BEWARE OF BUYER - ForgedWheelSource - FIXED BY VOSSEN

[hardt2788]

I bought a set of 22 inch Vossen CV3's in July of 2013 from ForgdedWheelSource, an active respected sponsor on this forum. The sale went flawless, the delivery was fast, and the product was just what I wanted.


6 months after, I noticed that the clear coat on the 2 rear wheels was fading away on certain spots of the wheel. I immedialty contacted Vossen who informed me to contact the dealer, so i then contacted my salesman at ForgedWheelSource (Chris) and let him know about the problem i was having.


All seemed well, he quickly responded and asked for picture's of the wheel's which I in return sent to him. At this point i was feeling confident because of the quick responses intially receieved and knowing that Vossen bost there warranty as follows:


"
Our Industry Leading Warranty

Our warranty is a statement of confidence in the quality of our wheels. Every Vossen wheel is put through the highest standard in testing and quality control. These high standards allow us to provide an industry leading 5 year workmanship warranty and a lifetime structural warranty, which proves we stand behind our product 100%.

Within the first 5 years of ownership, if any defects in material or workmanship arise under normal and reasonable use when properly installed and maintained, Vossen Wheels will replace or refinish your wheels free of charge. Our lifetime structural warranty will guarantee the replacement of your wheel in the event of a structural failure caused by a manufacturer defect. Please contact us for our warranty guidelines and a return authorization number to file a claim.

We take great pride in the warranty that we offer to our customers. The bottom line is that a warranty is only as good as the company that stands behind it.
"


At this point about a week or so went by and i sent an email back to Chris to ask what was going on. The reply was as follows :


"Vossen said they have never seen one of their wheels with this kind of damage. They are asking what you were using to cleaning the wheels. Also, were they being cleaned by hand or car wash machine?"


I then replied that my car is garage kept, washed either in my driveway by myself or a professional detailer who hand washes it, both of us only using soap & water. And this shouldnt even matter but this started happening before we even had a snow storm.


After that reply another 2 weeks passed and i sent a follow up in which i received this response:


"I’m still waiting to hear from Vossen. Last information I got from them they were looking at other wheels from same batch as yours. I will call them Monday morning again."


Well monday eventually came and nothing, i gave it to the end of the week and sent another follow up on friday in which there was no response. I then waited another week and sent a follow up this time including Diego from Vossen in which there was again no response. I sent a total of about 4 - 5 new follow up's to Chris at ForgedWheelSource & Diego at Vossen Wheels, and it is now March and neither of them have replied (3 months total).


At this point as you can imagine i am getting very frustrated being ignored and my wheels are looking worse and worse everyday. Finally after threatining to bring up a law suit and the create a post so that their customers could see whats going on, they reply with a request for me to ship my wheels to Florida so that they can be "inspected" AND THAT I WILL HAVE TO PAY THE SHIPPING BOTH WAYS.


To summarize, i bought Vossen wheels 6 months ago from ForgedWheelSource, in which 2 of the wheels were defective and the clear coat was fading away. I was ignored and avoided for over 2 months and now i am being asked to put my car out of commision for the amount of time that it will take them to "inspect" them, pay shipping, all with the chance that they still may not even honor there "Industry Leading Warranty".

This has been a terrible buyers experience after all, i am chasing these people down and being blatantly ignored.

I have owned many set's of aftermarket wheels, various brands on various cars, i also sold wheels for 5 years at a local car shop. I take care of my cars, and i dont use any sorts of chemicals whatsoever neither does my detailer. The car is garaged kept & doesnt see incliment weather.

Im asking ForgedWheelSource or Vossen to send me 2 new wheel's and i will send them back their defective ones in which they can recoat and resell or do whatever they need to do with them. No way should a paying customer be put out any more than he/she already has in this situation. OR refund my money completely and i will send back the entire set. I would rather lose money paying lawyer fee's than give another dime to either of these company's.

