Do not use Ehrlich Wheel Works

[9kracing]

As some of you know, I recently purchased a set of BBS E88s off Paul Ehrlich, aka ewheelworks.

They were advertised as "clearing BBKs"




Then, I asked again on Facebook if they would clear my Brembo brake kit. I was assured they would clear.

Well, after 3 months I finally received my wheels. I purchased tires, paid $300 to have them mounted and balanced on the newest Hunter balance machine, and went to put them on...

Low and behold, they do not fit over my brakes. In fact, they aren't even close. I first tried a 3mm spacer... then I tried both 3mm spacers stacked for 6mm... then I purchased some 10mm spacers. The 10mm seems to clear just barely, but now my wheels are WAY too aggressive... I spec'd these to run without spacers.


I reached out to Paul on Wednesday late morning informing him the wheels don't fit.... They I sent an email Thursday morning. Then I sent a third email Thursday afternoon. Then I sent a 4th email on Friday. By Friday afternoon, I filed a chargeback on my credit card.

On Monday Paul contacted me, giving me some line about 2 business day turnaround and Monday was the 2nd business day. (Wed, Thursday, Friday, Monday) ... that's 4?

Whatever, I was able to contact multiple other BBS distributers last week without issue. All of them assured me these wheels do not clear BBKs without spacers.

Paul refuses to take these wheels back. He says no returns on "custom wheels"

His idea of "making it right" is to make me pay to dismount tires, then make me pay to ship the wheels back, then I can pay to have him "rebuild them" ... making them no longer square, and still requiring a spacer. I absolutely refuse to do this.

It's pretty simple... in my eyes, I didn't get what I paid for, and what was promised.

As far as I'm concerned, Paul is a scam artist. He had every intention of making me send these wheels back and pay to have them "fixed"... this is his scam. I'm not the first person this has happened to.

Not to mention his "handling" fees, exorbitant shipping costs, and poor quality of the wheels themselves. I want to make sure nobody else gets taken for a ride by this charlatan. Bad business practices, bad customer service, bad quality of product... and to top it all off, the guy doesn't even use authentic BBS parts like bolts and barrels.

Unfortunately I got scammed, but maybe this can help someone in the future to avoid this P.O.S.

[Tbonem3]

Damn, sorry about that. Can't trust nobody. Do you mind sharing the specs? Do you have a large caliper? I mean, the old 996 big red is pretty bulky, but common, wide wheels like 9.5et22 will clear them.

[bigjae46]

Scammed? Don't think so. Sounds like you got the advertised BBS wheels with the only caveat of them fitting but they don't. Didn't you see the handling fees and shipping costs before paying him?

Maybe it is just me...but with ALL of info on just this forum on wheel fitment I would expect a higher level of knowledge from the well-known forum members to avoid situations like this. I would expect the average facebook group buffoon asking what kind of oil to use to not understand BBK clearance. Especially with a split rim or inset flat faced wheel...almost will never clear a 4 piston caliper.

The seller is also full of shit...probably told you it fit to make the sale. Resellers face a TON of competition. But as I've long said, never trust vendors. Even Bimmerworld...they sell crap that they say works great but then doesn't work. But this is irrelevant at this point.

Not sure what else you can do. Maybe sell them and take a loss? I guess you could take him to court but you'd only do that to get a moral victory. The money is now vaporware...catalyzed into air.

[discoelk]

I have no skin in the game here but you should post more details like emails, wheel pictures, and brake specs if you're going to drag the man through the mud.

Your post makes it seem like you didn't verify something relatively simple early on in the process. Generic "BBK clearance" rarely is.

[xansabi]

I have no skin in the game here but you should post more details like emails, wheel pictures, and brake specs if you're going to drag the man through the mud.

I agree, hard to take sides when there isn't much more information; would love to hear more about the situation.

[Bimma360]

Man, that's shitty. Hopefully your CC cares about you and finalizes the chargeback in your favor. I am going through a similar thing with Eurodoucheconnex and a diffuser. Once I provided all the evidence, Amex sided in my favor and did the chargeback. It finalizes at the end of June though. So the merchant can present his case as well. I've never done a chargeback, but ultimately if he presents his case and they still side in your favor, it's done. So I am guessing the ship would have sailed on the merchant issuing a refund and getting his product back, since he refused to do so in the first place.

Edit: some of you guys crack me up. Merchants should be a lot more transparent about their product, especially if they are building a custom product for a client. If I am paying someone a premium to make me something, especially if this is a niche product for a niche market, I'd expect the person making said product to be the expert. If they aren't, they should be crystal clear on the particulars to absolve themselves from wrong doing.

