Traded One Connect For Another

[LostnTransit]

Original Thread From 2020

We first heard about the Transit Connect during the SEMA show in CA back in 2014. While there we visited with several of those who summited their version of the Transit Connect concepts. Speaking with Aaron Vaccar, eJudge, Mobsteel and Ford Performance about their vans, I was impressed with how they did these conversions and designs. I wasn't hooked until we actually took a 2015 Ford Transit Connect SWB XL for a test drive. The main issue is I being 6'3'' with long legs could not fit into smaller sports cars and even though the van is listed as a "cargo hauler" or "compact utility van", we seen this van as something more. It has the heart of and handles like a sports car.

I was very impressed with the nimble handling and quick acceleration. So we set out to change or upgrade the wheels. I've always wanted a set of the Sparco wheels, so we contacted Tirerack North America and found a set of the silver/gray 16'' x 6.5'' terra wheels. We mounted a set of the Maxxis 215/55/16 sport tires to complete the package and posted the van's picture on Tirerack's site listed under the Sparco wheel option.

.

We drove the van for many years, but there was one thing I hated about the van. The instrument cluster. Seems Ford mounted some plastic hoods over the instrument cluster and it was very hard to view all the gauges. 2020 rolls around and we decided it was time to let the ole 2015 TC go and get a new 2020 TC. This time around and instead of the van being the dull white, we purchased a dark blue van. The blue van had many of the same characteristics of the 2015 van, but Ford finally changed how the instrument cluster looked, No more hoods obstructing ones view from the gauges

In 2015 we went for the Transit Connect 2.5l SWB XL (Windowed Rear Lift Gate) and when 2020 rolled around, we learn from our mistake with the first van. This time we opted for a Transit Connect 2.0L SWB XL Closed No Windows Barn Door setup.

Although we never did anything to the 2015 van other than mount a new set of sparco wheels on her, we're opting to do a little more this time around to our new 2020 van. First on the list, getting those 17'' wheels.

 

[LostnTransit]

Again turning to Tirerack for the sparco wheels, I wanted to see if we could get the 17'' wheels this time. But due to trade restrictions and shipping times, the wheel would have taken longer than expected to arrive. Plus Tirerack did not sell Nitto tires which is the brand we prefer to us on our next set of wheels. We took a chance and ordered a wheel/tire package from CariD. This way I can set up what wheels & tires and everything is mounted balanced and shipped direct to our home. But we've not been getting deliveries from UPS, FEDex and even the postal service. I had to use my nephews address down in North Carolina.







We've selected the Voxx capo 17'' x 7'' ET: 38mm wheels with the Nitto 215/50/ZR 17 tires. These would arrive at my nephews home mounted, balanced new valve stims, plastic wheel rings and tuner lugs. Not sure I like the tuner lugs, but we can change these later. The wheels arrived 3 weeks ago all wrapped up in two pair. While the nephew inspected the wheels and sent images of the process, he learn that the wheels did not include the plastic wheel rings and we're to arrive at his house in a few days. I franticly searched online for metal wheel rings as we didn't want the plastic versions.

 

[LostnTransit]

Locating wheel rings from three differant manufactures, We ordered 3 sets of the 73.1mm - 63.4mm wheel rings totaling $100.00. But even with paying for 2 day shipping, the rings took forever to arrive. Oddly at that same time I spoke with my Uncle Eddie to ask if he still has that old belt driven lathe in his basement. He surprised me just 3 days before we were to leave to North Carolina with a custom set of milled wheel rings. The winner and fastest we could have gotten a set of wheel rings, was from my Uncle Eddie and you should see how he does this. He has this old belt drive lathe in his basement and uses his truck pulled up beside a basement window, connects some sort of gear rod system that powers the lathe.







Then we get a call from my nephew saying several family members came in contact with others at their work who test positive for the virus.. So it's not safe for us to travel down to his house till after 15 more days have passed and my wheels are still sitting in his garage. We've bene waiting 3 weeks. Then I go and step off a curb 2 weeks ago and injury my left knee.. X-rays & MRI shows some damage and swelling. This could mean I'll never be able to drive the van again because if I have surgery, I'll never be able to bend my knee.

 

[LostnTransit]

With the eventuality of going into surgery and I may not be able to bend my left knee, this presents an issue with trying to drive the van. One thing we're working on either adding new Recaro seats, which has become difficult as most shops we've contacted will not installed seats in our van due to liability issues. The only other options is to first cut out the dead peddle or foot rest. The TC's foot rest is in a bad spot which forces my left leg up and into a bad bend. I've been informed my my nephews youngest son that he wanted to remove the dead peddle for us.



While he's doing that the nephew and I are working on mounting a set of spacers under the current seat configuration to see if we can change the angle of the seats, as the current factory seats give "bucket seats" a new meaning. We've never had this problem on the 2015 TC and recently learn that as of 2018 or so, the seats have bene redesigned to surround you as a means of protection. Not only this, but the head rest has changed which forces our heads forward. All these changes make it very difficult to sit comfortably in the van.



We're going to be using or testing several size spacers or rubber bushings on the seats. The attached image happens to be a plastic skate board wheel acquired from a broken skateboard left in our alley. Once we get into this, I'll go into more detail about the process.

 

[LostnTransit]

We're still waiting on being allowed to travel to western North Carolina to test fit the new Voxx wheels. But not only are we having the nephew mount the wheels, work on the removing the dead peddle and adjusting the seats. I've notice the current factory wheels are showing signs of heavy brake dust. Ford seems to installed cheap brake pads, so we're going to upgrade the system.



We're opting for the Powerstop carbon fiber/ceramic brake pads and the only reason we didn't upgrade the ford calipers, is because we heard through the grapevine that Powerstop is going to start offering custom caliper colors. But after contacting them, They haven't started offering this service yet. other wise we would have upgraded the calipers to the Ford Blue.

 

[LostnTransit]

One of the easiest & best improvements we did to the van was by adding the K&N air filter. So just to confirm that the K&N air filter #33-3138 does fit the Ford Transit Connect air box even though the K&N site doesn't list this product for the Transit Connect.

 

[LostnTransit]

One thing we've had to deal with over the life of the 2015 TC, is that we hated how the spare tire was placed under the rear of the van. We're getting older and we need a better option for a spare tire. It is very difficult for one to lower the spare, then pull is from the ground, remove the cable system and mount the spare on the vehicle. So we're going to do something differant.



Using sites like RoadKill Customs (no relation to the roadkill show) we located a bolt pattern list which has several wheels with the same bolt patter as the Transit Connect. At one point we even thought about using wheels from either Volvo or even Jaguar on the van as the bolt patterns are the same. But we're searching for a lug pattern and center bore that nearly identical to the TC's. This lead us to the 2005 Ford Thunderbird and the bolts pattern, center bore and even lug size are the same. But we're not interested in a set of wheels, we're interested in acquiring a 17'' spare balloon tire. Doing this will reduce the weigh of the tire, change the mounting location and not have the van sitting crooked if the spare is needed.





There's one issue with the Thunderbirds spare, seems a few thunderbird forums and sites are saying that the Maxxis tire on these spares tend to explode while in the rear of the car or even while mounted on the car. The attached image shows a Thunderbird spare exploding without any noticeable tread wear. We've located a junk yard.. Yep in South Carolina that happens to have this spare in stock. Once we acquire the spare we'll have them or someone else remove the bad tire, then we'll send the wheel to our powder coaters. The have a new/differant spare tire mounted on the wheel.



