty (5%) and GST (10%)

with todays excahnge rate around 0.91, then you can go up to around USD900 for the wheels and avoid the duty/GST.

Notes:

1/ make sure the freight is "door-to-door" otherwise there are a lott more agency costs for you when they arrive and you will have to collect or arrange a courier to deliver to you from the customs agency.
2/ before committing, contact a customs agency to seek professional advice and confirm my calcs. I'm not having anyone attempting to sue meif it all goes wrong!!
3/ dont order tyres as well, that will definitely blow the $1k threshold
4/ if you want tyres, get them consigned to a mates house/name

its such a scam! are there any other developed countries that do this to their own people?
i can understand them wanting to tax, but it feels like a lot.

[gareth_oau]

the GST is common around the world, called it sales tax, GSt VAT, our 10% isnt bad.

The duty is designed to protect local manufacturers against cheaper imports. this came down from 10% to 5% at the beginning of 2010

[MarksVRS]

Just looking at the original question, why not buy the wheels locally? Tyre shops have so many deals now, wheels and tyres for $1000! I bought original Commodore VY SS 18' wheels and tyres for $1100 fitted, balanced and matching lock nuts thrown in. I am sure there is a huge mark up for name-brand wheels.

A few years ago I visited a wheel manufacturer in Singapore as a potential customer of ours. They had all the top name wheels in their R&D lab, and were replicating them in every sense of the word, including full destructive and non-destructive testing. We didn't end up doing business but it was a real eye opener.