Help me fix my True Forged wheels!

SIr RicCuS

Orange County Horsepower
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If it were Steve's fault or problem, he would definitely deal with it. Raw aluminum tends to do this eventually when exposed to the elements.

That being said, Steve's a great guy. True Forged FTW!!!
 

VAMPIR3

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Ok let me get this straight... First I would wash them. Then take somthing like Adams Metal polish to them. Then I would seal them with something like Zoop.

How about just cleaning them after a car wash? Can you just use something like Mothers Aluminum polish? How often do you need to seal them then?
 

04sleeper

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Like I told you a few weeks ago Bo, something must have washed up on your wheels when it was raining to cause it to do this.

Weather it was salt or something else we will never know.

As already stated, these guys basically told you the same thing I did. They also gave you basically the same advice to fix them.

Like I said, I was just giving you my honest opinion on what I thought might have caused it.

If you need help in any way just let me know.

Kevin
 

mblgjr

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Ok let me get this straight... First I would wash them. Then take somthing like Adams Metal polish to them. Then I would seal them with something like Zoop.

How about just cleaning them after a car wash? Can you just use something like Mothers Aluminum polish? How often do you need to seal them then?

After washing you shouldn't have to do much of anything. Once you've sealed it with something like ZoopSeal; it should prevent you from having to polish (nor would you want to...I'd think you'd be removing the protection) Check their website for full info.

Don't use Mother's Aluminum; use either Adam's; English Custom; or Mother's Billet polish.
 

Steve@TF

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That sucks man. Why would you buy wheels that would do this if they got wet, and not dried in a quick fashion? Im just curious.

it has nothing to do with the quality of the wheels. he got caught in some bad shit which ate up his wheels. ive had sprinklers spray my polished lips and left it like that for a week and not had any issues. a pita to clean off later, but that's what i get for being too busy/lazy to deal with them. :read:

Thank you very much for the advice so far guys, I'll give it some more time before I do anything to them but I'm very interested in the different ways to "save" my wheels. They're too big for paper weights!

Because he didn't tell me or even hint to me that they would do this, otherwise I wouldn't have. It DOES suck, and I'm not a happy camper!! :cuss:

i didnt tell you or hint that they would be raw aluminum? theyre polished aluminum! that's bare metal. like i tell everyone, if you curb a polished wheel, you can always save it by sanding/buffing it out. you can ONLY do that with a polished wheel. obviously that means its bare metal. im sorry but i cant explain every aspect of the wheels to everyone. the SAME thing could easily happen to chrome wheels as well, but guess what? you wouldnt be able to post this thread because if it happens to chrome, youre ****ED! you can always fix polished aluminum. i tried to explain the differences between the two when you were ordering your wheels. i had NO idea that you would one day encounter some toxic crap that would damage your wheels. in fact, ive NEVER seen this happen to a set in my experience. you just got really unlucky, it happens. ive curbed wheels, bent them and even worse from being careless, and its cost me money each time to have it fixed. youre upset because Lady Luck kicked you in the nuts and you want it taken care of for you free of charge. if i could, i would. if i even presented this as a warranty issue my factory would just lol and slap me upside the head. with that being said, ive offered you sound advice on how to have them fixed and repaired easily, quickly and for as little cost as possible. you havent even bothered to respond back to my email that was over a month ago. yet, kevin/04sleeper basically told you the same thing and you couldnt thank him enough :rollseyes

I didn't know it would be raw aluminum, nor did he clarify that it would be raw. Just polished... and I figured that it would be like every other set of wheels out there and have a sealant on it. You could say I'm pretty bitter about it :dw:

every other set of wheels out there does not have a sealant on them. ask me how i know. clear coat does NOT stick to polished aluminum. its been done, tried, and realized. it will flake right off after awhile. then you'd be posting a thread complaining about how your clear coated wheels are falling apart, and that would be a warranty issue (for a limited time) which is why we dont even bother with it. its practically guaranteed to have issues. same thing with anodizing, constant issues with it.

as ive told you before, the wheels have a limited lifetime warranty against defect in build quality and construction. neither of which has to do with outside forces damaging your wheels. you make it sound, in here, like they simply "got wet" and were damaged. like theyre made of paper or something. yet in your email and phone conversations with both me and 04sleeper, you said it was likely acid rain. not to mention, who knows what crap was on the city streets that the rain got mixed into. if it damaged the paint on your car, would you take it back to ford and try to get the car repainted under warranty?

now if you want to say that i should have warned you about this i guess you can do so but then id have to warn people that hitting big potholes/curbs will bend them, using improper lug nuts will damage them, and many more things which are unforseeable, but possible. there's a million different things that can happen to them. ive had a few customers call me because the stupid tire shop broke the 3 piece tire valve stem while mounting the tires. i cant predict or warn for that? they end up getting stuck waiting on replacement parts because the guy didnt work with his wheels carefully. i DID advise/warn you, and many others, the differences between polished and chrome and ill stand by it. you can always save a polished finish surface, you cannot with chrome. if Nob or Mlgjr are unlucky enough to have something damage the chrome finish on their lips, theyre not going to be able to repair them like you can. they'd need to replace the parts. in fact, we (myself and our factory guys) try to steer people towards polished finish because it will last forever and can always be repaired. not so with ANY OTHER finish. all others will eventually have their own issues.

