69MustangCoupe393cid

I paid more from American Muscle than I could have elsewhere thinking I would have better service. I was wrong. It's not even the quality here. I asked them to check the wheels to be sure they were true, and they didn't. Do you think it should have taken 14 wheels for me to get a set of 4 that didn't vibrate my car to pieces? The "good" set I have now still vibrates.

I've bought TONS of aftermarket wheels for many different vehicles and never had issues like this. So "you get what you pay for" is no excuse for this. Wheels aside their customer service has overall sucked. As soon as you think they are going to fix something, the next guy knocks you down and tells you sorry that's not happening. Check the BBB complaints, people don't just file those for their health.

Sonic Mustang

I'm not defending American Muscle. Price is not an excuse for the torture you experienced. The posts from AM would have made a pretty good case in small claims court.

The fact is the Mustang aftermarket is price driven. Just about every damned thread about parts and accessories on car forums starts with, "I've been looking for X and the best price I've found is Y. Do any of you guys know where I can find it cheaper?"

Your claim of, "I paid more at AM than I could have elsewhere" may be true, but I don't consider paying $124.99 vs. $119.99 material

I'd never put Chinese wheels on a car for several reasons. First, I don't know what they're made out of. Second, I don't know how they're made. Third, I don't know who made them.

Vertigo_GT

Excellent points Sonic Mustang. I had been considering buying some wheels from AM until I found this thread. I love my factory 5 spokes but one has rash and chrome is pitted and flaky. After reading this thread I have decided to just try to get an OE replacement off of eBay or forum classifieds or wait til I can afford some quality Made in America rims.

<politirant>The Wal-Mart mentality of cheap labor and cheap products that pervades America will be the death of us. How long until we all have to bow down to the Chinese emperor or die in refusal? </endpolitirant>

Sonic Mustang

I've had my Team III wheels for nine years. They cost around $350 each and look like new. They are absolutely true and require little weight to balance. If I ever have a question, I pick up the phone and the owner of the company or his wife picks up the line.

Seabee1993

I'll have to check those out! I've been ogling forgestars, and TSW.

WildHorses67

cant trust BBB complaints most of the time, there is people that have no lives out there and will file complaints because they want to or have no lives or they will order something decided they want a refund after an order is placed (before receiving it) so they go straight to BBB.

Sonic Mustang

The BBB is irrelevant if you have first hand experience like the 69MustangCoupe383ci.

Did you read this thread? The OP had serious issues with his AM wheels and if what he and AM representatives posted here is true, he was treated inexcusably.

I especially like authorized AM agents posting promises and not coming through.

Vertigo_GT

Truth be told, it's all about the stock holder anymore. To get a good quality product that is truly backed up with an iron clad warranty and service you will have to deal with someone like Sonic Mustang wisely chose to buy from. An American made product made by skilled, well paid craftsmen and marketed/serviced by someone who truly stands behind their' product. This comes at a premium. AM is great as far as they can be. But AM is the Wal-Mart of Mustang aftermarket and the reps who promised to make it right on these wheels are restrained by their corporate masters just as most of us are. If the OP hadn't posted his issues on this prominent site he probably would have been shut down after the first return/exchange. I did read this entire thread and I do not doubt the sincerity of Dan and Shane, the AM reps, however after they shipped 14 wheels and other forum members started righteously and understandably chiming in that they too were having similar issues, I believe the Board members reigned them in to prevent a snowball effect of returns, exchanges and reimbursed mounting and balancing bills. Comes a time when even a Mom and Pop would have to step back and say "well, we are going to just have to cut our losses, take the bad press and ride this one out." Hopefully AM will look for a more reliable manufacturer of the wheels they sell. AM enjoys a well deserved good reputation amongst forum members here as far as I have been able to tell. In the end, it pretty much boils down to what Sonic Mustang said; "You get what you pay for". There is a reason that he paid almost three times the price for his rims as 69MustangCoupe393cid did for his, Sonic chose a known high quality product versus a cheap Chinese slave labor knock-off.
Those who bash Unions take note that the sacrifice of ready availability of quality goods and the ability of the American worker/consumer to purchase them is in large part due to our (yea me too) willingness to support companies who provide cheap products at the expense of underpaid and poorly treated workers toiling in unsafe working conditions (both domestic and abroad)to produce inferior products so that the wall street fat cats and corporate masters can maintain their opulent lifestyles and obscene profits.
Unions= Workers Hire crooks to deal with the Bosses’ Crooks. Gotta fight fire with fire.

