Wheel Vintiques -a BAD supplier

If WV was all bad then folks would quit doing business with them. Most customers that had a great experience do not share their experience so while it may all seem they are all bad they are not.
I have bought a couple set of custom wheels from them. The second set had a wheel with a small crack that would not hold air, but anytime something is "custom" human error can take place. I sent it back and got a replacement. You take the bad with the good.

 

Yeah...I ordered a pair of wide Mercs with OEM type centers...One was O.K., the other was nub-spaced larger, 3/8" too large to fit the '50 Merc Ash Can. ("dog dish", as the R/Rodders call 'em)

They had sent me one with a Lincoln center...Called them, explained: they countered with, "We're all out of OEM Merc centers...you'll have to wait."
I asked 'my salesman' what if I sent them an OEM Merc center? Could (would) they use it, and send me another one back when they received them?
"Oh, sure! No problem!"

So, I drilled the rivets out of one of my Mercs, sent it down, and they returned a finished wheel in a week...
I called back and got what I just knew I was gonna get..."Oh, Chuck isn't with us any more. He told you WHAT??? That's not our policy..."
I was so mad I wanted to drive the sixty miles just to punch that cake in the nose.
Almost did.

 

There was this one other character flaw with Corky. He was involved with posting up some gay pornish pics on another hotrod site with Richard Rawlings to the point that they were in some sort of lawsuit with the guy. Class act.
No wheels for me, thank you.
http://spankmymarketer.com/richard-rawlings.html

 

So here are the results of my business with W.V.:


Well, let's see how this works. I ordered a pair of smoothie 15X5 with a 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern.
Ordered 'em (and I should say PAID for them), May 1. It's may 9 now, no tracking number, and they ain't here yet. This is "real time", not memory recall, or a "friend said". I'll let you know.
add: it's the 12th and still nothing. hmm.............
add: it's the 14th and still nothing. double hmm.........
welp, it's the 18th and nothing. This is my first dealing with W.V. and they screwed it up.
So I told my C.C. company to not pay them...........
yesterday, i got an email thanking me for my business, that was May 20th, WTF?
wheels showed up yesterday May 21. 3 weeks to fill the order?
now i gotta call the CCcompany and tell'em the parts arrived.

See ya............
__________________

 

Hi , just my 2 cents . called summit orded 1 pr. 15 x 5 they had none in stock,said 1 month would drop ship direct from vantiques. they sent me a card in 2 weeks said rims were done early was only charged 9.98 shipping from west coast to east coast.had tires mtd. balanced the shoebox is on the road. skinnydude

 

Wheel Vintiques
5515 E Lamona Ave
Fresno, CA 93727
559-251-6957
Open 8 AM - 5 PST
looks like thy're pretty close to you afterall .......

Did they tell you they were IN STOCK when you ordered them? 3 weeks to build and ship a set of wheels seems pretty reasonable to me .

 

Ive only ordered from WV once and everything went fine. They were pretty standard GM wheels so maybe they were already made and stocked but it only took a week. They mounted and balanced fine also.

 

Me too. The inventory would have to be humongous to stock several rims for orders with every bolt pattern and size for any car.

 

So I got my new wheel from WheelVintiques through Summit racing. Took it to my tire guy who checked it out for balance and runout. All OK. Painted it and mounted the tire.

Then I tried putting on the baby moon hubcap. HUH, it's the same model number wheel, same 16" diameter, but now the center section where the hubcap mounts is 8" instead of 7.5" like the old wheel.

So now I get to buy a new 8" hubcap and I'll have 3 of one diameter and 1 of another.

Just wanted to RANT! NEVER AGAIN !

 

I had a similar response as the OP. I ordered my WV wheels through summit during the build stage of my project. I had the wheels powder coated and tires mounted.

3 Years later the build was complete and I took it out for a drive, got a nasty wobble at higher speeds. Went to the alignment shop and found that the front wheels had a bunch of runout making thing wobble at speed.

Called WV letting them know of the issue, I was told that since it had been a few years there was nothing they would do.

Now to those saying "You waited to long", I am sorry I am not able to push a project out the door in a month, but some of us take a while longer to complete our projects.

I should NEVER have to check a brand new product to see if its flawed. That should be done at the factory.

 

Coker Tire owns Wheel Vintiques and Hornest Charlies.

 

I dont get it. Why buy NEW wheels 3 years before finishing your project? Sure, I get buying used ones at a swap meet because they fit, or you can make them fit and you got them for a good price, but new wheels?

