Disappointed Forgestar customer
 

The short of the story is: I ordered a set of wheels, one of them arrived bent, Forgestar is telling me that they can't do anything.

Timeline:

06/01/2017 - Placed an order for two 18x9.5 and two 18x12 Forgestar F14 wheels

09/12/2017 - Wheels arrive, all the boxes look fine. I unpack the wheels and visually inspect them. All look fine as far as I can tell - no obviously bent lips or chipped paint. I put the wheels back in the boxes.

02/21/2018 - Take the wheels to a local tire place to have the tires mounted and get ready for the autocross season. The tire place sends me text that one of the 18x9.5's has an excessive radial runout on the inner lip. They also showed that to me on their balancer and the inner lip is visibly out of round.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4603/...669c2e17_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4741/...58d0fb93_c.jpg

02/22/2018 - Sent an email to Forgestar, advising them of the situation and asked how quickly could I get a replacement. I got this response:


All our wheels are inspected before they get shipped out from our facility. This must of happen during shipping even though the boxes may look ok. Even with the way we double box them we have encountered it before. Since you still have the original boxes we would suggest you to contact UPS to establish a claim and we can proceed from there.


Obviously I'm not going to UPS 5 months after receiving the shipment while there is zero indication that this happened during the shipping. As I said earlier - the boxes had no damage and there was plastic edge protector and an additional cardboard layer over both sides of the wheels.

Not sure what the lesson here is either; even if you have the tires mounted the very next day, they can still blame the UPS. If there is no visible damage on the boxes the UPS will decline any claims (rightfully so).

Just wanted to put it out there.

Through no fault of your own, sounds like you're stuck holding the bag.
Man, I'd be so severely torqued-off I could spit rivets.

Checked for a way this wheel can be repaired/straightened?
FWIW once in a while a member reports hitting a pothole & bending a wheel.
Many times they're able to find an outfit who can fix it for a few bucks.
So, what's your next move?

Catch 22 and you for sure caught in the middle.

Not sure what the next step is yet.

Thankfully it was one of the front wheels, so I could use the factory front wheels instead. They just look mismatched.

I will look for a aluminum wheel repair company, as long as the price will stay below what the new wheel from Forgestar will cost.

The problem with ordering a new wheel from Forgestar is that I don't know how to prevent this from happening again. This guy got a replacement wheel that was also defective:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88936

Since all the wheels are bought through vendors, I can't even do a chargeback on my credit card without hurting the vendor. Forgestar also tells on their website to deal with them directly on any warranty issues.

First of all, I'd take them to another tire shop to get a second opinion, then...

Can you ask Forgestar for a report on your specific wheels showing they were inspected and passed?

If they can provide it, there's your proof they were damaged in shipping and you can now go to UPS.

If they can't provide it (my guess), then keep placing the blame on them. How easy is it for them to say "Sorry, wasn't us, must have been UPS."

I'll ask them for a report even though, as you said, I not hopeful they will provide it.

I have pretty high confidence in the tire place, it's probably the best one in the area. They service high end cars and I've been going there for years. And I also saw the wheel not being round on their machine. The other 3 wheels were fine.

Did you see the wheel not being round before they mounted the tire on it? Even though they are a reputable shop there may be a chance they bent the rim while installing the tire and don't want to admit it. Just a thought. :leaving:

I would hazard a guess that the place you purchased them from has a disclaimer that you need to check for round prior to installing the tires, otherwise they will not take the wheel back. Everywhere I have purchased wheels (and I have gone through a lot) pretty much has that disclaimer.
I, fortunately did not have your issue with my CF10's
I would also say that the time limit to file a claim with UPS is passed.
I had a wheel repaired on a BMW once that hit a pot hole and bent the lip and released all the air in the tire. I am sure you can get it repaired.
Good luck

Edit*
Pulled this off of Forgestars Website
WARRANTY INFORMATION
TERMS
Forgestar strives to be the leader in custom manufactured wheels. Every Forgestar wheel is custom manufactured to your own style and preference. The proper fitment of our wheels is the responsibility of the dealer or the customer who is placing the order. Please note that wheels that have been mounted with tires are no longer returnable. Please make sure fitments are correct before ordering and installing.

While there is always a chance that the shop did that - I just have to believe that they know what they are doing. They deal with Porsches on a daily basis and the wheels for those things cost a fortune.

I inspected the wheels visually when they arrived, but did not run them on a balancing machine because it was just too much effort to take them there. Even unpacking them was something I didn't want to do till I was ready to use them. Of all the sets of new wheels I've bought over the years I've never had a problem out of the box.

On top of everything else, my friend received his set Forgestar F14's yesterday and had the exact same problem. His text to me: I'm in the same boat as you. One front wheel is f'ed. Looks like I'll be mismatched for a while too. The bent wheel isn't just the lip. The barrel is out of round. One rear wasn't perfect but it's usable.

He ordered his in the fall when they had the $200 rebate going on.

You need to go higher up the chain at Forgestar! Don't take no for an answer. I feel you as I have done the same thing, buy some parts wait awhile and then realize it is the wrong part and can not be returned. I would also mention you are a member of our forum. Not that you would flame them, but they get the picture.

Good Luck

Thanks for the info. Sorry for your situation, but as you let others know, I will not chance a purchase from the, in the future. Good luck.

Well I definitely won't be a Forgestar customer with a reply like that. I don't think it was UPS damage..... ESPECIALLY if your friend is having the same issue. Very disappointing customer service.

My reply doesn't help your sit-rep but this is exactly why I like to buy from a place like Discount Tire, if I have a problem I know they will stand behind them and do the infighting for you, plus their pricing is very competitive and they do the mounting and balancing.
For the future of course
Good luck
NSF

Normally I absolutely would, except these are custom sized wheels for autocross purposes. My other option was a set of C7 Z06 knock-offs from ebay, but those are heavy.

The underlined section above is where I would disagree w. you. Just because they work on high end cars doesn't mean they know how to mount/dismount very low aspect ratio runflat/nonrunflat tires. It's a knack not a no-brainer. I've been there in one of the most expensive, and filled with expensive car shops in my area that had no idea how to dismount a runflat and almost bent/broke a forged wheel until I told him to stop.

Finally, IF they mounted the tire first and then found out there was something wrong with the wheel, then yes, you are out of luck. Just about every wheel co., vendor, mfr., etc. strongly suggests you put a wheel without tire mounted FIRST on a balancer and run it to see its condition. If you don't do it that way, they the wheel mfr/distributor/e-tailer isn't going to take responsibility as I described in the first para. It's worse if you mount the tire, put it on the car and go run it on the street--then you have zero recourse.

If you look somewhere in the fine print of your/their website or bill of sale, you will see the terms of mounting, returns, adjustments, etc.
Good luck. :cheers:

AORoads hit the nail on the head - anyone that works with custom wheels should know to chock them up in the machine and check them before ever mounting a tire.

The high end car mention was to say that they deal with wheels that are way more expensive than anything that I've ever brought in. They have been the only company that doesn't chip up the lip during the tire mounting and I've always been happy with their service.

The tire shop could've bent the wheel during the mounting or dropped it on the floor. There is no damage on the wheel that supports that claim.

Even if they did check the runout before mounting the tire, Forgestar's response would been the same - we QC every wheel that goes out of here, contact UPS with a claim.

I said that shit 7 posts ago:lol:

So you guys think it's the tire place that bent it?

The issue to with their email is that the person who sent the shipment (them) are the ones who need to initiate the claim. You can't initiate for the person who made and paid the shipping.

Been through that before myself and it took me forever to get the money back when the shipper got the insurance check