Superior Vintage Weight Plates

Name: Superior Vintage Weight Plates
Brand: Superior
Rating: 4.22 (3 reviews)

Superior Vintage Weight Plates are 1980s-era American-made cast iron deep-dish Olympic plates from Superior Barbell, a manufacturer that has since gone out of business – these are no longer in production and turn up today only in home gyms that bought them decades ago or on the collector/resale market. Owners on GymRadar single out the deep-dish casting, distinctive hub emblem, and clean lettering, and the plates are still in active daily use across several home gyms, which speaks to how well the cast iron has held up. The Iron Guide’s collector reference places the line in that same 1980s era. With the brand defunct, there’s no manufacturer spec sheet or current retail listing – what’s known about them comes entirely from owner reviews and collector references rather than a product page.

Buying guide

Best Weight Plates for Your Home Gym — July 2026 Bumper Plates or Iron Plates? How to Pick Your First Set — July 2026 Do You Need Calibrated or Competition Plates? — July 2026 How Much Do Weight Plates Cost Per Pound? — July 2026 What Weight Set Should a Beginner Buy? — July 2026 Will Dropping Weights Damage Your Floor? — July 2026

Era	1980s (vintage)
Design	Deep dish
Origin	Made in USA
Material	Cast iron
Availability	Discontinued -- out of production, secondary/collector market only

What is a Weight Plate?

What weight plates are

Weight plates load your barbell — but “plate” covers two very different tools. Bumper plates are rubber discs around a steel hub, all the same ~450mm diameter, built to be dropped from overhead without damaging your floor or bar; they’re the default for Olympic lifting and CrossFit. Iron/steel plates are denser and thinner per pound, cheaper, and quieter to load, but most aren’t made to be dropped — better for slow, controlled powerlifting-style work.

What actually matters

Bumper vs. iron. Buy bumpers if the bar might hit the floor; iron (or rubber-coated iron) for controlled lifts and compact loading.
Weight tolerance. How far a plate strays from its stated weight (±1% is tight, ±3% loose). It barely matters for general training but adds up if you chase a specific total — which is why serious lifters add small change / fractional plates.
Collar fit & bounce. The center hole should fit your bar’s sleeve snugly; rubber durometer (around 88 Shore A) controls how “dead” a dropped plate lands.
Coating & set composition. Virgin rubber holds up and smells less than recycled crumb rubber; plan a starting set (usually a pair each of 45/25/10/5 lb plus change plates) around the lifts you actually do.

Who it’s for

Every barbell gym needs plates. Most home lifters should start with a bumper set, then add iron, change, or specialty plates as a second purchase once they know what their training is missing.

How it compares

	Superior Vintage Weight Plates	Hampton Deep Dish Weight Plates	REP® Black Bumper Plates	Fringe Sport Shuriken Fractional Plates
GymRadar rating	4.22/5	4.22/5	4.23/5	4.21/5
Price			$69.99
Era	1980s (vintage)
Design	Deep dish
Origin	Made in USA
Material	Cast iron
Availability	Discontinued -- out of production, secondary/collector market only

4.2/5 · 3 GymRadar reviews

Reviews by source

Expert

4.22/5

3 reviews

Superior’s deep-dish plates are 1980s-era American cast iron – placed in that era by The Iron Guide’s collector reference – still in active use across several home gyms today, which is itself evidence of durability. GymRadar’s small user sample praises the build quality: clean casting, a distinctive hub and emblem, and clear lettering, calling out the satisfying clang when plates meet. Value reads well too, with one owner pricing them as “entry-level” for genuine vintage iron. The weakest spot is versatility – there’s no independent editorial or video coverage to confirm how these compare to modern deep-dish lines beyond “a great bridge between vintage and modern plates,” and the sample is only three reviews.

+Build quality: distinctive hub and emblem with clean, clear lettering (GymRadar users)
+Build quality: satisfying clang and solid feel when plates meet (GymRadar user "Big Ben Wyko")
+Durability: still in active use across multiple home gyms decades after this 1980s-era line was made (GymRadar, The Iron Guide)
+Value: priced as approachable "entry-level" vintage iron (GymRadar user "Rx.Iron")
+Functionality: fits bars well and suits hub lifting and general use (GymRadar users)

−Versatility: no independent editorial or YouTube coverage exists to compare against modern deep-dish lines
−Value: sample is only 3 GymRadar reviews, too thin to be a confident price/quality signal
−Functionality: as an out-of-production vintage line, exact specs (diameter, bore tolerance) aren't manufacturer-documented