As for where this new spare is to be mounted. We'll create a new mount inside the van using a spare tire mount which is typically seen on off road vehicles.. Look for that write up soon

 

[LostnTransit]

Along the way, we're going to be adding new materials to this build. We're not going to touch the engine nor other areas of the van other than repainting etc. Whats going to be the big draw, is what's going to happen inside the van. First we're going to remove the wooden blank panels from all of the cargo doors while I order some diamond tucked faux carbon fiber material. I'm going to attach the material to these panels and remount them in their previous spots. We're doing this instead of just covering or painting these wooden panels. Although I have some seamstress abilities, my arthritic hands are just not willing to do this type of detail sewing anymore. So we've located a supplier who already has the material cross stitched for us.


We just couldn't take it anymore. With tools in hand we went out the garage and carefully removed the floor covering in the van so we could find out what and how the dead peddle was attached.. and guess what we found..



Here's the dreaded dead peddle aka foot rest nothing more than a molded foam panel placed under the floor covering. Once we removed the foam pad, using the numbers stamped on the foam panel, we searched online to see if we could find this part through any Ford parts retailers without any success. Now that the dead peddle has been removed and Even though my knee/leg is still in pain and can't be bent, I was able to enter and drive the van for the first time in 5 weeks since my injury.

So to anyone who also wants to remove the dead peddle, just removed the drivers side door molding, lift back the floor mats from the break and gas peddle, reach under the floor covering, break the two white plastic tabs holding the molded foam in place. Done & Done. The only issue left is that the floor covering has bene moldered around the dead peddle, so we had to cut parts of the molded area away from the floor board. Word of warning, there's a bundle of wires right behind and under the dead peddle so if you go to cutting the floor covering/pad, bet pushed the wire harness more towards the side door molding just to get it out of the way.

 

[LostnTransit]

This morning while driving the van to the store, I was paying close attention how my hip and legs are sitting i the transit connect seats, There a seats edge that rises up and the seats itself if rather flat. I've concluded that there seats edge needs to be shaved down or removed and the flat not forgiving main seats area are causing pressure on my left leg and left hip. But still if anything can help, it would be to raise the rear of the seats up as to change the angle of the seat with the shims or spacers. I Don't seem to have an issue with the back rest as these conform to my back with lumbar support. I've tried all types of foam pads, but all these do is raise up the center of the seated area and make me feel like teetertotter or unbalanced. One retailer even suggested installing a set of seats from another Ford vehicle like the F-150. Having this leg injury has made me more aware of what is wrong with the Transit Connect seats and we're going to have to work on getting this corrected if I'm to drive the van for more than 2 hours. Driving less than 30mins to the store, proved the nerve in my left knee started hurting again after 4 weeks. So there's clearly something screwy with these seats that's causing this.



Just contacted a couple of handicapped and conversion van installers located here in Maryland & PA. We'll see what they have to say about correcting these seats.

 

[LostnTransit]

Well, we've decided that the tires will not fit our 2020 Ford Transit Connect and we've contacted CariD and informed them as such. However, according to their site, they do not take back or give refunds for wheel/tire packages. This presents an issue when these wheels/tires do not fit on the van. The 38mm offset is too great as the wheels are sticking too far out away from the fender and the turning radius is to tight. The wheels are touching the front struts and the rear tires are rubbing some pins sticking out from the body. These pins to metal tabs are used to retain the fabric/mesh located in the wheel wells. I'd have to cut/break these tabs/pins in order to have the tire fit correctly without rubbing.

So if CariD goes back on their word claiming these wheels/tires fit and if I have any issues with them I can return them, But clearly the site says I can't. If they do not take these wheels/tires back we're going to have to d something with them. I may end up keeping the wheels but the tires will have to go. One option I've submitted to my nephew is to have him, air down the tires, and take them to his local tire shop. Having them remove the valve stems and tires leaving just the wheels. I told him he can have the tires, valve stems and tuner lugs, we just want the wheels.

One can clearly see we never put these wheels/tires on the road leaving the tape and stickers on the threads. The nephew and I jacked up the van, then placed jack stands under the van so that it was suspended all around, installed the tires with the new custom wheel rings made by my Uncle and placed the van in gear, He checked the turning radius, tire rotation and areas for rubbing.. later we learn that when we lowered the van, the rear tires were touching some sort of metal pin sticking out of the van's body. So these tires wouldn't work on the rear of the van without modifications.