[bigjae46]

Edit: some of you guys crack me up. Merchants should be a lot more transparent about their product, especially if they are building a custom product for a client. If I am paying someone a premium to make me something, especially if this is a niche product for a niche market, I'd expect the person making said product to be the expert. If they aren't, they should be crystal clear on the particulars to absolve themselves from wrong doing.

The vendor being right or wrong...doesn't matter. Doing your homework before purchasing and asking questions prevents one from even being in this situation in the first place. Of course, the vendor would be wrong saying yeah it clears BBKs. The vendor lied.

And...here we are. Member might be losing money on a deal. At a minimum a member going through lots aggravation...all of which could have been prevented by asking - which BBK? What's the wheel offset? Have you tried it? Do you have pictures? I'm sure the information is somewhere on the internet.

I try to avoid getting into these situations in the first place by being well informed.

[Tbonem3]

Like most issues, there's "Reality" versus "what ought to be."

Bigjae is giving good "real life" advice because we seldom get "what ought to be."

[bigjae46]

Like most issues, there's "Reality" versus "what ought to be."

Bigjae is giving good "real life" advice because we seldom get "what ought to be."

Exactly! Avoiding these issues makes life much better. The tradeoff is time used exercising the google machine a little and maybe a phone call.

[oceansize]

Paul is an E46 M3 owner. As far as I know it is his primary car. He really should have known this given all the wheels he has run (or at least said I don’t know), but unfortunately everyone is right, in the immortal words of public enemy “Can’t truss it”

[Keith_MN]

Regardless of anything else.

Vendor has a claim.
Claim is not true.
Vendor does not hold up their end of the deal or even do the bare minimum of customer service.

That's it.

"Ehrlich Wheel Works specializes in BBS wheels, including fully custom BBS wheel builds to make your vehicle stand out. Every wheel setup is thoughtfully designed to match your car and vision behind it."

Sounds like some bullshit right about now.

[Bimma360]

The vendor being right or wrong...doesn't matter. Doing your homework before purchasing and asking questions prevents one from even being in this situation in the first place. Of course, the vendor would be wrong saying yeah it clears BBKs. The vendor lied.

And...here we are. Member might be losing money on a deal. At a minimum a member going through lots aggravation...all of which could have been prevented by asking - which BBK? What's the wheel offset? Have you tried it? Do you have pictures? I'm sure the information is somewhere on the internet.

I try to avoid getting into these situations in the first place by being well informed.

Like most issues, there's "Reality" versus "what ought to be."

Bigjae is giving good "real life" advice because we seldom get "what ought to be."

I think we are just going to have a difference of opinion here. This thread is not real life advice seeking. It is a complaint, and by the sounds of it valid, about a well known BBS specialist and retailer. The vendor being right or wrong is the exact reason for this thread, that's the point haha. If accurate, it serves to benefit this community regardless. Sure the OP could have simply not trusted him and done more homework, but that doesn't just negate bad behavior.

As far as loosing money. This isn't a deal. It's buying a product/service. Buyer didn't get advertised product/service. It is actually that simple. If the CC comes to that conclusion too, this is going to cost the merchant money. And worse, if the merchant isn't careful they may get the chargeback AND not get the wheels back. May be too late for them already. Lastly, the OP did say that he asked if it would fit "his" BBK. I am assuming he specified when he reached out to the vendor.

Bigjae you are making a lot of assumptions on what the OP didn't do when ordering custom made wheels. My definition of custom wheel is ironing all of those specs, including BBK fitment. E88's a 3 piece wheel right? I highly doubt they are custom assembled to order without offsets, barrel size, and lip size.

[bigjae46]

Regardless of anything else.

Vendor has a claim.
Claim is not true.
Vendor does not hold up their end of the deal or even do the bare minimum of customer service.

That's it.

"Ehrlich Wheel Works specializes in BBS wheels, including fully custom BBS wheel builds to make your vehicle stand out. Every wheel setup is thoughtfully designed to match your car and vision behind it."

Sounds like some bullshit right about now.

It's just missing..."a curated collection of BBS wheels"

EDIT...nevermind...right on the homepage...lol. When you see the word curated...you should know what to do. RUN!!!

Either way, I hope this gets resolved and 9KRacing is made whole.

[Tbonem3]

"Discernment" is the word of the day.

Don't get yourself in situations where you say stuff like, "but but but he promised! He said he's the best on his website!"

Trump said he was gon drain the swamp! Biden said "djdbsjsn ahdidme sjdiene" and people on both sides eat it up.

[oceansize]

Seems pretty clear a charge back will work as it does say BBK clearance. Right off the website: https://ewheelworks.us/products/18-bbs-e88

9k, did you specify further customizations?