Ultralite wheel buyers beware, read first

I bought a set of Ultralite wheels in mid september last year and the car has covered 475 miles since the wheels have been fitted. My car is a weekend toy and as such does not move out of the garage very much, especially during the winter months so as you can imagine I'm not to happy to find the lacquar peeling already on one of the rear wheels.

After seeing this I took a picture and emailed it to Ultralite explaining the situation.

This is there reply:

Hi,

What have you used to clean them?

regards,

Paul,

I had already explained this in my first email so thought I'd explain again

My Reply:

As I said they were polished with Rimwax before fitting and have been cleaned with Britemax pH Balanced Car Shampoo (see link : Britemax Clean Max - pH Balanced Car Shampoo).

I would estimate the car has been cleaned a minimal amount of times anyway due to the fact it has only covered 475 miles since they’ve been fitted as it is very rarely used over the winter and not driven on salt covered roads.

Note, this has been sent from my works email address. Could you please send replies to both emails so I can reply promptly. Thanks

Then they replied:

Paul,

Please send the wheel back for inspection (fot my attention)with your signed wheel care sheet as we dont have your warranty registered with us.

Alternatively take up your warranty under the terms and conditions of the company which you purchased from.

regards,

Paul,

SPD Automotive Ltd,

Unit 7,

Enterprise Court,

Lancashire Business Park,

Leyland,

Lancs,

PR26 6TZ.

I was unaware of any sheet of paper so replied:

Are you now trying to say I should have a piece of paper which defines the warranty for the wheels?

Could you please either call me on 07*** ****2 or provide me with a number to contact you. This is without doubt a manufacturing problem with the wheel and I'm already feeling your trying to put the onus on me to resolve the issue.

I will ring ********* as soon as they open but I'm sure they will insist I deal with you, as I'm sure your aware

Regards

Paul

Maybe a bit strong but I was already starting to feel this was not going to be easy.

There reply:

Paul,

Its up to you who you deal with for warranty,

If you want to deal with us then please send your wheel back as supplied by us.(i.e.no tyre) with your original invoice.

There is no need for phone calls as this will not change our process,

Of course this was going to incur costs my end which I wasn't happy about

So my reply:

So to summarise the situation your putting forward to me.

I remove the wheel

I pay for the tyre to be removed, and risk further damage.

I pay for delivery to your premises, at which point I've got to depend on you being honest and upfront.

In the mean time my car is off the road

Then if resolved?

I have to pay for the tyre to be re-fitted, and risk further damage again.

I have to refit the wheel.

Surely you can see my dismay at the thought of doing all this. And possibly at a cost of around £50 to myself!!

While I can understand you want proof of it being a production error surely you can see the situation from my perspective as well.

There reply to this email:

Dear Mr Jones,

We have a procedure, we do not change the procedure every time a customer wants to do it his way, Please accept this and chose who you want to deal with.

Regards,

Paul,

I have called the supplier of the wheels who is a good guy and is now doing his best to try and get the matter solved but I'm just wondering where I stand if he can't get anywhere as well.

I have called the supplier of the wheels who is a good guy and is now doing his best to try and get the matter solved but I'm just wondering where I stand if he can't get anywhere as well.

You will remove the wheel

You will pay for the tyre to be removed, and risk further damage.

You will pay for delivery to their premises, at which point you have got to depend on them being honest and upfront.

In the mean time your car will be off the road

Then if it is resolved?

You will have to pay for the tyre to be re-fitted, and risk further damage again.

Then you will have to refit the wheel.

Joking aside, I know wheelmania alloys and the rota glms suffer badly from this, not personally heard of it happening with ultralites though.

Got any pics?

Umm not good that.

Lets hope you get a satisfactory outcome, even though it will leave a bitter taste hey.

Very common with cheap polished cast wheels, can even happen to expensive forged wheels such as SSR's, Jamesy's had lacquer damage in very short time from fitting.

I feel for you but do also see it from the companies point of view they won't be around for long if they started compensating for every small thing you have to do.

Yes i have had similar problems with a set of wheels i bought, can't remember the make, but i gave up with pursuing it, due to the costs involved and just refurbed them myself, also has a set of Ray's Volk with the same problem, in fact the America Linea corse that are just a year old are suffering on the lacquered part of the polished alloy, so i have just striped and polished them.