PICTURES OF THE WHEELS ARE TO FOLLOW.



Update: 4/12, Vossen is currently doing everything they possibly can to fix this, its now just an issue of replacement wheels being out of stock.

I am no longer dealing with ForgedWheelSource in any way, Vossen themselves have taken complete control of the situation. Vossen did not recommend the wheels being drilled but apparently ForgedWheelSource did it anyway just to make the sale without my acknowledgement or Vossens recommendation, and the fluids from the process of drilling is what weakened the clear coat.

Aside from some lack of communication at the start, everyone at Vossen have been completely professional and caring.


Update: 5/17, Vossen has replaced all 4 wheels!

[hardt2788]

Here are the pic's, dirt is now started to stain where the clear coat used to be, this is only happening to the 2 rear wheels, obviously meaning there is something wrong with the batch otherwise the front's would be doing the same thing if it was something i was using on them. Keep in mind the wheels are only about half a year old

[gr8daneh]

Originally Posted by hardt2788

Here are the pic's, dirt is now started to stain where the clear coat used to be, this is only happened to the 2 rear wheels, obviously meaning there is something wrong with the batch otherwise the front's would be doing the same thing if it was something i was using on them.

HOLY Sh1+!!!! I would be pissed...

[01pewterz28]

It’s obvious that is a complete failure of the clear coat and paint looks to be corrosion in the casting itself when it finally gave way into the paint and clear. Not sure how they cannot see this a manufacturing defect all you have to do is look at where the you can see the cast metal eating away.

I would not stop until you get new wheels that is not right.

[Fish-man]

My oem avalanche wheels developed corrosion... within 3/36...replaced no questions asked. Would they have been replaced had I not taken them to the dealer? Nope.

Would I be pissed if I were you? Yup.

I have been pissed over many 'new' aftermarket parts... and 'used' aftermarket bought from distant vendors... rarely ending in my satisfaction.

[patternpilot]

The deicing chemicals used on roads during the winter will eat off the clear coat. My Silverado wheels had the clear coat eaten off and it attacked the aluminum causing pits similar to what I see on yours. Chrome is also susceptible. The agency's using them say they are safe but a search will reveal this is a common problem. Still should not do it.

[revived]

Thanks for posting your experience. I will be steering clear of both of those Stores when I buy expensive aftermarket wheels... they look like hell.

[hardt2788]

Originally Posted by patternpilot

The deicing chemicals used on roads during the winter will eat off the clear coat. My Silverado wheels had the clear coat eaten off and it attacked the aluminum causing pits similar to what I see on yours. Chrome is also susceptible. The agency's using them say they are safe but a search will reveal this is a common problem. Still should not do it.

As I stated, this happened before any snow or bad weather, the dates the pictures were taken can prove this.

[BigBlock69RS]

Wow, sorry to hear of your troubles. Hopefully the company will make it right.

[bhillakaiceberg]

Damn, that's terrible. Hope for a resolution for ya! Hang in there!!

[Denis]

Wow those wheels look terrible. I'd be pissed if I spent that kind of money and they looked like that...

It always boggles my mind when a company doesn't stand by their product.

[mike@vossen]

Hi sorry to hear about your issue, I am offsite but the team is investigating now. I will PM you directly and you can contact me directly as well.

Mike@vossenwheels.com

[mike@vossen]

Hi,

The wheels will be replaced with new ones. We are on the phone with Chris now. We will also investigate to see where was the breakdown in communication. We also wil be investigating to see what happened to the wheel(s) in question.

Sorry for your inconvience and please check your PM.

Mike

[nyrfan]

Originally Posted by mike@vossen

Hi,

The wheels will be replaced with new ones. We are on the phone with Chris now. We will also investigate to see where was the breakdown in communication. We also wil be investigating to see what happened to the wheel(s) in question.

Sorry for your inconvience and please check your PM.

Mike