[stive403]

Ok, some of you may remember the last thread where I ordered a set of rims from victoria tire and got them in and the rim was marked with "et 35".

So I've been going through getting these rims returned and hopefully getting a refund.

In the meantime I had gone ahead and ordered the same rims (alt sonix) from lakeshore wheel and tire and verified before I ordered that they were in fact 42 mm offset rims.

Fast forward a week, and my rims have now showed up (my other two remaining rims from the last order have not been picked up yet so I have 6 rims). The invoice states 42 offset, the boxes state 42 offset, but again on the back of the rim is imprinted "et 35".

I'm a little frustrated and not exactly sure what the deal is. So of course I"m going to call lakeshore wheel and tire tomorrow, and probably alt, but what do you think is going on here?

do you think my first set of rims was correct and these second ones are also? or do you think these have all been wrong? there is one other member on here who has the alt sonix mounted and said they fit, he hasn't gotten back to me as to whether 35 or 42 is imprinted on his rims (would kind of be a pain in the ass as it is on the back of the spoke, so the rim would have to be removed).

Anyway, that ends my semi-rant

 

[Tire Guy]

Does the rim seat area (where the back of the wheel is mounted to the brakes/hub) look like it's been machined (ground down)? The only explanation I can think is that they started out as +35, but have been machined to +42. Why that isn't indicated on the wheel, though...

 

[JDMAtenza21]

That's really weird having the same thing happen again from another company. I say put them on and see how they fit.

 

[stive403]

That's really weird having the same thing happen again from another company. I say put them on and see how they fit.
[/b]

The only problem with that is typically after tires have been mounted, you can no longer return the rims... so I don't really want to mount them without knowing that they will fit.


As far as the mount face being machined... I haven't looked at that yet, but it's a good idea. Just from memory, I don't think they were, but I'll check.


I don't know why this has to be so hard... all I want is my rims and tires mounted and on my ms6, damn offsets.

Hopefully Alt or lakeshore will have an answer for me tomorrow, but I"m not all that optimistic.

 

[HighSpeed6]

It's not the rims that are your problem. It's the company that you are getting them from. People have had problems with them before, and as you know, continue to have problems with them. Your just going to have to search else where for them, or try to get a rim with the same style from somewhere else much more reputable, such as tirerack.com

 

[FreeRider]

You could also confirm for yourself by finding the virtual centerline of the wheel and measuring the offset from that centerline. This will tell you the exact offset of the wheel you have.

The centerline of the wheel will always be the same whether you measure the bead to bead width (where the tire sits, and therefore the nominal width specified in the size, eg. 18 x 7.5") or absolute edge to edge width. This is because the shape of car rims are symmetrical side to side.

Lay the wheel down on a flat surface and measure the overall width of the rim, rim edge to rim edge. It might come out to 9" (which would be approximate overall width for a nominal 8" wide wheel) or something similar. Take half this measurement, ex. 4.5" for the overall 9" example, and it will be distance off the floor (which is in the same plane as one of the outer edges of the wheel) that is equivalent to the centerline of the wheel.

Flip the wheel over so that it's good side (the side you see when the wheel is mounted) is facing down if you didn't put it down that way. This will put the mounting face of the wheel facing up so that you can see it. If you have a wheel that has protruding spokes, support the edge of the rim on two sides with two pieces of wood (say 1 x 4).

Take a coat hanger, straw, straight tube or something equivalent and attach it to a small bse so that it will stand up vertically on it's own. Ensure it's as vertical as possible (not leaning in one direction or another).

Measure from the bottom of the base (or if the wheel is up on blocks as described earlier, add on the thickness of the blocks) the half distance you calculated above. Tape or attach another piece of straw or something similarly stiff and light to the vertical stand at this point. Keep the straw or equivalent fairly short but enough to get to the edge of the mounting surface of the wheel.

