AR Wheels made by monkeys?

I'm not the type to air my greivances on the internet, but now I'm really pissed!
I ordered wheels being advertised in a distributors magazine in Jan. '04. Paid in full, I was told they'd be ready 2-3 weeks, they were still in production I think, I can wait to have the only set on the block... Then I'm told the month of February doesn't look so good either.. Than, good news, they'll be in March 4th! Than the 12th, The 19th. Finally I say, listen, I'm going to a national event (MOAB) with thousands of wheelers who'd love to see these new wheels. Free advertising for you and at a premiere event! They say, and I quote,"we'll cross our fingers".

They got here yesterday, April 16th.
The lug spacing's fine, but the center is only 3" around.
4"! I need 4 Fu*^#&@g inches! Who the F*$k ok'd this shit to be sent a way for an'01 X?! WTF is going on there? What kind of chromosone missing ass-hat runs their production center? 4"! Did anyone bother to check a factory spec before making these things? This is un-app-F*$@#^g-ceptable.
4 months to wait for an advertised product, which isn't shipped when promised (3.5 months later) and they're completely useless when they arrive.

ps- they sure are nice looking and as soon as AR gets their shit together, I'll post pics.
Bastards.

So they're not really working out for you then?

Make sure you ask them about their two week warranty. They told me that they would only cover my wheels if I had purchased them within the last two weeks. They definitely haven't impressed me too much.

So today(June 1st) I fire off my second angry letter to AR as I've completely given up on dealing with the 4wheelparts store in Mesa,(40 something miles from my house). Dude from AR calls back and says their email system was down recently,yada-yada. He says UPS the wrong wheels I received 1 1/2 months ago back to 4WP and they'll make it right ASAP. It's been 5 months now, we'll see what happens next

AR guy calls to say today the wheels are post production and being shipped nationally. I'll be rockin' the only pair at GOX for sure Appearantly the guy who answered my email(s) is the R&D guy there and the whole "teflon wheel" thing is his baby. The concept was originally,(according to him) proto'd for Jeff Gordon (of NASCAR) to alleviate things like brake dust and grime from accumulating. He said he just returned from a movie studio today, where the VICTOR series wheels (mine ) were being fitted to a big FORD being used in XXX 2.
7 months now, they better F'ng fit well... I'll have pics when they get here, really.

$5 says you won't have them before GOX.

If this is them? Then they do look pretty sweet, hope AR comes through.

I'm working on a gratis fifth wheel. I argued they've had my money now for over 6 mos. The juice was on and they owed me . He said he'd look into it :rolleyes:

Non-stick wheels

No need to send the money now Firth . I just got the call and they arrived in PHX today , install tomorrow .

$5 says they're dubs.

Eat me.

Can we using them for cooking on during the next Xcursion?

Cooking or Griswald family sleding. j/k

Ok, (deep breath here) I went to pick up the wheels. Lo' and behold, they fit this time . That was the good news . They did not ship with the spiffy center caps. Uh huh, they got half the order right this time.. Dude calls AR while I'm standing there and says AR guy told him it's a problem they're having specifically with the NISSAN wheels. Pphhtt! Enough about that, they said when they got it figured out, they'd be sending mine to me. (On a plus note, 4WP guy sent me out with four of the plain chrome finish center caps in the mean time. They kind of look like they belong, but they're coming off as soon as the ones in the picture above arrive.)

Now, a word or two about AR's craftsmenship. Crappity crap. There is a lip of maybe 2-3 16ths" on one side of the wheels,(we'll call it 12 o'clock). AT 6 o'clock the lip is non exsistent. (EDIT- You can see the lip in the pic above from (going clockwise) 10 o'clock around to about 8'oclock.) It seems when the machine routed out the design from the aluminum alloy block, it ran it's pattern oblong . Now don't get me wrong, you have to look to find the imperfection, but after waiting almost 7 months for these wheels, I looked them over reeal good.

I can say without hesitaiton, this has been a bad experience form the get-go. As noted in other posts here concerning AR, they have some serious issues with service and product quality..

Caveat Emptor.



Pics are forthcoming. (ps, not for nothing, but DAMN! they look good on the X!!)

2nd EDIT- Ok, one last thing. I couldn't wait so I drove down the street to a mountain and locked 'em up. I crawled around a bit and did some brodies in a dirt field. When I got home, what dirt remained, wiped off clean and easy. No film or nuthin'.
Yes Jim (Yzerman) we just may have steak and eggs one day on the trail The non-stick as good as any pans I've got

um, pics please?

Thank you.

You forgot to tell everyone how easy they are to take off and put back on...

I would return them. What if they aren't round?

pic pic pic! I can't wait to see!

c'mon.. pics

I asked some people in metalwork and it seems to be nothing to worry about. The "seam" is identical on all four and seems to be result of the lathes pattern/program as it bore out the design.

As Jim mentioned, they are a royal PITA to take off and put on. The tolerance for the airwrench to get on the nut is minimal between the nut itself and the teflon-treated, countersunk "nuthole".

Yes, pics. That guy Jim has my camera and at this very moment is devising a way for me to place said pics on the internet for your viewing pleasure. The monsoons are back; cloudy tonight, tomorrow's high, when I get up..back to you Jim.

no pics? I would really like to see how these look on the X

Well, when you get back from GOX. I was actually going to bring my camera yesterday when I gave yours back, but I forgot . Or someone at GOX can snap a few and throw them on?

Bummer, I had planned on removing one of them every morning during GOX so we could cook up some bacon and eggs on it for breakfast.

Good luck, took XterrAZ 1/2 hour to just put 1 center cap on that day.

Just hope that he doesn't pop a flat at GOX. The standard tire wrench won't fit and I don't know if he has picked up one that does. You might be there a while...

We had a run over the weekend and I actually remembered to take some pictures of Dan's new Rims. So here they are...



Now for the closeup...



Funny how it was actually muddy here in AZ.

not to jinx you further or anything but you know the first rock you hit and that spiffy non-stick coating is going to scrap off right?

Heh, I forgot you got the pics Jimbo, nice job. That was some good muddin' for sure.
Yeah, actually, the tire/wheel combo kicks ass and as far as the teflon clear coat wearing off? :rolleyes: Fat chance. It's the scrapes and deep gouges from GOX that have already got 'em looking like they're used properly.

What's an SE 3 pack? SE's didn't have packages in 2001 the SE trim just came with everything.

As much as i love seeing muddy rims, you got a pic of them clean? Just wondering what they look like when their all spiffy.

same

If anyone still cares...

Oh mama! Dem R Sweet!

If you'd have gone to GOX-CC you could've driven them around :p

Dan, whats the Back Spac. on those? They are DAMN nice lookin!!

Oh and are American Race. still Monkeys?

He would have have if my wife did't freak the F c k out at the last possible moment. He was going to shotgun with me.

I still feel bad about that.

4 3/4" if I remember correctly..
Thanks

any fitment problems with that backspacing? and do you have any other pics that show the whole truck with those wheels on it?

Heres a shot of DBAX' Rig with the teflon coated non stick omelet and sausase grills on them... he likes to call them American Racing wheels.

Thanks for the pic, they look great!

Those are great looking AR rims....sorry you had to go through so much hell to get them on and get everything straight (no pun intended :p ). But they do definitely look sweet on your X, especially Yellow