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Old 07-23-2007, 03:58 PM
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we350z we350z is offline
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Please make this a sticky post as I am pretty pissed off right now I don't want to see anyone else be as disappointed as I am right now.

I am officially taking back my stand on Wheels and Caps. I would highly advise against purchasing aftermarket wheels from them. My experience has been nothing short of a nightmare, and a huge hassle. Buyer beware!! Either save your clams for OEM or go with a different vendor, IMHO.

So they were good about replacing the two jacked up rear rims they sent me at first (see above). When I last spoke with them they told me that replacements they had shipped out to me were from a "new" manufacturer but that they should come from the same mold. First off, I did have some reservations about having wheels from two different manufacturers on my vehicle to begin with... call me crazy. They said they would send me new fronts if I had a problem with it.

So I finally got my replacements last Monday, and I inspected them immediately. They looked good to me (not bent, minimal surface imperfections, QC stickers); however I should have looked a little bit closer:

Please click the images for 6MP resolution:

Rear 20"x10.5" Rims - New Manufacturer - Rough inside edges of rim face, looks as though they pulled the rim from the mold too soon or the mold was not clean or something.




Front 20"x10" Rims - Old Manufacturer – Smooth, beveled inside edges of rim face



The difference is night and day, and I guess in my excitement of having waited so long to finally put these rims on I got a little hasty.

Also, I was not specifically looking for this, and I did not notice the blemishes until I had already mounted tires on the rims and bolted them up to the vehicle. The defects are evident on both rear rims. Upon further inspection I started to notice some paint overspray as well on the sides of the rim face fingers. Needless to say the craftsmanship of theses rims from the new "vendor" is NOT very good at all, and is definitely unacceptable to me.

I spoke with Wheels and Caps about this, and apparently they have no more rims from the "old" manufacturer and unfortunately for me they have a policy where they do not accept returns for rims that have been mounted on a vehicle. So if nothing else be sure to fully inspect your rims in a well lit area, running your fingers across the inside edges to ensure they are smooth to the touch, not jagged and rough.

If you do decide to go with Wheels and Caps, which again I strongly recommend NOT doing… DON’T MOUNT TIRES ON YOUR RIMS UNTIL YOU HAVE RIGOROUSLY INSPECTED THEM.

Now I have to either live with these crappy rims or attempt to sand the inside edges down with a dremel or fine grit sandpaper or something. I don't know if this would be effective, it may make them worse. It would be extremely time consuming, regardless I should NOT have to do this.

It's also important to note that the new manufacturer does NOT provide lug nuts if you are planning to use them, the old manufacturer did provide silver aluminum lug nuts (which I wouldn’t use anyway). Also the center caps provided are different, old ones have silver caps, and the new ones have fugly black and white target looking ones.
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