Hutchicon

About a year ago I underwent a number of major modifications to my JKU, one of which was new wheels. On the recommendation of a friend and after searching the market for what I believed to be the among the highest quality (albeit very expensive) wheels available, I selected a set of B.A.D. Eklipse 17 wheels and rock rings.

My first trip on the new wheels was out to the desert with my wife and two young kids. Upon reaching the trailhead, one of their rapid deflator valves failed and the tire would no longer hold air. Not a particularly great trip with the family. I was on the phone with Jerry at BAD wheels forever who couldn't believe this happened--must have been a fluke, he said. After a LOT of effort, I got B.A.D. Wheels to send a replacement valve to my 4x4 shop of choice (Rebel Offroad) and I brought the jeep in for the repair. After I picked up my rig, I thought it wise to test and retest all the deflator valves. Turns out I didn't have to retest anything, the second valve I tried immediate failed.

After much more effort, I got B.A.D Wheels to look into the problem further and after some time they came back to me and told me that they had used the wrong O-rings in my valves. They said they would send a new set of valves to Rebel so they could replace them all. Keep in mind this involved unmounting all the wheels and tires, replacing the valves, and reinstalling all the wheels and tires. Rebel was awesome and would have done this for me regardless, but B.A.D. Wheels only reluctantly agreed to take care of the labor involved in all of that.

Waiting impatiently for the replacements, I kept trying to figure out what was taking so long until Jerry informed me that he was out of the office and would get to it when he returned. Fast forward to the eventual replacement, I received new valves but for the last year I have been very hesitant to even use them in backcountry situations for fear of getting stuck on a flat tire again.

Now, it has been just under a year, and one of my valves is leaking. I have called, emailed, and left messages with BAD Wheels / Caliber Performance multiple times for over a week and have neither been able to reach a live person or gotten any sort of reply. I no longer have any confidence in this company or the reliability (and therefore safety) of these wheels and I want to replace them with something else.

I should note that I have heard of many people that had great experiences with this company and their products, BEFORE the company was sold. During my initial difficulties, the former owner of the company even offered to intervene on my behalf as it was clear that he still really cared about the quality of the product. Sadly, it seems things have changed with the new ownership.

akguy09

wow thats a great first post

resharp001

You realize which forum you're on right??

Hutchicon

Ha, good point. I posted to both, actually, but it was pointed out to me that the forum is not an appropriate place to communicate a problem with a vendor. At least not if you are new to the forum. So, while I maintain my position that it would be good for others to know, I will be happy to remove the post with apologies for any mistaken violation of etiquette.