20" Still (!) not fitted - I think this is a sign.
Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 3:46 pm
Before you start reading on - there is no real point to this thread, just a recap of why I will probably cry myself to sleep tonight, and why my car still has it's winter tyres on. You've been warned.
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Well, what a kerfuffle. When I first ordered my wheels back in December it tied in perfectly with a sale FK_Automotive were having so I got a set of 30mm adapters for the wheels ordered up (bringing them to ET30, compared to standard ET29... spacers could wait). They arrived, eventually, and were clearly the wrong items - 4-stud to 5-stud rather than the 5x112 to 5x130 I needed. Then, after a few emails back and forth trying to get them to understand the mistake (not sure if their English was any better than my German), I returned them at my own cost to be replaced by the right ones. FK decided rather than rectify the issue and send me what I'd paid for, they'd re-box the exact same set of adapters and send them back. Idiots. Refund demanded. F**k FK.
So, like I should have in the first place, I called the guy I got all my previous sets of spacers from - Graeme at GNJ Motorsport. He said they were looking at a new supplier/manufacturer for adapters but still stocked H&R, so I did some more sums and figured that I should get away with 45mm on each corner to save running adapters and spacers together (20x9J ET15 with 255/30R20 should work based on other cars' set ups). The adapters arrived minus a set of nuts for putting the wheel on, quickly remedied by Graeme and H&R, then I ordered tyres. The tyres showed up in good time but it was well into snow season so delays weren't an issue. Vredsteins went on the standard 19"s and I went offshore for a while.
Once the snow had cleared and the adapters were all in hand, I booked Scotty to swap the 225 tyres off the wheels for the shiny new GY Eagles and get the 20"s on. By this point I'd done more looking and realised my offset maths was probably wrong, so ET15 was going to be very close. It wasn't, it was entirely too wide. One wheel test fitted and I just wasn't happy running the wheels that far out of the arch, so back to the winters and 20"s back in the garage.
I didn't waste much time getting 35mm adapters ordered. They showed up quite quickly, despite being on back-order from Germany, but I was offshore so yet another few weeks wasted. Next came problem #7 (I think, I've lost count). It was sorely apparent when I opened the box that unless the 35mm adapters were 70% smaller than the 45mms, the box was worryingly light. It dawned on me that I'd only ordered one pair (asked for a "set", didn't twig that they were half the price of the previous set when I was paying). Brilliant. Oh well, called Graeme and he was happy to get me the missing pair too.
This morning I get a buzz at the door - "delivery for Jamieson". Finally, the day has come that I can maybe, possibly, eventually get my wheels on. Or not. Another worrying box sat in front of me, this one about 2" shorter than the one for the other pair of adapters. I assumed that I'd been sent the wrong size of adapters yet again, but no, it was only one adapter. It's the right size - 5x112 to 5x130 pcd, 57.1-71.6 bore - but it's missing a partner for the off-side wheel. I called Graeme and he was stumped. They've even sent 10x bolts and 10x nuts, but only one actual adapter.
I can't even imagine what else can go wrong with trying to get these wheels onto my car. I'm not sure I want to know. Graeme has been back on to eurocarparts to find out why they'd send my half of my 2nd half of my order, and hopefully they'll get the final piece of this puzzle UPS'd to me by the weekend.
Any normal person would have given up months ago and just bought some 5x112 wheels, but I refuse to give in to powers that be. I will fit my wheels, or die trying. I suppose the next hurdle is going to be putting them on and then realising I don't actually like them on the car, or that the colour is too close/not close enough to the paint.
Martin
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Well, what a kerfuffle. When I first ordered my wheels back in December it tied in perfectly with a sale FK_Automotive were having so I got a set of 30mm adapters for the wheels ordered up (bringing them to ET30, compared to standard ET29... spacers could wait). They arrived, eventually, and were clearly the wrong items - 4-stud to 5-stud rather than the 5x112 to 5x130 I needed. Then, after a few emails back and forth trying to get them to understand the mistake (not sure if their English was any better than my German), I returned them at my own cost to be replaced by the right ones. FK decided rather than rectify the issue and send me what I'd paid for, they'd re-box the exact same set of adapters and send them back. Idiots. Refund demanded. F**k FK.
So, like I should have in the first place, I called the guy I got all my previous sets of spacers from - Graeme at GNJ Motorsport. He said they were looking at a new supplier/manufacturer for adapters but still stocked H&R, so I did some more sums and figured that I should get away with 45mm on each corner to save running adapters and spacers together (20x9J ET15 with 255/30R20 should work based on other cars' set ups). The adapters arrived minus a set of nuts for putting the wheel on, quickly remedied by Graeme and H&R, then I ordered tyres. The tyres showed up in good time but it was well into snow season so delays weren't an issue. Vredsteins went on the standard 19"s and I went offshore for a while.
Once the snow had cleared and the adapters were all in hand, I booked Scotty to swap the 225 tyres off the wheels for the shiny new GY Eagles and get the 20"s on. By this point I'd done more looking and realised my offset maths was probably wrong, so ET15 was going to be very close. It wasn't, it was entirely too wide. One wheel test fitted and I just wasn't happy running the wheels that far out of the arch, so back to the winters and 20"s back in the garage.
I didn't waste much time getting 35mm adapters ordered. They showed up quite quickly, despite being on back-order from Germany, but I was offshore so yet another few weeks wasted. Next came problem #7 (I think, I've lost count). It was sorely apparent when I opened the box that unless the 35mm adapters were 70% smaller than the 45mms, the box was worryingly light. It dawned on me that I'd only ordered one pair (asked for a "set", didn't twig that they were half the price of the previous set when I was paying). Brilliant. Oh well, called Graeme and he was happy to get me the missing pair too.
This morning I get a buzz at the door - "delivery for Jamieson". Finally, the day has come that I can maybe, possibly, eventually get my wheels on. Or not. Another worrying box sat in front of me, this one about 2" shorter than the one for the other pair of adapters. I assumed that I'd been sent the wrong size of adapters yet again, but no, it was only one adapter. It's the right size - 5x112 to 5x130 pcd, 57.1-71.6 bore - but it's missing a partner for the off-side wheel. I called Graeme and he was stumped. They've even sent 10x bolts and 10x nuts, but only one actual adapter.
I can't even imagine what else can go wrong with trying to get these wheels onto my car. I'm not sure I want to know. Graeme has been back on to eurocarparts to find out why they'd send my half of my 2nd half of my order, and hopefully they'll get the final piece of this puzzle UPS'd to me by the weekend.
Any normal person would have given up months ago and just bought some 5x112 wheels, but I refuse to give in to powers that be. I will fit my wheels, or die trying. I suppose the next hurdle is going to be putting them on and then realising I don't actually like them on the car, or that the colour is too close/not close enough to the paint.
Martin