You should have something that looks like a mini gallows (upside down L) that we used to draw while playing Hangman. Make the arm sticking out is as much a right angle as possible. You want this arm to be as parallel to the floor (and therefore the face of the wheel) as you can get. The longer the arm, the greater the error will be if it's not parallel to the floor.

You now have a gauge that shows where the centerline of your wheel is. Place this gauge through one of the openings in the spokes (now you know why the base has to be small) so that it stands up. Position it so that the arm is over the mounting surface of the wheel. Take your straight edge and measure the distance from the mounting surface to the edge of the horizontal arm. This is your offset .

Doing this would be a lot less hassle than playing the shipping game again.

It would be easier if you can find a straight edge ruler where the markings start right from the edge, and are in millimeters. Putting the 0 edge against the mounting face of the wheel will allow you to read the offset directly off where the horizontal arm meets the ruler.

If you need more detail I'll try to draw up a picture of what I'm talking about.

 

[porkchop]

Alot of these wheel and tire companies just drop ship them to you. They are never even at a warehouse owned by the seller. Thats more than likely why you got the same result form two different companies. Alt could have a hundred of these incorrectly marked packages sitting on their shelves so without the seller making direct contact with Alt about the problem at the time of the order they might not even know to look for it.

 

[stive403]

Alot of these wheel and tire companies just drop ship them to you. They are never even at a warehouse owned by the seller. Thats more than likely why you got the same result form two different companies. Alt could have a hundred of these incorrectly marked packages sitting on their shelves so without the seller making direct contact with Alt about the problem at the time of the order they might not even know to look for it.
[/b]

this is the conclusion I have come to also, especially as this time around it was definitely drop shipped from Alt in california. Last time I believe they actually came from Victoria Tire. I'm really hoping they are just mismarked and are actually 42 offset.

As far as the whole measuring the offset goes, I brought my rims to work today with the hopes of finding out from Alt or lakeshore that these rims are in fact 42 offset rims and getting them mounted and balanced. Where I work we have a few CMM's and Cordax measuring machines and I may just bring a rim in and throw it on there to measure the offset myself. I have no doubt your system of measuring would work, but when you have some more advance measuring equipment, might as well use that. So we'll see. Have to wait a bit yet to call Alt as they aren't open yet.

I suppose this is the game you get to play when you go with semi-no-name rim brands.

Thanks for the input guys.

It's not the rims that are your problem. It's the company that you are getting them from. People have had problems with them before, and as you know, continue to have problems with them. Your just going to have to search else where for them, or try to get a rim with the same style from somewhere else much more reputable, such as tirerack.com
[/b]

what kind of problems have people had with Alt before?

 

[tom6433]

the only conclusion i can come to is that the wheel box was labled wrong. the offset of the wheel that is stamped on the inside should be correct unless it was altered. since they were drop shipped from ALT directly i do not believe they would have been altered to a different offset. IMO the box was labled incorrectly.

 

[heronew]

I will see what i can find out for you guys from ALT. I am a direct vendor for them and I peronsally never had any problem like this with them.

 

[HighSpeed6]

what kind of problems have people had with Alt before?[/b]

No it's not ALT, it is vitoria tire, and lakeshore wheel and tire. I mean just browsing their website for one minute, even just looking at there homepages, shows me signs of unprofessionalism, and I would never buy from these sites. Looks for the rims on other sites where you know people have had no (or minimal) problems.

 

[stive403]

I will see what i can find out for you guys from ALT. I am a direct vendor for them and I peronsally never had any problem like this with them.
[/b]

that would very much be appreciated if you could get some sort of answer for me! Please let me know.

No it's not ALT, it is vitoria tire, and lakeshore wheel and tire. I mean just browsing their website for one minute, even just looking at there homepages, shows me signs of unprofessionalism, and I would never buy from these sites. Looks for the rims on other sites where you know people have had no (or minimal) problems.
[/b]

No offense, but how can it be Victoria Tire or Lakeshore wheel and tires fault when this last set came directly from Alt, in Alt boxes, with Alt labels saying they are 42 offset, and marked 35 on the inside? Lakeshore didn't even handle the rims. They came direct from California and Lakeshore is in Michigan.

