Wheel out of round, what should I do? An annoying saga with a rant

[Nate_V8]

So this is has been a long and annoying ordeal and all the fun of ordering rims has been destroyed now.

I ordered rims from LMR on july 2nd. I get half the order after 2 week, UPS lost the other half but tracking would say in transit, delay blah blah. Contacted LMR, their customer service has been great, guy did all he could with UPS, calling supervisor etc. After a month since I placed my order he said forget it and canceled the "lost" rims (a 19x10 and 19x11). Sends 2 new ones and they get here yesterday and at the same time the "lost" also show up, so I have 6 rims. it's been almost a month and a half waiting for my rims and I don't care I just want to get them on my car.

I got to get them all mounted yesterday, guy is on the last rim and calls me over, a 19x10 is out of round a little. I keep my cool and say that I actually have a back up. I call my wife, get her to leave work early, she gets the kids, lugs both rims in the car (she was annoyed and didn't want to bother figuring which box was which rim) she shows up 40min later (20min from closing for the weekend at this point) and throw the "lost" rim on the balancer. OUT OF ROUND. Are you ****ing kidding me? This has left me with such a bitter taste in my mouth. So the guy says I can drive it being out of round so I wouldn't have to take all the rims off and put my old ones back on as 3 out of 4 are mounted at this point, plus it was $140 for this and no way in hell am I paying again. I parked it last night, I can feel the out of round.

So at this point I don't know what to do.

Do I get LMR to send me another 19x10 and wait for who knows how long and who knows if it will also be out of round? Or option 2 is the place I went to said they can send it to a machine shop that can easily fix it and make it perfect again for about 100-150 bucks and a 24 hour turn around. I'm so god damn sick of this crap at this point. I know they are just rims but after waiting this long, it being out of round, thinking I had a fix out a stroke of luck, and it being out of luck also?

Sorry for the book but I'm also ranting.

TL;DR. LMR sent me rims which I waited a month and half to get because UPS only sent me half and after a month LMR sent me 2 new ones which showed up 2 days ago with the ones UPS lost. Went to get them mounted and a 19x10 was out round, I thought I was clever and had my wife bring the extra 19x10 and it was out of round. I don't trust LMR or UPS now, I can send the rim to be fixed at a machine shop with a 24 hour turn around for 100-150 bucks. I'm thinking this is the best option and I think LMR should pay for it also. I'm also very pissed about this entire thing

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[Nate_V8]

I do not have anything written but with all the troubles I've had so far I can't see why they would doubt me. As I already have a ticket open a mile long because of UPS. I also think that lmr paying for the repair is the best move but what are the chances? Or maybe they refund me, I already have to send back the extras that weren't supposed to show up here. The while fiasco has been one giant pita

 

[kws6000]

How did he determine it was out of round?

Was it a Hunter Road Force Balancer where he could measure the run out and do a
printout?.. or was it
a conventional play balancer and he
was just eyeballing it?

Ive never heard of machining an out
of round wheel....

 

[kws6000]

Unless these wheels have terrible quality
control, I find it weird that you ended
up with 2 bad wheels in a row.

 

[Nate_V8]

I'm guessing a manufacturing defect? I had 3 19x10s and 3 19x11s. all the 19x11s were fine and 1 19x10 was fine. he showed me the warp/bend/out of round for both the out of round ones

It was a conventional play balancer and yes he eyeballed it, he showed me it also, its definitely out of round. Would it not be the same fix as fixing a bent rim that smashed a pot hole?

 

[kws6000]

It depends on the nature of the out of roundness.

I would get your tire guy to write down
exactly what his findings are, being
more specific than just saying out
of round...in other words was it a side
to side wobble, or an up and down
wobble or movement?

...and then contact LMR and see
what they’re willing to do to make this
right.

Is there anyone in your area with
Hunter Road Force balancing equipment?

 

[GMB Racing]

when I had that problem with LMR we sent him a video of the out of round rim on the balancer using a pointer so you can see the problem. and they finally sent me a new rim w/ pickup tag for defective one
keep pushing they seem to have a lot of SVE rims that are questionably

 

[Nate_V8]

It depends on the nature of the out of roundness.

I would get your tire guy to write down
exactly what his findings are, being
more specific than just saying out
of round...in other words was it a side
to side wobble, or an up and down
wobble or movement?

...and then contact LMR and see
what they’re willing to do to make this
right.

Is there anyone in your area with
Hunter Road Force balancing equipment?

I'm looking around now but I can't find much, I'm not sure if they would advertise if they have that or not (road force balancer).

It's an up and down on the inside lip. both rims were the same. Just one small spot. around the city I haven't noticed it but I only took home. I don't want to chance hitting a large pothole on the spot that is already compromised and make it worse.

I've already contacted LMR, the customer service rep I've been talking to for weeks via email will be back on monday. I've even talked with him once on the phone (he called me) too trying to sort the shipping mishap. I would be very doubtful that they would doubt me on this after waiting all this time to get my rims only to need a replacement? and wait how long again for another? it's the last thing I want. How they handle this situation depends on if they get my business ever again.

 

[Nate_V8]

From what I just researched on rim repair, it can easily be fixed

 

[kws6000]

You probably have to call around for the
Hunter Roadforce equipment.

It’s not easy to find.

With it, the operator can spin the wheel
and get a print out showing exactly how
out of round the wheel is.

It also does a much better job of balancing ,
if the operator knows what he is doing.

 

[kws6000]

It's an up and down on the inside lip. both rims were the same. Just one small spot. around the city I haven't noticed it but I only took home. I don't want to chance hitting a large pothole on the spot that is already compromised and make it worse.

I would take it out for a longer drive and
see if you feel any vibration at various
speeds.

 

[Nate_V8]

I would take it out for a longer drive and
see if you feel any vibration at various
speeds.

So you think it wasn't actually out of round?

 

[kws6000]

So you think it wasn't actually out of round?

Not at all ..... Ive had wheel/ tires assemblies
that appeared out of round on the balancer,
but drove fine.

I’m assuming you have the out of round
wheel on your car.....Curious as to what
it feels like on the road.

 

[Nate_V8]

Well I had it up to 70km/h but I don't think I noticed any vibration but was for only 30s or so, too much stop and go where I went. I havent taken it on the highway yet.

So lets say I don't feel anything, does that mean the rim is not compromised in any way? If I'm going hard through a right hand corner/turn, will the extra force on that left front wheel be a possible liability? Or in a hard turn and I hit a bump or something does that out of round area have a chance to fail/ bend even more?

If you had this on your Mustang, not some DD honda civic, would you be ok with knowing you have a new rim that it not true even though it feels fine on the road? I will try to find a road force balancer but even then what a pita as I will have to pay again. This whole ordeal is exhausting at this point


I will make sure to try it on the highway tomorrow

 

[Nate_V8]

So I took out for a run this morning. As far as I can tell, no vibration at all. I took up to 170/180km/h and no abnormal vibration felt through the car or in the steering wheel. I don't know what to make of this development at this point

I did find a place with road force balancing also

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