I may be late to the game here, but Wheel Vintiques is really, really bad. Ordered a set of their steel rally's in 15x7 and 15x8 2 times with NO wheel being true. Put them on a speed wheel balancer, and each one was obviously out of round. I went through Jegs to buy them, so the return shipping was paid for, and there was no arguements. Finally went with American Torq Thrust. I really wanted the Buick rallys but I cannot be bothered any more.
Not the first bad thing I've heard about them. I'd like some of their chrome reverse rims, but after hearing about all the horror stories, I refuse to do business with them.
Gary, I don't know. There are small shops, some here in NJ, that rework existing wheels, but they need you to bring in the originals. I thought of just keeping the WV junk and having them re-insert the WV center section into one of their chrome outer rims, then I thought that paying over 1200 total for 4 steel buick rims was a little out there. My second choice was for the American Torq Thrust, so I went with that.
I feel your pain. First set of 4 bought locally ended up being from wheel vintiques....one center was pitted really bad and the other was way out of round....got warranty on those after about 3 months of hassles with local shop but in the meantime store employee quit and stole some tires when they left including mine (why anyone would steal 15" daytons I don't know), so replacement rims showed but then had to wait another months for tires again!! :laugh: Centercaps don't fit properly either, looks like centers are ground out or something plus the wheel center "spokes" are chromed (incorrect-should be stainless). Balancing is a pain as need lug centric, never had to do that on my original rally wheels... Once all sorted out they do look good though. Next set will be some 17" aluminum that "kinda" look like rally wheels, weigh half as much as well, don't cost much more: http://centerlinewheels.com/wheels_detail.php?mw_id=117&sw_id=946
Tim, both your 71 and 72 look great in the pictures you have and your site. The Centerlines do have some of the characteristics of the Buick Rally and would look good too. I was also looking at Budnik's Muroc III, but they are a little over the top pricewise. The Wheel Vintiques rallys that I had were great looking, though not 100% true to how the real Buick wheels were made. The out-of-round was as much as 1/16" which is quite shoddy. The others were out visibly, but not as much.
Thanks for the compliments, appreciated. Website is dated but just going to leave it until I start on the 71 (!). On the Muroc II and III they look sexy but that price could probably get a set of the billet 17" buick rally wheels (although not sure if I want to give those guys any more of my money), the centerline ones are less than half the price (17" about 270-290.00 each). Honestly not **sure** how any of them would look on my cars, but I think get the backspacing right and some wide rubber would be pretty good. The conterline ones actually have recessed 'spokes" so not sure how that would look once the sections were painted black...several of the salt flat special style rims would also work, but again they are pretty pricey...
I had the same experience with another vendor. the bottom line is i think they need to take more care, when they weld the new rimshells onto the original centers, to make sure that they are true.
I think there is a note in some catalogs that states" require bubble balance only".. always wondered about that.
I must of got lucky, my 15 x 10's special order with backspacing balanced out pretty good. But I bought them 4 years ago though.
Well its been my experience that generally people don't post about a product unless they are UNhappy, so perhaps we just got the bad ones of the bunch or maybe they were dropped during shipping or who knows. Car must look wicked with 10" rally wheels, any pics??
I'd just thought I'd mention that any of the wheels that use a "new" center section and not a cut out center from a used wheel are "lug-centric" and must be balanced by the lugs and not the typical cone type unit that centers it. I've had sets from Wheel Vintiques and Specialty Wheel and had them balanced that way with no problem. 15x7 & 15x8 If it really is a new wheel there will be a sticker on it saying "lug-centric" and needs to be balanced that way. If you call around to some tire places you should be able to find a place that does it. My regular place tried to do it the normal way and he said it couldn't be done. Had it done the right way and it was fine. It is just an adapter that replaces the centering cone on the balancer with lugs they bolt the wheel to.
I bought some wobblers from Coker a few years ago (probably made by that company :error: ). Anyway, lug centric balancing helped but they are visibly out of true and annoying at 62 mph.
@NoLift/Mike. I didn't think of that, but as the wheels were turning on the center, they were not "true" in at least two ways, out of round and a slight side to side wobble. I am really sorry that they didn't work out, because they looked great.
Stockton wheel makes some as does Curt McWheel, he takes your supplied center section and re-uses that.
I'm pretty sure they all do that, don't they?? I have heard people say wheel vintiques uses new wheel centers but there is no way, you can see the wear marks and sometimes pitting. Def old wheel centers. Only reason I save my 14" wheels...
Just had the same problem with Summit. 15 x 8. I think they used Speciality Wheel. One of the 2 wheels they shipped was awful. lug holes oblong. Rough finish under the black paint. Summit did replace it within a couple weeks. They did balance and looked to run true. Looks to be a hit or miss situation.