 

[HighSpeed6]

In the meantime I had gone ahead and ordered the same rims (alt sonix) from lakeshore wheel and tire and verified before I ordered that they were in fact 42 mm offset rims. [/b]

Well when you say from lakeshore wheel and tire I automatically think you ordered from there website. Still look at both of their websites. It's just sketchy, and poorly made. I personally would never buy from a site that didn't provide sufficient information on there wheels such as offset, weight, etc. I hope you get this worked out, and I hope heronew can help you get the right offset. Also contact arch4life IIRC he had these rims a while ago. Good luck!

 

[stive403]

Well when you say from lakeshore wheel and tire I automatically think you ordered from there website. Still look at both of their websites. It's just sketchy, and poorly made. I personally would never buy from a site that didn't provide sufficient information on there wheels such as offset, weight, etc. I hope you get this worked out, and I hope heronew can help you get the right offset. Also contact arch4life IIRC he had these rims a while ago. Good luck!
[/b]

I did order from their websites, and I agree, I didn't think they were very well designed, but to their credit, lakeshore does provide offset information and thier customer service people were helpful. And in both cases I got the rims I had ordered as they were marked from Alt. I do not blame either company at this time as it appears to the best of their knowlege they had sent me 42 offset alt sonix rims. They shouldn't have to open each box to make sure the rim is what the box says.

Either way, thanks for the good luck, and hopefully I can get this resolved.

 

[bluelion]

this is why i would never buy rims from a website. i only go to discount tire. and if there is ever a problem, they are always cool about exchanging them if they don't fit....

 

[stive403]

this is why i would never buy rims from a website. i only go to discount tire. and if there is ever a problem, they are always cool about exchanging them if they don't fit....
[/b]

Unforutnately, no discount tires around here. I know these are the sorts of headaches you can get into when you order online and try to find the cheapest prices. 95% of the time the cheapest place doesn't cause you any headaches, apparently this time around it does, but like I said, it appears to be the rim manufacturer at fault and not the online retailer.

I just got off the phone with Alt and they tried tellling me that the 35 offset will work just fine and that my stock rim width is 8" anyway, so it will fit... Needless to say I put the guy in his place and he is supposed to be calling me back shortly with an answer. I have a feeling they threw the 35 offset rims in the 42 offset box and figured no one would look. Damn does that piss me off! :swearin:

 

[HighSpeed6]

I'm sorry to hear that. It does sound that way, since he tried to tell you that they would fit. I hope this get settled soon. I would be freaking out, because I know you want to get your rims on really bad!

 

[stive403]

Ok, just got back off the phone with Alt, they are out of stock on teh 42 offset and did ship me the 35 offset in the 42 offset box. Who does that? Wow... not happy. So all of this hassle has in fact been due to Alt and not due to the online retailers!

anyway, they are offering to send me different rims in exchange for these, which is not something I'm very interested in, obviously I had my heart set on these.

The only alternative that even peaks my interest is the at-296 blades:
alt blades

for those that don't know, these are what I have in my posession right now, the sonix (mine are the silver variety, not the black though):
alt sonix

What do you guys think of the blades? I've never really been a big fan of 6 spoke wheels, more so of 5 or 7's. right now I'm tempted to just say screw it, return these, and just mount my tires on the stockers and save myself the $600 or so that has been causing me all this trouble.

 

[MrTea]

just say screw it...you'll always be like....i wish i had the other ones!


the guys over there were cool for me. ALT is about 5 min from work and they had me come in and test fit some rims for them to see if they cleared the BBK before i got them. but things happen i guess

 

[bluelion]

i personally like the six spoke better, but hey, it's not my car....good luck, i'm sure your extremely frustrated