Ordering wheels from BBS

[JHarshbarger]

Has anyone been able to order wheels from BBS recently? We've been trying to contact them, but we've been told that they are really busy with NASCAR orders. Does anyone have any tricks to making an order with BBS or know someone that doesn't have the phone go straight to voicemail?

[kuck]

I have a contact who can help. Shoot me an email and I'll ask him.

m k u c k ( at ) vt ( dot ) edu

[exFSAE]

.. or you can join the long list of FSAE teams who have gotten terrible service from them.

[lporter]

We've ordered 3 sets of wheels from BBS over the last 2 years and have never had any problems. Our contacts there are John Slagle and James Hendricks. Hope this helps.

[Patrick]

Um except for the time in 2005 when we had to put a few BBS wheels on the mill to correct for the bizarre offsets they sent us... ha (BBS later stopped production temporarily on those particular wheels to correct for a missing finishing step... I bet I can guess which step that was lol)

-Patrick DeGrosse Jr.
NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

[chavez]

I'd say, cut your losses and find another wheel manufacturer. Even if they start to answer the phone you'll still get the same bs they give teams every other year.

[Poe]

really busy with NASCAR orders
since when does BBS make stamped steel NASCAR wheels?

[MikeDutsa]

once you contact them it typically takes about a month of phone tag to set up your order, after that it takes about 3 months of phone calls to get your wheels. we bought two sets of wheels in 2006, the next car was designed to reuse those wheels mostly to avoid the hassle. find another wheel maker. you will get wheels faster if you build your own with a chisle and a hammer than if you try and buy them from bbs.

[Composites Guy]

Whoa! Slow down the BBS bashing train!

Realize that they are doing FSAE teams a big favor! They make VERY nice wheels (even if they are a bit heavy for our application). Their wheels feature quality materials made with quality manufacturing processes... and the result is a strong wheel that runs true over time. The offer a HUGE discount, roughly 70% off of MSRP, to FSAE teams. Is it any wonder that they are a bit slow... they aren't making much money off of you! Just order them plenty in advance.

Its no wonder that you call certain dealers/ manufacturers and as soon as you mention FSAE they practically hang up on you. Have some respect, and help keep the relationship between FSAE and the racing world FRIENDLY!

[Patrick]

One of the big reasons these racing-esque companies like to help out FSAE teams is because they know once we graduate and go on to other racing venues we are likely to seek their products again. Yes BBS does give a rather large discount to FSAE teams, but with such a poor track record of customer service would you be likely to seek their products again? Not I... I'd rather pay a little more and get a quality product in a timely manner. BBS have left a bad taste in many mouths around here... so if they want to slow this bashing train they outta get their sh*t together and give FSAE the attention it deserves.

-Patrick DeGrosse Jr.
NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

[Poe]

Chavez can tell you exactly, but I seem to remember our team ordering wheels sometime in November and the wheels did not even get into the U.S. until the day we left for competition in May. Plus, they were in Atlanta, GA, we were in Raleigh, NC and heading north, so needless to say, we did not take delivery of them. You can draw your own conclusions as to our feelings about BBS and I think it goes without saying that none of us on that team will ever deal with BBS again, both at school and professionally after graduation.

I did call up the water jet cutting company that had helped us with the FSAE project at school and sent him some paying business from where I work now. It does make a big difference -- people and places that help the team more often than not get paying jobs from the students they helped when those students reach the workforce.

[exFSAE]

Chavez can tell you exactly, but I seem to remember our team ordering wheels sometime in November and the wheels did not even get into the U.S. until the day we left for competition in May. Plus, they were in Atlanta, GA, we were in Raleigh, NC and heading north, so needless to say, we did not take delivery of them. You can draw your own conclusions as to our feelings about BBS and I think it goes without saying that none of us on that team will ever deal with BBS again, both at school and professionally after graduation.

I did call up the water jet cutting company that had helped us with the FSAE project at school and sent him some paying business from where I work now. It does make a big difference -- people and places that help the team more often than not get paying jobs from the students they helped when those students reach the workforce.

Hence the "Anti-BBS" vinyl on your car? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Very true though. You definitely remember the good companies with the good products and good service.

LADD industries for example.. Man. Next time I do an electronics project or wire up a car I am using Deutsch connectors all over!! Those things rock! Same thing goes for referring business.

Edit - Composites Guy.. didn't see your post. Good point, they are trying to help out. If you can ever get their wheels I'd imagine they are quality made. But their 70% discount is still outrageously expensive, and has been said by others.. they are difficult to work with.

[Mike Cook]

I agree that it is tough to get BBS wheels...BUT they are great wheels at a great price. For the last two years I have contacted them in September and received wheels by December. I know some people got shafted last year and it seems to me that they are just way to over worked in the US and don't have a lot of time for FSAE teams since they aren't really making any money off of us.

Bottom line, if I were just thinking about ordering wheels now to use this year I would be worried about getting them on time.

[lporter]

I would like to retract my previous praise of BBS. I recently measured the wheel stud holes on our new rims and they are .030" smaller than last year. So much for interchangeability between cars. This does mean slightly lighter wheel studs so I guess I can't complain too much.

[Composites Guy]

Did you order the same model number wheel center??? (Look for the number stamped into the metal.) I find it hard to believe that their manufacturing tolerances are that bad. As a fix for now why don't you just drill/ream the wheel stud holes that much larger???

[Steve Yao]

To finish first, your have to finish. To finish you have to get to the starting line.

If it holds us up from getting the car driving, or god forbid, getting to competition, then I don't care if its a titanium carbon fiber metal matrix composite wheel they are giving away for free. The cheapest, trickest components will never win you the race if you never make it to the starting line.

If a supplier cannot be depended upon to answer emails, how can any race team depend on them for critical components?

So if you really want BBS wheels, make them a non-critical component. Design your hubs to work with both a BBS wheel and a wheel from a dependable manufacturer and buy both wheels. This, of course, totally blows any budget savings you may have dreamed of.

[JHarshbarger]

Since we still haven't heard from BBS (and even if we did, I don't think we can go that route anymore), we've placed an order with Keizer for the 3rd year. Their service is impeckable and the wheels are pretty good. We're going with the mag 13s, which we haven't run before.

I know we're behind on ordering wheels, but design has been tough this year. I'm the sole designer of everything on the car except for the engine and it's components. I had a good base design in early fall, but the small things take up more time than I had thought. We have a lot of guys that are helping with building and sourcing parts and a lot of them are learning design for next year. We'll see how everything turns out for VIR and Michigan. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif