poor quality, not standing behind product
 

I purchased, from tirerack, a set of tr motorsports 17x9 +62 wheels with hankook ventus r-s3 v2 255/40/r17.
I had tire rack mount and balance the wheel/tire package. When i placed the order, the tires were listed as in-stock. I got a call about an hour later telling me they only had 3 of the wheels, and i would have to wait about a few weeks for them to come in. Fine, i can wait.

So i get the wheels, and mount them. I mounted them in the exact orientation specified, to 87 ft lbs. All centering rings were in place. On my first drive, i feel a violent vibration at 74 mph. Strange, i had these balanced by tire rack.

Anyways, i go to firestone (tire rack's supported mechanic) for a road force balance. Everything is WAY out of balance. They remove the old weights, balance, and it comes out to 1 oz, 2.75 oz, 5 oz, 5.5 oz. The guy at firestone is amazed that the brand new wheels and tires are so far out of balance.
Next drive, vibration still occurs.
So i went about trying to troubleshoot it. Maybe it was something besides the new wheels/tires? Nope. Hours wasted, and vibration still occurring.

Tire rack will not provide me with a refund. They want me to do a bare rim runout, at my own expense, to prove whether it is a wheel or tire problem. Any work that firestone does, damages my new wheels. THere is now a bumch of old adhesive from the old weights on the inside of the wheel, and dismounting the tires is probably the easiest way to scratch and damage them. The tires still have .245" of tread left, which is above their cutoff of 6.8/32" for ride complaint. This is the worst customer service i have dealt with thus far. Does tire rack not stand behind their product? How much work do i have to do before they admit that 5.5 oz is a ridiculous balance for a brand new wheel/tire setup and it is their fault for shipping. Tirerack had put quite a few weights on during their own balancing, so they were aware that these brand new wheels and tires were way out of balance. I have been told every excuse in the book not to refund me my $1381.76 and take their poor quality product back. I have been dealing with a manager for the last 8 days and still they haven't come up with a reasonable way to resolve the issue, just the one i mentioned above.

I hope that somebody from tirerack reads this, and DOES SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I am not interested in paying for further analysis on a product that is clearly of poor quality (5.5 oz on any tire this size is ridiculous). Until then, i advise caution purchasing the tr motorsports c3 and buying from tirerack.

On the wheel with the 5.5 oz, did the tire tech at Firestone try rotating the tire 180 degrees on the wheel?

I have seen this fix problems with tires with "heavy spots".

Are you sure you are using the correct centering rings for the hub bore on the wheels?

Given Tire Rack's reputation I am surprised they are not being more cooperative.

Yeah my tire guy said that the balance that TR does is nearly always off. I just always have my shop do a balance anyway. Since TR does a "free" mount and balance, you're not out any money. Now, if there is damage to the wheel, it needs to be proven whether or not it's the wheel or the tire. I've got 5 ounces on one of my C3s as well. For $169 a wheel did you expect perfection? If so, you might want to get a refund and keep saving for some Advans or Volks, but even those will need a few weights.Getting the run-around like you have though is dumb. They should just shoot it to you straight and either make it right or not.

I am not expecting perfection, but my asa ar1 wheels with dunlop direzza dz102 didnt require so much weight and they were cheaper. I was just expecting something that i could drive 0-100mph without it vibrating like crazy. The cheapest of wheels/tires should be able to do that.

My friend with enkei pf01 (marginally more expensive) has 1oz or less on each wheel.

I just want to know that i can safely use my wheels at the normal speeds i drive.

Have a reputable shop re position these tires just as others suggested and then have these roadforce balanced. I know this sucks but doing this will just get you that much more proof that these wheels are FUBAR. You need to prove it first. I had this issue with my Continental DW tires.

Enkeis balance superbly well because the wheel manufacturing is controlled so tightly. If you put the dots on the tire in the right spot, they will typically balance out with less than 1/2 oz.

Cheaper cast wheels like the TR Motorsports line typically need quite a bit to balance them out because the wheel has an inherently loose balance when made.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter if they were cheaper wheels like the TRMotorsport wheels, the Work wheels I have, or some sets of HREs.

If TR offers the "free mount and balancing" a customer is going to assume that it's still done right.

When I ordered my Works, I dealt with Josh at Evasive, despite the turnaround time, the tires I wanted he was able to get and I requested it was mounted and balanced before being shipped to my door. Not only did they use nylon so that no damage to the rim was acquired during the tire mounting process, but when I drove the car after removing the Ap2v1s and slapping the Works on, they drove straight and true with no wobble, vibration, etc.

TR should still honor what they stand behind, personally I've never heard of anyone else that ordered a Wheel/Tire package that encountered your said results - even with other S friends that run your current setup with the TR Wheels. Granted as said above, TR did offer you a "free" mount and balance, hopefully this gets resolved in your favor!

I saw remaining tread depth noted. How many miles on the tires? I was assuming none at all until I re-read and noted the tread depth.

I agree that you paid for mounted and balanced and should have received mounted and balanced.

-- Chuck

How long were you driving on the tires before you noticed this vibration? Like Chuck said, I thought the tires were new, you mounted and balanced then and immediately noticed an issue.

Who were you working with? Who was your salesperson or your order number. Let me take a look at it.