The guy seems like he could come across a bit more friendly and accomodating, particularly as you are effectively a customer of theirs, but it's common for you to incur the costs in sending it back to them, and any help you get with these costs is a goodwill gesture. I don't think they are legally obliged to pay for your postage, or any sort of compo for your car being off the road, and the tyre is nothing to do with the manufacturer really.

You could try phoning and being polite and see if you get anywhere, or find someone else in the company to speak to about it. If you want to take it further I suppose you could get it looked at independantly (although I don't know who by?) to support your position, seek help of citizens advice and/or solicitor?

Customer service skills are non existent..!!

Customer service skills are non existent..!!

Completely unacceptable. They should have a sales rep (national or area) that can come out and view problems, or at the very least offer a paid collection service with a garaunteed 48 hour turn around.

Customer service skills are non existent..!!

It gets better, I replied to the last email with:

A 'procedure' serverly in your favour and one that will cost me even more expence. Obviously there's not going to be any jestures of good will here so I will have to seek advice else where before I take this any further

And this is the repy I got

Dear Mr Jones,

I reitterate,If you have a problem you must bring or send it back to us, we can not do house calls, if anyone has any faults with any companies product then they understand that it has to be taken back to where they purchased it at least, or if they wish the manufacturer or importer.

Please send the wheel back or bring it yourself, its up to you, but We will not reply to any further correspondence that is unconstructive.

regards,

Paul,

I have never mentioned 'house calls'

If it helps SPD are not a million miles away from me and I am up and down the country all the time. Could always deliver it for you.

If it helps SPD are not a million miles away from me and I am up and down the country all the time. Could always deliver it for you.

Wow thanks for the offer mate, I may take you up on this at some point. Although I've been linked to there warranty on another forum and there pretty much covered. No surprises there but I was hoping for some 'good will' on there part which obviously isn't going to happen either.

What I don't like is they won't even look at pictures, it's just deliver the wheel without the tyre on and we'll inspect it, no compromise whats so ever.

There warranty for anyone thinking of there wheels:

http://www.ultralitewheels.com/warranty.htm

Hmmm, I was going to get Ultralite's for my N/A, but judging by there email responses I can safely say I will not be buying a set.

I was going to buy a set of Ultralite's a while back and decided not to when the company I was buying off said the only set (of the style I wanted) had lacquer damage on the rims (brand new wheels!) and that they would offer a small discount because of this

Any wheels which have damage on them in a brand new state are not going to stand up to road use, especially in the UK!

I am on the lookout for some new wheels, but wont consider ultralites now.

Infact anything with a polished rim isnt worth it in the UK unless you hardly use your car.

I am on the lookout for some new wheels, but wont consider ultralites now.

 

Infact anything with a polished rim isnt worth it in the UK unless you hardly use your car.

Good decision mate but don't think a hardly used car makes any difference.

This has happen to mine in just over 5 months and 475 miles and it's keep in a dry garage and not taken out if the weathers bad. Mainly because I haven't got around to under-sealing it yet:)

I am on the lookout for some new wheels, but wont consider ultralites now.

 

Infact anything with a polished rim isnt worth it in the UK unless you hardly use your car.

Very true. Powder coated is the way to go. Polished and lacquered rims are for fashion devotees who must expect them to degrade and need constant maintenance. Even OZ and BBS rims look horrible after a few winters. I sandblast polished rims and just get them powder coated inside and out, and they last well. Which is good as washing cars is against my religion

Who did you buy them off? I wouldn't even be bothering with the manufacturer. Simply return them from where you bought them. Let them take it up with the manufacturer.

Who did you buy them off? I wouldn't even be bothering with the manufacturer. Simply return them from where you bought them. Let them take it up with the manufacturer.

They are looking into it for me. Problem being, for me, is there over 100miles from my house as well:rolleyes:

It seems a few would expect this so maybe it's me being naive but I'd of hoped for a least a couple of years on a car keep in the garage and always cleaned etc.

A couple of pics for those who asked

Is this the policy of Ultralite or just that of the dickweed who sold them to you?

can i ask how much they were? im looking at a new set of wheels for my car

TBH, im not put off and i would own a set of them

my girlfriends dad has set of ultralites on his evo 8 and they were bought second hand and theyre mint

if i buy a set of wheels from Ultralite and i get a bit of laquer peel, ill just take it to a body shop and get it shot with proper laquer