Sonic Mustang

Knock off the 1%er Wall Street fat cats bull****. Have you ever been to a socialist or communist country? Most of the freaken' planet would consider you a rich American pig because you drive a Mustang. You are a fat cat comparatively speaking.

I'm a free market capitalist. I shop at Walmart. When Albertson's sells the same loaf of bread for literally 50% more, I can't afford not to shop at Walmart. I like Carroll Shelby's Texas Chili Mix. A few years ago, I was paying $1.92 at Walmart. One day, they were out and I was driving by Albertsons....$4.97. I checked the size, I verified the price with the store manager and corporate and never set foot in that store again.

If Walmart disappeared from my small town, 300 people would loose their jobs and not find others for a long time. Additionally, about 35,000 consumers from a 100 mile radius would be spending a lot more on food, clothing and essentials. And, that means they would have less money to spend on other things at local businesses. The savings at Walmart payed for my Team III wheels.

Team III is successful because they don't compete with American Muscle and they don't compete with HRE or super high end wheels costing $10,000 a set.

AM is successful because they cater to consumers who do not want to spend a lot of money on car parts. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if their products (in this case wheels) do not meet the minimums of fitness for the purpose at hand (like being round and true), the company will ultimately fail.

AM wouldn't sell these wheels if there wasn't a market at this price point. My personal requirements are simple: Anything I install on a car has to be of equal or greater quality than OEM or the stock parts stay on. Addittionally, any wheel/tire combination cannot weigh more than OEM.

We have choices. I choose to buy the identical brand from the cheapest supplier. I choose the level of quality to buy. If Walmart can sell name brands for less, that's where I shop. It's also the reason I don't eat street food from vendors in Bangladesh.

Vendors have choices, too. Mom and Pop can choose to compete with Walmart or AM head to head and fail, or they can find a niche. If you can't find a niche like Team III (quality/price combination) you deserve to fail.


The problem lies with consumers. Most are dumber than compact spares. Want proof? Look to Walmart. For nine months, Campbell's chicken noodle soup was cheaper than the Walmart store brand. Many larger sizes at Walmart cost more per unit than the smaller packages. Why? Because Walmart tracks sales and when Great Value chicken soup is flying off the shelves, they raise the price. If Campbell's soup sales are unaffected, they raise the price again. The same goes for larger sizes. If bigger boxes are selling fast, raise the price.

The consumer is either too lazy, too stupid or to rich to care. The price per ounce appears on the shelf, yet consumers pick the house brand or bigger container because they presume better value.

The same goes for wheels. Most guys think AM wheels are functionally equivalent to more expensive brands. Or, at least they are round and true. The problem is you don't know unless you do your home work. Most consumers do not do their homework and/or delude themselves into believing a half-price wheel is "just as good."

If we presume a 100% retail mark up, $350 Team III wheels cost $175 to build. $125 AM wheels cost $65 to build. Wait....Team III doesn't have muti-page ads in every car magazine and a bunch of sales people on payroll and it isn't paying shipping and customs on Chinese wheels. What's it cost to build that AM wheel, a generous $40?

I'm not putting $40 wheels on anything capable of 150MPH.

The choices made by the OP and American Muscle are here for all to read. Let's see how many lazy, stupid and ignorant consumers bother to learn anything.

In my opinion, based on what has been posted here, American Muscle treated the OP horribly and I will never buy anything from them - even OEM or brand name parts.

Seabee1993

Good points sonic, gotta know your prices and do your homework in everything you buy.
Most of my OEM purchases come from rock auto. I really despise every time I open a ford magazine and there's AM in my face.
It's a shame too, as I really liked the look of the FR500 wheel, but after reading this thread and the poor treatment of the OP, I will definitely shop elsewhere.