Those Wheels on eBay....

The ones that have been talked about here on many threads, the inexpensive wheels.

Well, for the money, they may not be all that bad. I've been in correspondence regarding the wheel fo a while now, seeing if the seller had any liability insurance, any over-riders from the manufacture etc...


while I didn't get any feedback along those issues other than their warranty policy, I asked about certification for fitment of use..specifically T.U.V.

First correspondence they said they couldn't send me a copy but the wheels the sell are TUV complient and that the wheels were marked as such. I asked for some pics of the back side of the wheel before I could bid with confidence and sleep at night if I put a set on my 355 (looking for second set for track use and I'm a cheap b*stard). It was about 2 weeks ago and I sent several emails whenever the size and style was up at eBay.

Well today they just sent me a pic, not of the wheel, but of the actual TUV complient certification.

Yes they are Chinese, but the paper shows they should be a safe wheel to use, and that was my main concern with these items. So now for under a grand, it looks like a set may find their way here.

The cert says valid until April 2001, but I'll push some more and see if they can produce a more current cert.


JD

here's a copy of my last email to them:

Andrew,

thanks, and I realy appreciate the pic. Makes me feel better that the manufacturer complies not only with the TUV requirements, but also manufactures to an ISO standard.

I am a little bothered that here in 2006, the certification only is valid until April 2001.

Do you have or can you get any more current info? A picture of the wheel markings would be nice. THat would show, hopefully, the TUV cert of that particular wheel to comply as well as a possible manufacturing date code when the wheel was produced. That is part of the ISO standard (I am an engineer), and if the wheel was manufactured within the time frame of the validity of the TUV / ISO certification then the wheels are good to go....

Thanks for your time and understanding


Jeff Davison
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Update,

after waiting a while for the current T.U.V. certification from the companies on eBay distributing the Chinese manufactured wheels:Highline wheels
aka their eBay seller names:

Oemstyles4less

and

Highlinewheels4U

I inquired again for them to check to see if their supplier had come through and if they could send me an email or fax so I can verify the conformity they said their product had. I did his under the eBay "ask the seller a question" so that they could see that I am a verified eBay user and my positive feedback of 99.8 with over 500 purchases over the last few years.

They came back with "we don't give out that informtion before a sale" reply.

To which I sent them some info from SEMA and the D.O.T. regarding the FMVSS (Federal motor vehicle safety standards) and said as a consumer of product intended for the use on roads and highways I needed some proof of roadworthiness, as well as a common courtesy for a potential bonafide customer.

Here is the last reply that I recieved from Andy Verona at the company in an email stating further email from me would be blocked:


Please be advised that your email has been blocked. This is due too several reasons. The individual that you are intending to email wants you to leave him alone, he feels you’re a risk, a fraud, a person with no life and someone that he truly wants to keep away from. You might have body odor or just be a pain in the ass. You are warned never to contact this member again since he feels that you are a loser and has no intentions of ever dealing with you.



Good Day Loser!!




as a reply to Subject: Re: Question for item #8047689802 - 18" SPEEDLINE STYLE FERRARI CHALLENGE Wheels 360 355




You be the judge this company. For me, I would be VERY AFRAID of ANY dealings with them and stay as far away as possible from those Chinese source wheels!!!!
It looks like their company preys upon the uninformed and if you check out their feedback, they even don't live up to their own policies.

Jeff

 

They were once a sponsor of this forum!!

Response was more than lame, it was down right insulting. A VERY proffesional reply to a question on the concern of road worthiness of their products.


JD

 

Hmmmm

look what I found

I wouldn't go anywhere near Highline Wheels for any ammount:

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&strBCode=06330000&ComID=0633000030001286

 

Personally I have no problems with the wheels sourced in China. I'm from a manufacturing background and there is some good engineering and production out that way.

What raises my ire with Highline Wheels is that the have no clue on how to do business. I went to the manufactures website:
http://www.fracing.com
and they look to be a fine company using the latest machinery from around the world and they are ISO certified. They also mention that they have SFI certification in the US. It's just the distributor and their policies that call suspect to the product. They won't go any distance to provide this info.

If Highline had supplied my request when asked, treated their costomers more fairly and didn't send an insulting relpy to a legitamate inquiry of mine, I'd have another set of wheels to play with. I won't do business with them nor will I recommend them to anyone.

Now if Fracing had other distributors, they would be in a much better position here in the US.

So fair warning about Highline Wheels as a business even tho the product just may be worthy.

JD