I agree that they should mic them at the factory, but if I buy something that I know is going to be awhile before I use it, I check to make sure it isnt flawed. I blame them for making a flawed product, but sorry, you get the blame for the time frame it was dealt with.

 

The warranty thing has always been a concern on project cars. It might be 1-2 years before the car is done and then what happens when a part is found to be defective. I've bought radiator, vintage air, a/c compressor, chrome alternator over the last 3 years for my car. It should be done this summer and I hope everything works like its supposed to.

 

Excellent points. Regardless of the issue there is no excuse for a business failing to return calls or emails. NONE!

 

I prefer The Wheelsmith in Corona....

 

I thought David Coker owned Newstalgia Wheels, not Wheel Vintiques.

 

OK good, I'll let the wife know we agree. I had NONE of these before I got my truck back in December. And that's not counting the 4 that are on it now. There's the 5 spoke stack, the daisy stack, the slot stack... all from the swap meet.

You should see the tire stack. I think it's natural to want to play with wheels and tires as soon as possible, it's such an important part of the plot both aesthetically and engineering wise.

 

Non related, but I must say that I ordered a set of rims for my 57 from Intro wheels at the Americruise back in the 90s. Fast forward many years to finally getting the car about ready to drive, the offset was wrong and my front tires stuck out the fenders. A few calls to Intro and they took back my front wheels, cut them apart and rehooped them with the correct backspacing for my car. Yes I paid some for it, but super awesome service to get a set of custom rims , that they hadnt made in years rebuilt to fit!

 

another reason to add some hate on shitty, cheap-ass chrome smoothies.

 

Try some original hub caps on them......that should make you understand "crap" made in China.

 

And I bet every one of them wont be warrentied if they are bad

 

ordered on line, paid on line, little words on the bottom of the page said, "IN STOCK". so there you go..............

 

I bought 4 from them and one was so bad that my tire company couldn't get it balanced. I'd had these in the box for about he same time and they never moved until I was ready to get the tires mounted. I was told I was shit out of luck. I ended up buying another and it was just barely acceptable. When I bought my 1936, all 4 rims had tires already on them and mounted on the car. The car was never driven until I spent 14 months puting everything together. I have one wheel so bad but I refuse to buy another one from them to replace the one that is really bad. So I will keep driving it with an imbalance until I can get my other car on the road and install the stock wide 5 rims with WW's on it. I think there seems to be a repeating problem. I for one will never buy from them again!!

 

Many, MANY posts on here about poor quality and service from them. Use someone else like maybe Rally America......wheelkid is a hamber.
http://www.rallyamerica.com/

Also Early Wheel Co. is part of Bear metal customs and he's a HAMBer
http://www.earlywheel.com/

 

Weelll, thanks for the post- Your $80 loss probably saved me a chit load, and their $80 screw has probably cost them a chit load more.....I'll go with Pete when the time comes......and good job summit,,,,, on a side note- I had a 20 yr old craftsman ratchet bite it one me some time ago, took it into the store- walked out with a new one. Back when American Buisness was worth a damn

 

This is why Maine has its "Implied of Warranty of Merchantability Law". Regardless of the manufacturer's or seller's written warranty , there is an implied warranty that anything sold in Maine is expected to perform as would be reasonably expected for a length of time that would be normally expected. And one of the great parts is that the seller can not put you off by saying that you have to deal with the manufacturer....they are obligated to do that. And there are big fines for anyone caught breaking this law.
A couple years ago I bought some storm windows. Shortly after installing them the latching mechanisms started failing. I called the dealer and they said that I had to deal directly with the manufacturer. I asked if they understood Maine's Implied Warranty Law and they said they did not. I suggested that they read up on it and get back to me. A couple days later the store manager called to say that they had contacted the manufacturer and that all new windows were on order .
I believe that most states have similar laws on the books. We all should be aware of them because they can save you a lot of money and grief. Do a search for your state's law. and read it.

 

Several years ago I bought 5 wheels/Firestone bias ply tires from Coker as a package (4 for the car and a spare). I decided to switch over to radials and my tire guy had a hell of a time balancing them becuase they were so far out of round. Wheel Vintiques - never again!

 

Shit , should have checked mine. There getting powder coated now

 

Canceled my order today! Already have 2 that I checked today and the were S@#T!!! Sending them back. Don"t buy from them.

 

Quote:
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Did they tell you they were IN STOCK when you ordered them? 3 weeks to build and ship a set of wheels seems pretty reasonable to me .
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If that is the case then there is no excuse for that long to ship on an in stock item. That is why I asked. My guess is either their inventory was off or their system just says that on everything - either case is no excuse. If it said In Stock and they found they weren't they should have called or emailed you with the delay