Looking for a wheel modification/repair.....

....service company. Please don't refer me to Stockton Wheel Service, they're the reason I'm looking for someone else. It's enough they charge a fairly stout fee for what they do, from the get go you have a rough idea before you choose them. It's once they have your wheels captive and you're invested in the shipping cost, the value of the wheels sent, and the return shipping if you elect not to have them do the work, that they stick it to you on overcharges for return shipping, and not doing all they commit to. And like too many people out there, they promise, in my last experience, 6 week turnaround and take 10. But enough of the rant, what I'm really trying to do here is find an honest, qualified, service to modify wheels. Got one? Thanks in advance.

Bob, although we personally had one bad experience with this company, everyone else swears by them. RallyAmerica. To be honest, in hindsight, our experience wasn't horrible......they just promised a delivery date on a yet to be developed wheel for us and they didn't hit the deadline. It happens, but we were anxious and kinda badmouthed them. Now I think it could have been an isolated situation.

People on the HAMB rave about Gary McLean and his Son, so you should get good service there.......certainly better than Stockton Wheel!! :eek:

Don

what are you wanting done to your wheels. are they alluminum or steel. let me know ive fixed a lot of cracked alluminum wheels and depending on the modification i might be able to help.

Yeah Pops, I remember your post about the problems you had, and recently a buddy of mine had an even worse experience with them on a set of wires. Fortunately I'm not in a hot hurry for this little project so some time delay wouldn't kill me, poor workmanship is another thing though. Thanks

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Originally Posted by eyepoppin

what are you wanting done to your wheels. are they alluminum or steel. let me know ive fixed a lot of cracked alluminum wheels and depending on the modification i might be able to help.

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These are steel wheels. Want to have a pair of 4x16 rims removed and replaced with 6x16 rims on '36 Ford wide five centers. Thanks.

Ouch Bob. I pretty much felt our situation was an isolated one after seeing glowing report after glowing report on the HAMB about how much members there thought of RallyAmerica..............but now I wonder if I was alone? :confused:

Wheel companies are notoriously either hit or miss it seems. As you mentioned, Stockton Wheel has been the subject of many threads about slowness, lying, etc. Wheel Vintiques sent us a rim that wobbled right out of the box. And I have seen most other wheel manufacturers spoken about badly from time to time.

I did business with "Solids" years ago, and they delivered on time and a good product...........not sure if they are even around any longer. Good luck finding a good company Bob.

Don

Bob, it's your "right wing" attitude that gets you into trouble....you seem to always expect a quality part at a reasonable price from vendors....if you would back off and realize that we should give preference to underperforming outfits and let them charge more but deliver less, you would fall in line with the current flow of the USA.
These people have spent a little energy to get to the crappy level of service and quality, why do you want to penalize them? They achieved a lowness in their industry....not every company can do so.
Wake up and join the new wave....."you can buy better but you cant pay more!"

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Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Yeah Pops, I remember your post about the problems you had, and recently a buddy of mine had an even worse experience with them on a set of wires. Fortunately I'm not in a hot hurry for this little project so some time delay wouldn't kill me, poor workmanship is another thing though. Thanks



These are steel wheels. Want to have a pair of 4x16 rims removed and replaced with 6x16 rims on '36 Ford wide five centers. Thanks.

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Are they the riveted wheels, Uncle Bob???? Used to have a fixture for wide five wheels from back in the roundy round days....might still be in the shop out at the farm, I'd sure go look for it if you want....???? We used to just buy the centers and outers separate to get the backspace we wanted, plus used to cut bands to widen them.... Think most of the stuff should still be around... (someplace)

Yeah Davey, 15 rivets, one per "spoke". It's one of those things where the amount of effort to rustle up a couple rims to fit and then all the teardown, setup, and finish work (and all I have now a days is the 110 welder which is a bit light for this kind of work) almost doesn't pay to do it myself for just two wheels. Heck of an attitude ain't it? Must be all that grey hair causes that!:D

I'll look Bob, fairly sure I still have the fixture to put them together straight...Just a small turntable, a couple stop blocks, and a dial indicator.... We even did some of them as a 2 piece wheel using 5/16" grade 8 hardware instead of rivets or welding....

Thanks......

We used to have Jeep wheels made by Willamette Wheel in Portland, a Google search came up with this phone number. 800-423-9804

Larry

Thanks Larry, but they went out of business a few years ago from what a friend who lives down there tells me, and that phone # gets a weird operator style recording. There used to be an outfit in Auburn also, but they've been gone a couple years too. There's one listed in Renton, but they said they only repair aluminum wheels and wires, no true fabrication.