So i found a killer deal on some shaved 22.5s FROM A Company Direct Its called Hot wheels IN IL DO NOT BUY FROM THEM i put my wheels on and set of to daytona 5.5 hour run towing a near emty 24 foot enclosed trailer for thanksgiving. On the way home i heard what sounded like a shot gun going off get out and the entire lip of the rim split off and olmost cut my brake line. The guy acted all tuff telling me i overloaded my truck (tho when i bought them he told me the only thing i would hafto wory about its overloading my trires) So i convinced him hes wrong long story short 1 more wheel exploded and he sent me 6 new wheels just as thin as the old and he asked me to destroy my old ones did not do that. Well im not gonna run the new ones being as thin as thye are. so he wont refund me anything or responde i hate to sue him but what choice do i have. On the second set of wheels i even offerd to send him a diagram with measurments and thickneses so he could do them rite he refused and now i have 12 wheels and cant even run them.

DO I SUE WILL I WIN ????
I will post some pics here soon boys any advise would be great. And yes frinds of mine have 22s and have no problems so please dont bash me for not leaving it stock i dont need that dead horse beat anymore

 

Hello,

If the rims cost less than 10 thousand then don't bother with a suit. I feel for you. Problem is a bunch of very expensive engineering testimony is needed for the kill. Oh ya and the lawyer too. Best advise I can give is do not endanger yourself. Get an approved wheel. Good luck.

Damon

 

File a report with the NTSB, He cannot be selling wheels which do not conform to OEM specs as far as weight carrying. Ask him if his Wheels are DOT Spec or not.

If they are not he better have a huge disclamer making note of to be used only for show trucks or something similar.

If you don't persue this then the next guy might get killed or kill someone else.

 

thanks for the advise guys very good to know. My lawyer sais with all my evidence weve got a very good case against him . And he deff has no disclaimer. In fact i have had 2 other friends call him after the problem and he still sais that the wheels will our perform the tires and truck.

As soon as DTR aproves my photos ill post em

 

ya. thats always a dicey proposition. I believe its all in how the bead is trimmed on the lathe. I ran the exact freightliner directionals you have there, shaved to 22.0" I used different tires though. but I was always concerned about the lip thickness. so I hand picked 6 from my local truck wrecker. brought them to a local machinist. we looked at the rims and the tires and discussed how to cut.

see the 22.5" tires have an angled seat. and the rims have the matching angle. while theres tons of material there in OEM configuration. you shave material it gets thinner. thats obvious. but how its cut makes a difference. automotive tires have a virtually 90* bead seat. so if the machinist cuts the alcoa seat to match the 90* at 22.0" diameter. the bead material is paper thin.

so he suggested we shave it on the contour matching the original alcoa seat. until a regular 22.0" tires seats. now you think well the 22.0 tire beadseat will never seat and seal on the angle of the OEM alcoa. but it does and theres no problem sealing. and the bead lip is still plenty thick.


my 2 bits. for some info.

 

kenny that sucks

 

see thats what I think you got there. now that your pics are approved lip cut too thin. thin aluminum + heat build up = boom like that.

sorry to see it. glad no one was hurt though.


this is a stock alcoa seat. we followed that conture while shaving on the lathe. rather than cutting a 90* and radius into the stock rim seat.


heres mine.



I'd do it again. but only cut my way. Though I don't know how the big guys like American force do it, I've never seen their rims up close.

 

What a bad deal when my tires wear down. I have been thinking of getting my rims shaved to 22's

 

The place in miami that does em leaves plenty of meat on them you can even see the diference with the tire mounted so they can be done rite btu heres what it looks like when there done wrong

click on the pics they blow up




see the ring wrapped around the caliper

 

I could be wrong, but I believe 22's are a lot easier to find and more options than 22.5's.

 

yea deff mor tire options and also you dont have those crazy hard ruff riding semi tires and there are no mud terain options with 22.5s I had my 37s shaved and balanced and this truck road so smooth with no shimmy shake or bounce i couldnt balieve it,

 

Hey, don't forget SMALL CLAIMS COURT. Usually the limit is about $5,000 and you submit your argument in writing to a judge. You may have to go to court later to present your evidence in person and allow the other party to respond in person. The judge makes a summary decision. The cost is minimal, probably less than $100 to file and no lawyer necessary. Sounds to me your case is perfect for that. The court's decision is final and enforceable. You can even have a local constable or deputy sheriff do the collection. Research it in your own state. It's a pretty simple process that I have used before. The only problem I had was that by the time I tried to collect my judgement, the company had gone out of business and the guy didn't have a proverbial "pot to pee in".

Don't forget to report him to the Better Business Burea before you try anything else. They will contact the vendor and try to get him to respond on your behalf as well.

By the way, you may have made a big mistake by accepting the second set of rims. That may constitute an "agreeable" settlement as far as the court is concerned.

 

Thanks good to know. As far as accepting the second set he agreed to mnachine them difrently and told me they would be more than twice as thick and they were not they were just as thin. So im hoping that the judge has a little common sence as far as that goes. But that is good to know thank you

 

Since you can show you were not abusing the rims, and that you were using them within the truck's gvw, you should be in good shape for small claims. Pretty simple case. Just do not mount the replacement rims. Your argument that he did not machine them as he said, and that they are the same as the failed rims, will work in your favor.

Just a word of warning, though. If you go to small claims with it, make sure you have all your ducks in a row and that you are able to write up a good, coherent, and logical presentation of the facts. Doesn't have to be long, but must be precise and readable. Once it is submitted, that's pretty much your only shot. Once the judge makes a decision, you can't go back and say, "Oh, I forgot to tell you..." Once it is done, it's over.

You make your accusation and state your case, the court sends him a notice and allows him a certain amount of time to respond, then the judge makes a decision, or sets a date for a hearing. If the guy doesn't take it seriously and fails to respond, you win. Just like that. If he does respond, he has a bit of an advantage, since he knows your argument and evidence (the court provides him with your statement) and can tailor his response to refute what you have presented.

So, state the facts and make them accurate. Photograph everything. Provide dates, locations, prices, everything. Detail what you were doing at the time they failed to show you were not operating outside safe parameters. Detail as closely as possible any claims he made to you about the rims. Provide brochures, etc that lead you to buy the rims. Do research on the Internet and try to locate others who have experienced failures with his rims. Have somebody proofread your statement before you submit it to the court. In short, leave no stone unturned, but don't fill up a bunch of pages with stuff that isn't important to the case. It's not hard, but don't think the court will be favorable to you if you take it lightly.

Good luck!

 

THENRIE

Thank you so much for taking the time to fill me in on this it is truly helpful

And all you other guys to!! i will deff be going after this guy.