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So long story short. The LTD I just inherited as a gift from Dad has the one piece GTs with the gray center. What a terrible ride. Anything above 55 mph will shake your teeth loose. Dad had told me about it when I took possession of the car. He took the car back to the tire shop twice for balancing. Then to a different shop for another balancing. then to another shop and had them road force balanced. These are not unilug, but are drilled for the bolt pattern.
Honestly, the unilug S/S wheels I had in high school rode better than these pattern specific wheels. So with a set of rims that are 3 months old, have less than 500 miles on them, have been balanced 4x, so far Cragar's response or lack thereof has been underwhelming. In fact at this point I am taking their silence as a passive aggressive way of them telling me to go pound sand.
If anyone has had a similar experience with Cragar, it would be good to hear. At this point my complaint is more of a warning that if you are thinking of getting a set of Cragars, you should maybe think twice. The set I got rides like s&%$, and the lack of a response tells me that they could care less how happy or unhappy you are with their product as long as they already have your money.
By contrast, the steel wheels that came from the factory rode like a dream at any speed. And the Torque Thrust IIs I have on my '68 Cougar ride as good as the factory wheels they replaced. I tried to warn him not to get them when he did, but Fathers tend not to listen to their kids. I'm going back to visit in a month. If he still has the steel wheels, they are coming home with me.
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So the problem only occurred with the change in wheels. What is the pilot, or hub hole size? If they are not lug-centric wheels they need to be exact fit on the hub to be a proper hub-centric fit. Check the hub and pilot hole in wheel for proper sizing and you may need shim rings if the wheel hole is too big for your hubs. I'd say to check that first before blaming Cragar for making junk.
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Okay, so first off, I didn't exactly go as far as blaming them for making junk. I DID howver make a claim based on fact the car rides like a log wagon. The fact that they are not unilug and are drilled for the bolt pattern makes me suspect of their quality, or more importantly how accurately they are checking their go/no go during the machining process. The other fact that I stated is that I went directly to them for some suggestions as I really don't want to go through the expense of putting another set of wheels on this car, and have YET to hear anything from them makes me seriously doubt that they are very willing to even contact someone when there is an issue.
Not blaming them for making junk under these cricumstances would be like claiming that Weiand (having to mill the back of an intake to clear the distributor base on an LA mopar engine) makes a prefect fitting casting. So pardon me if I seem a little biased towards the negative. It is NOT without experience with this product.
But since we are now on the subject, I WILL go as far as to say that so far Cragar's response time, or lack thereof, and after the sale service pretty much sucks! That and the fact that I have never had this issue with any other aftermarket wheel I have used (Centerline, BBS, Wheel Vintiques, American racing). I would expect fitment issues with headers, not pattern specific wheels.
I just had an epiphany, these wheels are junk.
Last edited by guitar74 (August 1, 2018 4:18 pm)
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LOL!
The lack of info from Cragar is discouraging, but also the seeming lack of expertise from the tire shops that worked on the wheels. If the inquiry with Cragar was via email, or a form on their website, then I am not surprized the response has been poor. In my experience I've come to realize that most of these companies are much better set up for phone tech support than online, so a phone call will likely get you miles ahead on getting some sort of info from Cragar.
Just because the wheels are drilled at the appropriate lug pattern does not tell you if they are hub-centric, or lug-centric wheels. My understanding is that lug-centric wheels require appropriate lug nuts to make sure the wheels center properly, and stay centered. You'd expect whoever installed the wheels to know this, but you may have to check that for yourself to know if those things are right. If the wheels truly are off and don't run true, then it would be nice to get a refund, or a new set, at least. Good luck and let us know what Cragar says when you speak to them.
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So here's the update: FINALLY got response from Cragar. The response? "Thanks for letting us know about the problem. Have a great day." I kid you not. No suggestions, facts about the wheels, anything to look for. Although, I did find someone on another forum that had the same problem and found that the weights on the rear drums were causing the wheels to not sit flush on the drum. Makes sense as the vibration I am getting is in the seat, not the steering wheel. Sorry it took so long for the update. I will try and find the response from Cragar and post it in it's entirety, but the actual response is really not any longer than my condensed version.
Doesn't inspire much confidence in a company when the response you get is the typical corporate "At Cragar, we blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.....
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Cragar wheels are not totally a piece of junk. The problem here is the bad customer relations. This is why I order from recommended online aftermarket site because I know for sure that I can have feedback whenever I contact them. Try 4WheelOnline next time, that's where I got my set of American Racing wheels.
Last edited by pyroshell (January 25, 2019 7:32 am)
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