M
mb6970
Guest
C4 Rally Wheel Project
My retro rally rim project is coming along...but not as well as I would of liked it too. After saving for months, viewing hundreds of web sites searching for the right rim, saving some more, I have finally gotten my new billet aluminum rally rims, well the front ones anyway. Here's the story and my thoughts on the company I ordered them from (Wheel Ventiques).
I finally was able to order the rims the first week in April at which time Wheel Vintiques informed me it would take another three to make the rims and and another week to have them sent by Fedex Ground
Two weeks into my wait, I called them to check on my order. I was told that the rims were being made and they were on schedule but the center caps that I wanted were not availible, had to be made, and would arrive a week after the rims :cry (What good are four new rally rims without the center caps!!!)
The delivery date finally comes, April 30th, when I get a call from Fedex Ground and they tell me that they could not find my house and I would not be able to get them until May 1st (my local club had a cruise-in scheduled for May 1st and I was planning on making a big debut with my new rims) so this was completely unacceptable. After arguing with these knuckleheads on the phone they informed me that the only way I was going to get my rims on the promised date was to pick them up myself. This was a 60 mile round trip but I had to have them so I could have time to get the tires mounted and be ready for the crusie-in.
So I make the trip up and finally get the rims and of course, the first thing I do is rip open one of the boxes in the parking lot of Fedex and pull out one of the 17x11 rims. These rims are awesome
I load everything in the into my car and head home to mount one of these rims on the vette which is already in the garage on jackstands, with the stock wheels off. After making the 30 mile trip back and fighting the eveing Raleigh traffic:bash I make it home :Twist
I unload the four boxes from the car, take out one of the 17x11's and slide into place. My worst fears come true...it did not fit(cruise-in canceled).
The rim is hitting evey possible suspension component on the rear of the car (my wife was in the garage at the time but she did not stay long when she saw the look on my face). As I walked over to my beer fridge to grab a cold one and try to figure out what happend, it made no sense, I order rims for an 84 vette and Wheel Vintiques said "no problem" we can make you 17x11's with the correct backspacing to fit your car.
I called Wheel Vintiques and tell them that the 17x11 rims that I ordered do not fit. I'm put on hold for about 5 minutes and the guy comes back on and says that they know what the problem is...they sent me rims with backspacing for a C5:confused
So they say they will have the rims picked up and will make new ones for a C4. Three days later Fedex finally shows up to pick them up (they still could not find my house after I gave three different employees directions to my house) and Wheel Vintiques WILL be sending me new 17x11's by an air shipment so that I will have them on May 9th.
With all of this straightend out, Wheel Vintiques did a relatively good job at trying to fix their mistake. Fedex Groud in Raleigh is staffed with some morons and I know why my company no longer uses them.
To make a long story longer, I have the front rims and tires mounted and you can take a look for yourself. I think the wait was worth it!!!
The center cap that you see is not the cap that I will be using (I had these laying around and wanted to see how things were going to look) I will be using the short style disk brake caps that I think came on 68 vettes.
As soon as I get the correct 17x11's I will post some more pics.
Let me know what you think!!!
Mike
My retro rally rim project is coming along...but not as well as I would of liked it too. After saving for months, viewing hundreds of web sites searching for the right rim, saving some more, I have finally gotten my new billet aluminum rally rims, well the front ones anyway. Here's the story and my thoughts on the company I ordered them from (Wheel Ventiques).
I finally was able to order the rims the first week in April at which time Wheel Vintiques informed me it would take another three to make the rims and and another week to have them sent by Fedex Ground
Two weeks into my wait, I called them to check on my order. I was told that the rims were being made and they were on schedule but the center caps that I wanted were not availible, had to be made, and would arrive a week after the rims :cry (What good are four new rally rims without the center caps!!!)The delivery date finally comes, April 30th, when I get a call from Fedex Ground and they tell me that they could not find my house and I would not be able to get them until May 1st (my local club had a cruise-in scheduled for May 1st and I was planning on making a big debut with my new rims) so this was completely unacceptable. After arguing with these knuckleheads on the phone they informed me that the only way I was going to get my rims on the promised date was to pick them up myself. This was a 60 mile round trip but I had to have them so I could have time to get the tires mounted and be ready for the crusie-in.
So I make the trip up and finally get the rims and of course, the first thing I do is rip open one of the boxes in the parking lot of Fedex and pull out one of the 17x11 rims. These rims are awesome
I load everything in the into my car and head home to mount one of these rims on the vette which is already in the garage on jackstands, with the stock wheels off. After making the 30 mile trip back and fighting the eveing Raleigh traffic:bash I make it home :Twist I unload the four boxes from the car, take out one of the 17x11's and slide into place. My worst fears come true...it did not fit(cruise-in canceled).
The rim is hitting evey possible suspension component on the rear of the car (my wife was in the garage at the time but she did not stay long when she saw the look on my face). As I walked over to my beer fridge to grab a cold one and try to figure out what happend, it made no sense, I order rims for an 84 vette and Wheel Vintiques said "no problem" we can make you 17x11's with the correct backspacing to fit your car.
I called Wheel Vintiques and tell them that the 17x11 rims that I ordered do not fit. I'm put on hold for about 5 minutes and the guy comes back on and says that they know what the problem is...they sent me rims with backspacing for a C5:confused
So they say they will have the rims picked up and will make new ones for a C4. Three days later Fedex finally shows up to pick them up (they still could not find my house after I gave three different employees directions to my house) and Wheel Vintiques WILL be sending me new 17x11's by an air shipment so that I will have them on May 9th.
With all of this straightend out, Wheel Vintiques did a relatively good job at trying to fix their mistake. Fedex Groud in Raleigh is staffed with some morons and I know why my company no longer uses them.
To make a long story longer, I have the front rims and tires mounted and you can take a look for yourself. I think the wait was worth it!!!
The center cap that you see is not the cap that I will be using (I had these laying around and wanted to see how things were going to look) I will be using the short style disk brake caps that I think came on 68 vettes. As soon as I get the correct 17x11's I will post some more pics.
Let me know what you think!!!
Mike
Cheers