Also, after inspecting these tires myself, the tires look as if they had bene stretched onto these 17'' x7.5 wheels. Nitto's sites say these tires rim width range is 6-7.5 but I wouldn't trust these tires being stretched like that as we could risk the tires coming off the rim edge.



Then there's this, shoty wheel balancing, the tech mounted the weights on the rim edge.. Like they are going to stay/remain there while we're driving, I doubt it.. Clearly this whole deal was botched, first the wheels were late arriving at my nephews house, then there's so many issues with the wheels and tires not seated correct and worse the valve stems aren't recognized by the transit when programing.

This is another instance where, it looks good on paper, but when the wheel is actually installed on the vehicle, it doesn't fit. Don't make the same mistake we did by othering a set of tires that have not been physically tested on you make and model vehicle. Sure looks good on paper, but these did not fit and were haphazardly thrown together. Not happy at all with these wheels.
Here's the latest, My buddy in NC who has a restoration shop has access to several differant types of seats Plus we're going to hit a few salvage yards along the way. Not only will we be looking for Ford seats, but we've just included Mazda, Lincoln Mercury & Jaguar. As at some point all of these manufactures have taken part in the production of Ford products. So we're about ready to hit the road. Next week is going to be very busy for us as we're not going to be able to have the nephew install the brake pads or test fit the new wheels all because his family has bene quarantine indefinitely and with my leg like it is, I'll doubt I can bend or stretch like I need to to test fit these products myself. But again my buddy and his restoration shop is at least willing to do the new brake pads for us. Somewhere along the road we may opt to stop a tire shop and have them remove the crappy 215/50/17 tires and cheap valve stems.

BTW; Don't make the same mistake we did, we blindly ordered a set of wheels/tires from CariD and trusted them with the specs. These wheels and tires didn't fit and now CariD isn't willing to make this right. I've also posted a bad review about CariD on the BBB site. Oddly, there are tens of thousands of bad reviews on the BBB site and yet the BBB has given CariD an A+ rating.. Who's paid off Who here. With that many bad reviews, Carid should be closed. never buy wheels/tires unseen or untested and never trust what the salesman or their paper work says cause it's all lies. because CariD will not take these wheels/tires back or swap to the correct size tires, we're having to make adjustment and alterations ourselves to make these work. Thats $1,800 down the drain. But at least we have a buyer for the tires and get part of our money back.

The worse thing about all of this, is that we can't come in contact with my nephew or his family, so he's not going to be doing installation on the van, then we were suppose to be camping the full time while on the road and because the wheels/tires are in the back of the van, there's no room. So we've had to cancel several boondocking sites willing to allow us to camp with them a few nights. this would have been a new experience for us as we've never done this before.

 

[LostnTransit]

Here's the Latest.

We drove to Western North Carolina last Sat.. taking nearly 11 hours to drive because we had to stop on the hour every hours due to my leg injury. But once there, We called the nephew and told him to have the wheels and brake pads at the door and do not attempt to help us once we arrive. The entire family was placed under quarantine so we ended up having to talk to them through their side window of their home. We picked up the 4 wheels and then drove to Spartanburg South Carolina to a junk/salvage yard where I had called weeks ahead to have them pull the 2005 Ford Thunderbird spare tire.



With the wheels, lugs & brake pads all in the back of the van, this gave me an opportunity to check the tuner lugs on the Thunderbird spare. The tuner lugs went right through the stud openings.. I wasn't growing very happy with the tuner lugs CariD supplied. When they rolled the spare out to the van, I told the junk yard attendant to cut the valve stim as I didn't want any air in the tire while on our travels. Throwing the spare in the back of the van, we were off once again.

