Silver 17" Advanti Rims - Reliable?

[Fayvir]

Hey guys,

So I found a set of Advanti rims in silver 17x7, with nexen n3000 tires (50% tread left)
The guy used them for 2 seasons...

I'm wondering if anyone used Advanti rims before? How are they in terms of quality?
Are they replicas?
I've seen them, they're a little scratched but he's selling to me for $300 including the tires.

Good for the price? I don't think i can afford other brands (Tenzo's, Enkei's) at this moment...so I was looking into used wheels. I'm on stock 16s right now.

Here's 2 pics:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/img8031s.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/683/img8032e.jpg/

Any thoughts?

Also, the tread is a triangular tread (directional), are there differences compared to other types of treads?

[Chuckie]

Personally, I wouldn't get it. Replica or not.
Looks like they would be pretty heavy, which will make your car slower and consume more gas.
Visually, they look very generic and not very appealing.
Besides, after this season, you're might need new tires and 17" tires aren't cheap.

If you're buying based on price (and a budget) and just want the look, do it. Just don't forget about the costs down the road.

An extra 400 dollars will get you so much more in term weight and quality but of course its more than double the price. Then again, we're talking about rims and tires which you drive on everyday and are the only contact patches to the road when driving, best not to cheap out.

Oh btw, wheres the pics for the tread depth?

[Fayvir]

Thanks, here's a pic of the tread left (tbh i have no idea how much is left..lol)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/img8033sr.jpg/

You're right, I'm just scared that they're heavy (fuel is rather a big factor), I will ask for the weight. How much do the stock 16s or 17s weigh for the Mazda 3's?
Other than that, i don't mind the look, even with the scratches or whatnot, I can always paint them? But that requires more funds..:bang

I wish I could spend $800 on rims, but got school loans, rent, and monthly payments to pay off.
Budget mods :(

[Chuckie]

The stock 16" should be around 16lbs.
The stock 17" around 21lb
I did some research on this once because I was tempted to find some MX-5 rims and did some research to see if they are even lighter.

Honestly, the 16"s are the best bang for your buck weight wise. There's really no point in adding 5+ pounds (larger tires and rims) to each corner as that will make a huge difference especially if you only have the 2.0.

Edit: looked at the tread depth picture (if you can even call it that, taking the pic from the side), from what I can tell, you'd probably only get max 1 more season out of those.

[Fayvir]

I do like the 16s but I was thinkin of using the 16s for winter, and wanted a change before winter kicks in.
I've seen a lot of cars here, even with the 2.0 running on 17s, but I'm pretty sure they got tenzo's (<20lbs) or other brands that are better.

Thanks chuckie :)