Another Wheely Bad Experience

So I had this really cool car. It was a 2001 Honda S2000. I had tricked it out and spent something like $5000 in modifications like wheels, tires, stereo, etc.. Well I was needing something more practical so I sold the car to my Dad because he liked it. Anyway, the biggest pain in the ass thing about the car where these custom wheels I had bought for like $3000. They are what is referred to as a "Reverse" rims. This means the main pocket of air is located on the opposite side of the wheel structure than in most other wheels. I'm not really sure what the purpose of this is, but its a sports car type wheel and I would assume it has some reason for being. What this also means is that tires need to be removed and installed on a special type of mounting machine that apparently is pretty rare in Kansas City, MO.. To save time, let me bullet the highlights I've had when replacing tires on these wheels and other issues.

-Original Installation at Tires Plus: Went ok, but the technician put the tires on backwards and had to take them all back off and remount them again. He ended up slightly scuffing the rim edges which are supposed to have a polished type look.

-I accidentally scrape two of the wheels on a curb: I then took these to a repair shop which buffed out the scrapes but they then appeared to have been burned with a flame.

-Replaced Rear Tires: This time I took them to an actual custom wheel shop that a guy I know worked at. He said no problem when I asked if he could switch the tires out without issue. Well guess what? He had an issue and screwed one of the wheels up by scraping it really bad. He agreed to pay for a replacement wheel and bought one for me online, which I actually never got mounted and is sitting in a room in the house.

-2nd Replacement of Rear Tires: I guess I thought the first experience with Tires Plus wasn't that bad because I took the car there to get the rears replaced. Guess what? This time they scuffed them a bit more but the kicker was that they actually bent the inside portion of one of the wheels. They didn't admit to it but it didn't seem to affect the ride so I let it slide.

-Acid Burn on Back Country Road: My Dad was driving the car in the backroads one nice fall day and when he got back he noticed there was some kind of weird coating like milk all over the wheels. We tried to washit off but nothing worked. But guess what? We actually were able to claim it on our insurance and we got totally new replacement rims. The insurance company took the old ruined ones for testing.

-New Wheel Set Mounting: This time I took them to another custom wheel shop hoping for the best. Guess what? They actually did a nice job and got the new wheels mounted without any scuffing, bending or scraping. But guess what else? They did a shitty job of balancing the tires and the car shook like a cracked out go-go dancer over 70mph. We thought this might also be because of near bald tires in the front so we bought new tires.

-Replaced Front Tires: So now I was really torn. The last shop did a good job of not damaging the wheels, but I thought their balancing skills seemed less than desirable. My Dad said he wanted to try to go to the Tires Plus over by their new house. He apparently went by there and the guy said that it wouldn't be a problem at all because they install large custom wheels for the local Ford dealership down the street all the time. So I end up just telling my dad that if he makes sure to get them to guarantee it then go ahead. Guess what? They fucked up the front wheels worse than any screw up I've had before. Looked like they took a router to them. They have agreed to replace the wheels at thier expense but it's going to take about 2 months to get the new wheels shipped into the country from Japan. So now we wait.

So much for keeping this short. And what is the moral of it all? I suppose it's that I should just go to that custom shop that did a good install even though the balance wasn't that great. Or better yet, just don't buy custom wheels until you can afford to just buy a new set with new tires everytime they go bald.

-AHHHHHH!

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