This time heading to Greensboro, North Carolina as I had an appointment with a machine shop to fab up some panels for the van. But once there.. I wasn't impressed. In fact the fellow running the shop was nothing more than a middle man and didn't do any of the machining of the panels we wanted. He farmed out all of his ideas. So we hightailed out of there disappointed.

Last stop, Goldsboro North Carolina. About this time, we learn that North Carolina was hardest hit by the gas shortage and we near struggled finding gas along our route. We normally travel back roads but quickly learn that these back road stations were closed or had bags over their fuel pumps.. I can't say we were in panic mode but came close a few times. Waiting in long lines to get gas wasn't easy when the gas tank is on the passenger rear side.





Finally arrived at my buddies shop. where he restores all types of car & trucks but his specialty is Mustangs. We called the night before to make sure he was going to be there and asked what he wanted for breakfast as long as it was Bojangles. He started in on installing the new Powerstop brake pads on the van. Then he suggested while he was doing the brakes why not mount up the wheels. But I told him we had issues with the wheels at my nephews house weeks before. I was ready to trash the wheels, but he had a plan and did some grinding on the wheels and made them fit. I'm still not pleased with the wheels and I hate the tuner lugs CariD included.







With the brake pads installed and the new wheels mounted up.. I was feeling a bit more confidant about the van. Once everything was all said and done.. we finally had a chance to sit down and talk about repainting the van. He gave us a color chart book to look through while we talked about the process. it would take him 2 weeks to complete the van repainting all those areas we wanted and eve some of if not all of the plastic parts on the exterior of the van. Although we couldn't locate a Deep Candy Blue in his color chart book, we did locate what is called "Apex Blue Peral" as made by Acura.

 

[andy9eleven]

How's your leg now?

 

[LostnTransit]

@andy9eleven

Appreciate reading our updates. No surgery was needed but I'll always have to wear some sort of brace or knee sleeve. Still panful at times but manageable. Plus removing the dead pedal in the van, really has made a difference.

 

[LostnTransit]

Was going to order a set of the DPA tuner lugs this afternoon, which have a wider budge/acorn shape than the current socket style lugs supplied witht eh CariD package. We're just not happy with the "socket" style lugs and fear there could be some issues with a bad rotation of the wheels. But we had to wait several days as our credit card company put a hold on the card thinking it may have been hacked or stolen. Just called to have the hold lifted and then ordered a set of the Driven Products Accessories Turner style lugs sold by DPA but shipped from Amazon. The lugs should arrive this Sat with free delivery to the amazon locker as we'll be ready to have the tires rebalanced and the new chrome DPA tuner lugs installed.

Don't buy Theses aftermarket tuner lugs which never secured the wheels to the van.



Buy lugs like these, with a flanged or wider base thats seats better with after market wheels.

 

[andy9eleven]

@andy9eleven

Appreciate reading our updates. No surgery was needed but I'll always have to wear some sort of brace or knee sleeve. Still panful at times but manageable. Plus removing the dead pedal in the van, really has made a difference.

Funny how the seemingly small things can pop along and turn your world upside down. I recently fell over a box of paper towels and had a suspected leg fracture. Thankfully it turned out to be only tissue damage.

 

[LostnTransit]

With the eventuality of Powerstop going to start offering powder coated brake calipers somewhere in the near future, I just couldn't wait 6 months or more for them and the Ford Transit Connect calipers are brand new. After watching the wife take the van for a drive, I was checking to see the tire rotation on the van and noticed that with the larger wheels and wide open spoke spacing, I can see the untreated calipers. So I'm going to order Por-15's Blue caliper paint in the Half quart can. I'll be using a small foam paint brush and paint the calipers myself. The attached image is not my calipers, but you get the idea. Once I get the paint in house, I'll detail the entire procedure.

 

[Ace_vaux]

Has this changed since the last time it was posted here?

