Last month I took advantage of a killer sale and picked up 8 wheels/tires for the LJ. Wheels are the Q-Tech Baja Extreme II (https://www.quadratec.com/p/quadratec/baja-xtreme-wheel-wangler-yj-tj), tires are Mickey's new A/T (https://www.quadratec.com/p/mickey-thompson/baja-boss-at-radial-tire/lt265/75r16) note I have the standard not the LT version, mine are Mickey's product #340008003 265/75R16.
The overall question is: Has anyone experienced known problems with these rims? Yes they are made in China like almost everything....
I ask because when the local shop mounted and balanced them they made a point to say they were difficult to balance and they have seen several Chinese rims 'machined incorrectly' lately and many of them not balance well because the wheel is out of round. Of course said local shop did not check the wheels for balance prior to mounting the tires so if they are machined wrong I'm yet again screwed.
When the wheels were installed, the place forgot to remove the metal rotor retainers put on at the factory (yes I still had mine). This naturally caused a very bad shimmy - probably the worst shimmy I have ever felt in my life of driving. Whole darn Jeep was shaking just at 40. After removing the retainers, the wheel shimmy is significantly less but still very bad. So I put on the OEM wheels/tires since I haven't tossed them yet and it drives perfectly straight, nice and tight, no shimmy whatsoever - this rules out (for the most part) a bad axle, ball joints, or other suspension components. PSI was tested at 40, 25, 30 and 28.
I am trying to find a place in town that can now re-balance them and also dismount the wheels, spin with a dial indicator to make sure they didnt get warped for putting on without rotor retainers removed, and to also make sure the other 3 that are for the trailer are not out of round or machined wrong. I'll be lucky to find a place that can actually do this.
So I want to question if anyone has experienced this specifically with the Q-Tech rims since so many seem to dog on them because they are cheap Chinese rims. Trying to exhaust all options as I doubt any place local to me will be able to actually examine if they are machined wrong or out of round - and the amount of shimmy experienced leads me to believe it is much more than just a balance issue, but I'm hoping to be wrong in that.
The overall question is: Has anyone experienced known problems with these rims? Yes they are made in China like almost everything....
I ask because when the local shop mounted and balanced them they made a point to say they were difficult to balance and they have seen several Chinese rims 'machined incorrectly' lately and many of them not balance well because the wheel is out of round. Of course said local shop did not check the wheels for balance prior to mounting the tires so if they are machined wrong I'm yet again screwed.
When the wheels were installed, the place forgot to remove the metal rotor retainers put on at the factory (yes I still had mine). This naturally caused a very bad shimmy - probably the worst shimmy I have ever felt in my life of driving. Whole darn Jeep was shaking just at 40. After removing the retainers, the wheel shimmy is significantly less but still very bad. So I put on the OEM wheels/tires since I haven't tossed them yet and it drives perfectly straight, nice and tight, no shimmy whatsoever - this rules out (for the most part) a bad axle, ball joints, or other suspension components. PSI was tested at 40, 25, 30 and 28.
I am trying to find a place in town that can now re-balance them and also dismount the wheels, spin with a dial indicator to make sure they didnt get warped for putting on without rotor retainers removed, and to also make sure the other 3 that are for the trailer are not out of round or machined wrong. I'll be lucky to find a place that can actually do this.
So I want to question if anyone has experienced this specifically with the Q-Tech rims since so many seem to dog on them because they are cheap Chinese rims. Trying to exhaust all options as I doubt any place local to me will be able to actually examine if they are machined wrong or out of round - and the amount of shimmy experienced leads me to believe it is much more than just a balance issue, but I'm hoping to be wrong in that.