we do clear coat brushed aluminum wheels but the clear actually sticks to the surface since it is "coarse" unlike polished (smooth) metal. we can have the clear coating done on polished wheels but it costs $75 per wheel, reduces the shine by 30% and there is NO warranty on the clear coating because it will not last. i dont even offer this. people will hear that, agree to it, and still come back and complain when it happens, which inevitable.

and since youre fortunate enough to have 3 piece wheels, you can still have the lips chromed if it bothers you that much and you think chrome will be the solution to your problem. you can easily unbolt your wheels (yay 3 piece!) and send your lips to us, or any chrome shop, to have them chrome plated. then you just bolt them back together.

if you want to unbolt the wheels and send us the lips, i will have our factory guys polish the lips for free, you just pay for the shipping and return shipping, which isnt much. theyll look as good as new. normally we dont offer this but i can use a favor here for you Bo. i dont like you thinking or making me out to be the bad guy because you had some bad luck. :nonono: or you can send them back to us and we can have them chrome plated for you. it will cost you some money, but not a LOT and youre less likely to have any issues with anything like this again; just dont hit a curb! you could have spent the extra coin for chrome lips then and you can still spend it now. the world is not ending and there is still time to save them. i can have them chromed for the same cost as when you were ordering them, even though they'd need to be polished/cleaned up first. $360 including return shipping.

If it were Steve's fault or problem, he would definitely deal with it. Raw aluminum tends to do this eventually when exposed to the elements.

That being said, Steve's a great guy. True Forged FTW!!!


thank you ricky (and others that posted up). I do go out of my way to try to help people out on here. more than a few times ive dropped everything im doing to run across town or ship out someone's wheels so they can have them in time for a big show. i try to do what i can, when its within my possibilities.


and with all that being said, ive had polished lips on my own vehicles because i didnt want to spend the extra coin for chrome and i wanted to be able to repair them for when i curb them (way too often :nonono:). and i think polished looks better on a cobra since its less blingy. but, i also dont spend the time to clean them and maintain them, especially on my truck which sits outside all day/night. so now im moving to chrome myself. i just have to be really careful and not curb them. last week i accidently went up the curb a little while pulling into a parking lot. my heart rate dropped and i jumped out to see if i had curbed the chrome lip. luckily, my new fatter tires saved my ass this time :bash:

i recently had a guy with a turbo cobra who was using the wrong lug nuts (flat kind) and ripped the lug holes in his rear wheels. luckily, for just $100 including shipping, we were able to save the center and repair them.

04sleeper's buddy has a set of HRE wheels that need new lips. he came to me to see if i could get the lips for them because HRE wanted some astronomical price to take care of it. :read:
 

saleen09

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I will have to admit, I am TRULY IMPRESSED with Steve's reply above and his willingness to resolve the issue (even though no fault of his)

Hats off to True Forged wheels......
 

jrock817

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+1 to the vendor here, way to do business, hope everything works out for both him and the OP
 

xtreme02gt

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You should be happy, that is just the lips! I had a set of Center Line wheels, and I sprayed " Black Magic " wheel cleaner on them, and the looked 100 times worse than yours do. It really f*cked them up!!!

Just sit down Saturday take some Adams polish, and start polishing. I used Mothers polish on mine first, then went over it again, with Adams polish. They turned out better than when I bought them new.


BTW: Sick ass car!!
 
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oldmodman

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One of the Bonneville racers that I know made the mistake of using a three piece set of polished, bare aluminum wheels at Bonneville on the salt. When he trailered back to Burbank and washed the car down they were RUINED!

He had the wheel taken apart and had all three parts professionally polished. Afterward they looked brand new. Then all the pieces were Zoop Sealed separately. Then assembled. They looked as good as new and no longer required polishing.

It might be worth a call to TrueForged to find out about getting that done. I'm sure that you would have to do the Zoop process yourself. And when Zoop says to use distilled water use DISTILLED WATER! Ask me how I know.
 

CO_SVT

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One of the Bonneville racers that I know made the mistake of using a three piece set of polished, bare aluminum wheels at Bonneville on the salt. When he trailered back to Burbank and washed the car down they were RUINED!

He had the wheel taken apart and had all three parts professionally polished. Afterward they looked brand new. Then all the pieces were Zoop Sealed separately. Then assembled. They looked as good as new and no longer required polishing.

It might be worth a call to TrueForged to find out about getting that done. I'm sure that you would have to do the Zoop process yourself. And when Zoop says to use distilled water use DISTILLED WATER! Ask me how I know.

How do you know? lol
 

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