 

[LostnTransit]

Welp, here's the latest.. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The CariD socket style lugs did not have any markings on them and I was going off sites like Amazon, DPAccessoeis, and other sites ALL of these sites list M12 x 1.5 lugs for the Transit Connect.. so when I ordered the tuner lugs from amazon I was trusting they (every site I searched) knew what they were talking about. You guessed it. The M12's arrived today and I tried to mount them on the van.. they wouldn't fit. I removed one of the socket style lugs and found out that the CariD supplied socket style lugs as M14 x 1.5 *facepalm*

Searching the sites again, ALL of those sites I used as reference to the lug size are ALL wrong. They list the M12 x 1.5 as the lug size when in fact our 2020 Transit Connect lugs should be M14 x 1.5..

https://www.drivenproducts.com/collections/2020-ford-transit-connect-lug-nuts-wheel-locks?utm_campaign=YMM Search&utm_medium=Lug Nuts&utm_source=2020~Ford~Transit-Connect~Submodel

So I sent Amazon, DPAccessories a heads up on this and told them they need to check their specs before posting this info as the M12 x 1.5 do not fit the 2020 Ford Transit Connect. Best check your lugs also. Maybe we just happen to get an odd ball size hub/studs or something.. Again, just ordered a set of the M14 x 1.5 tuner lugs via Amazon. Lets hope these are right.

 

[ST Colin]

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes

Neither would we.

 

[LostnTransit]

@Ace_vaux

Yes working on getting readers up to date then I'll add current updates..

 

[Ace_vaux]

I mean the rest of the thread…..I’m sure I’ve read this all before…..why not just add to that thread instead of a full in depth repost?

It’s interesting but I need to get off the bog here and back to work soon and I can’t contain my excitement.

So I cheated and read it on Fordforums…..everyone is in for a treat for the upcoming posts!!

 

[KevM]

See, everything you say is real, and I respect you 'cause you tell it
My girlfriend's jealous 'cause I talk about vans 24/7
But she don't know vans like I know you do, no one does
She don't know what it was like for people like us growin' up, you gotta call me, man
I have the nicest van you'll ever use
Sincerely yours, Trans
P.S. we should paint our steel wheels Blue

 

[LostnTransit]

According to DPA spokesperson via email & Amazon, they say that the Transit Connect has two different chasses which require two different lug sizes. The passenger van gets the M12 while the cargo van gets the M14.. it's just their web sites and Amazon have warnings posted at the top saying only the M12 fits the 2020 Transit Connect. Now that this has been cleared up, I'm waiting on those M14's as these should arrive between now and 27th of next week. I've requested that DPA expedite these lugs as the van is currently on blocks with out the wheels awaiting on the new M14 x 1.5 closed end tuner lugs.


The red or pink warning area above the page, shows that these M14 lugs will not fit on the current 2020 Ford Transit Connect.. could have fooled me.. and they do. so I reported this issue to Amazon as well as DPA.

 

[LostnTransit]

We're wanting to see if the lifetime wheel balance package we purchase through NTB is transferable. Fortunately, according to NTB spokesperson, it isn't. So we're going to have to pay NTB or whom ever to rebalance the wheels sent to us via CariD. I've always suspected the wheels were not balanced properly as indicated by wheel weights simply placed on the wheels rim edge. NOTE, the left side of this wheel. The weights have bene stuck on the rim edge as this is how CariD's shop does things.. Not happy with this at all.



Then we're not please with how the Mobil1 oils is doing in the van. According to Mobil1 site, it was suppose to increase fuel economy. Since changing to the Mobil1 all we've seen is our MPG drop from 28.3 down to 22.6. So we'll be changing/switching brands of oil to Castrol Edge. An oil I've used in several of my other small engines vehicle in the past.



One other thing this weekend, I'll finally have a chance to sit down and paint at least one of the calipers on the van the dark blue color as offered by Por-15. While I wait between coats, I'll work on installing the skate board wheels as shims under the seat frame rails at least on the drivers side.

