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You are about to partake in my journey for the most amazing set of wheels! Spoiler alert, my new wheels are beautiful!
It all started back in July of 2018, July 14th to be exact. On this day I mustered up the courage to dive into the custom wheel market and knew I needed to find the right Motorsport shop to help me minimize mistakes and make a quick decision I would be happy handing over my hard earned cash for. I turned to the Bimmerpost forum to find a respectable, active vendor to deal with. I found Steve @Need4Speed Motorsport who seemed to be active on the forum posting wheel specials nearly twice a week. To be safe, I searched the forums, google reviews and Yelp which all confirmed generally positive experiences, so I jumped in headlong.
I was excited about this opportunity and cruised the Need4Speed website looking for wheels that wouldn't break the bank; I found some wheels on clearance at a stellar price and shot off an email to Steve.
I reached out at 11am CST to Steve and received a response same day, this was the type of service I had hoped for and knew I was going to be in great hands! Steve informed me that the wheels I inquired about would not fit my X5M but instead offered up three other similar styles that would work well. Can assure you that Steve has great taste in wheels but I couldn't spend the cash he was recommending. I asked him for a lower price point and he can back with three more awesome options with nearly no delay!
I selected a set of AG M652s and asked him to work up a price with and without tires. On 7/18, Steve sent over pricing and after a little research I decided to source tires locally. I got a final quote from Steve for a set of AG M652s with TPMS sensors, black lugs and a custom smoked mirror finish. Steve and I went back and forth on a few details and timeline expectations and came to terms with payment issues on the evening of 7/24. I couldn't have been more pleased with Steve's responsiveness and general desire to walk me through the options and seat my mind at ease with forking over a few thousand dollars. Steve assured me the typical turnaround was 2 weeks and possibly a third week to account for shipping to Texas.
A week later, on August 1st, I followed up with Steve to ensure everything was still on track. He responded on the 3rd with bad news... the M652s don't come in the dimension necessary for my vehicle. It's a bummer that it took a week and a half to figure this out but better late than never! Steve suggested a different set that I wasn't excited about but I browsed their site again and settled on the AG M610s in the same finish. I asked him to expedite the order given we were now two weeks delayed and he said he would and also offered me a deal on ceramic coating for a 25% discount which I agreed to on 8/10 and issued payment same day.
On 8/17 I followed up and Steve responded that AG now told him the custom finish would take 2 weeks instead of the 5 days he was originally quoted. I again asked him to expedite and was told he would do everything he could to shorten the timeline for the coating and shipping to Texas.
I followed up again on 8/23 and didn't hear back until 8/28 with no additional status except that Steve was hoping to have them by the end of that week.
I'm growing a bit impatient at this point as N4S has had my cash for over a month and we aren't getting anywhere with an order that was expected to take 2-3 weeks. I place a call to Steve, but he is busy and so I follow up the next day by email (9/7).
On 9/7 Steve emails that the wheels have arrived and were being coated same day so they could go out that night! What a relief!!! I should receive tracking info any minute. I called daily to get updates on tracking details and Steve was never available... neither was a Manager (Edger?)... I received tracking details on 9/13 for delivery on 9/19. I called Steve to request a delay in delivery as I would be out of town until that Saturday. He said no problem! I kept watching and never saw the delivery date change so called on Friday (9/14) and Steve made some calls!
Two wheels showed up on Tuesday, 9/19 and 2 wheels were delayed until Monday, 9/24. My neighbor was nice enough to recover the two that were delivered in my absence. On Monday, 9/24, no wheels were delivered.. I contacted UPS and they indicated the wheels had been lost and they would investigate. I emailed Steve and received a call the next day. Late Tuesday afternoon I got an email that the package was found and would be delivered on Wednesday the 26th.
The remaining two wheels arrived in damaged boxes with a scrape on the front wheel near the outer lip... I am hoping the tires will hide this flaw, otherwise back to ordering a new wheel!
Whew, finally a complete set of wheels... but no lugs or TPMS! Steve assured me these would be packaged with the wheels and yet, nothing in the boxes. I am pretty irate at this point but Steve assured me he will next day these items to me for a Friday, 9/28 arrival. I call Thursday for tracking details, no call back, I call Friday for tracking details and Steve is on the other line... I opt to hold as I haven't been getting lucky with any call backs from Steve! After a few mins Steve comes on and complains that his warehouse guy hasn't been keeping up but that the items will go out in an hour and arrive Saturday, 9/29 by 10am. My package showed up at 11 am on 9/29 but it only contains 4 TPMS, no lugs!
I have had it at this point, 2 month delay on a 2 week order, about 30 emails and 10 calls and never once has a manager contacted me even though I have asked 3 individuals at N4S at least 5 times to make that happen.
I hope to source lugs locally and put this behind me but I would urge you to consider local business and avoid Steve at all costs!
If you stayed with me to the very end, know that I am happy with the AG wheels and craftsmanship, also know that I understand that N4S was at the mercy of the AG manufacturing timeline and that the biggest improvement they could have made in my experience is to keep me overly informed of the progress and double check their shipments to minimize delays.
I will update this review should N4S attempt to make this right or if I experience any noteworthy issues around repair of that wheel damaged in shipping.
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