I've been invited to a shop/salvage yard in Northern PA. Once there I'll be checking out a couple of salvaged seats from a Ford Flex to use as an alterative seat for the Transit Connect. but this never panned out. The flex seats have the wrong bolt pattern. which lead me to check out the Focus seats. Although the shop did not have any Focus seats in stock, I did join a Focus forum and gain some much needed info from them. In fact several of the North American Focus guys are willing to help test the Focus seats in the van. Our main concern though is the wiring harness.

 

[LostnTransit]

We were suppose to go places and do some thing things this weekend but with temps in the 90's we've changed our mind. other wise We've been fighting tooth and Nail with cariD about this botched wheel/tire package we ordered from them. 6 times I've emailed someone at Carid and ended up wit a differant person each time. The best they said they would do is give us $90.00 back for the cost of the rebalancing. But the issue here is we have a lifetime balancing with our tire place so there was no fee or work order.

In order to get more involved in this I contacted Voxx wheels & Nitto tire. Nitto spokesperson flat out said "we're not getting involved" & "we'll not honor the warranty on these tires". Voxx spokesperson went as far as contacting CariD and talked with them about this. Some how Voxx wheel acquired my order information and has sided with CariD. We did not authorize this type of transaction and I'll be paying close attempt to our credit card account.

Although the 17'' x 7.5'' Voxx Capo wheels w/ Nitto 215/50/17 tires does fit on the van, we've ran into so many issue with this set up.

• During shipping, one tire had lost all air and was barely hanging on to the rim edge. We've had to take the wheel to a shop in order for them to remount the tire. This happened while on the road near Goldsboro, NC.
• CariD was late with the wheel rings and we had to use Uncle Eddie to mill us a set of these rings as all others we've contacted could not get their wheel rings to us in time.
• The valve stems are not registering, several times we've attempted to reprogram the stims without success. So we're going to have to order a new set from RockAuto (our goto parts store) in a few weeks.
• Then there's the issue with Balancing.. NONE of these tires were balanced correctly. Wheel weights were placed on the wheel edge/lip and some while in transit from NC to MD the eights have fallen off. We're getting a slight shimmy in our steering.
• Then there's the issue with the socket style tuner lugs as supplied by CariD. These things are crap and keep coming lose while driving. At one point while checking the wheels 2 of the 5 lugs could be easily turned with your finger even after putting an extreme amount of pressure on the lugs to tighten them. At another point, the lugs had come lose along our travels and one could hear the brake rotors clunking during turns.
• The wheels/tires on the van seem small and this was not what I was hopping for.. The wheels seem smaller than what they should be.. Odd in fact and we'll be getting rid of them soon.

CariD spokespersons said they are willing to compensate $90.00 for the wheel rebalancing.. But I told them the wheels needed to be rebalanced, the sensors needed to be replaced & the tires needed to be remounted as we seem to be losing air in the constantly. I told them this would cost $245.00 Total as this is the amount they needed to pay. I've yet to hear back from them on this.

Lastly, because Nitto Tire & Voxx wheels have sided with CariD, I've sent a claim over to the Better Business Bureau. But even they aren't willing to post our claim or bad review about CariD on their site. Do yourself a favor, don't buy anything from CariD as they claim several things about their wheel packages, lied to us several times and even made promises they couldn't keep.

Because of all of this, we're needing to locate a new set of wheels. which has become very difficult. At one point I contacted a wheel company who can mill a set of wheels using "blanks" to our specs. Sadly, even they have refused to help use create a unique set of wheels for the van.

There is some hope, But I'm not sure this will pan out. I contacted another wheel company and they are thinking of allowing me access to at least one demo 18 x 8 wheel for a test fitting on the van. I would still have to pay for the shipping. So we'll see how that pans out.

With cooler weather next weekend, we'll pick up where we left off and I'll get around to painting at least one of the brake calipers with the Por-15 paint. Then we'll have the balloon tire removed from the Thunderbird wheels and drive several hours to PA just to hand deliver the wheel to our Powder coaters and we just picked up 5 quarts of the Castrol Oil. Ready for the oil change in a few weeks.