I sold my 19" ACE wheels and tires to a forum member and shipped them from VA to CA via UPS in two bundles, just like Tire Rack does them. Take two wheel/tires, put a piece of cardboard in the middle between the facings, and on each outside, then strap them using a professional nylon strap and clamp.

I first ran two straps on each package, then decided because these were big, and heavy, I better run two more on each one for a total of (4) bound nylon straps per wheel. Cinched them down tightly and clamped them with the metal band using a special tool. I had 100% confidence they would arrive intact and in the same shape I took them off the car. UPS had other ideas, however.

Three wheels showed up in CA. One bundle has only (1) strap left, the other three were missing, the second bundle was just a single wheel! They had broken all (4) straps and lost one wheel.

Amazing! A loss claim was filed, but UPS moves slow as molasses, and of course they wanted to find the missing wheel, not pay for a replacement and tire. Eventually they did find it, in their Lost and Found in Salt Lake City UT as we went back and forth on the phone what the wheel looked like and the tire brand and sizes. They assured me they would ship it out immediately to its CA destination, except they didn't.

10 Days later I was chasing them down on the phone and yes, they still had it and no, they had not shipped it. I was not pleased, and this time I took down names and phone numbers of the person responsible for seeing it got to where it belonged. It finally arrived in CA two days after that and all was well. But this dragged out for nearly a month.

So what did I learn from this? (and advice for shipping wheels/tires).

1) Make sure every wheel has an adhesive address label of some kind. I had only placed a single UPS label on the bundle, so when they separated one wheel/tire had no identification on it.

2) Nylon straps alone are not enough. Either box them, or strap and then use pallet wrap around the outside of the bundle, then tape over the plastic wrap. You have to protect the nylon retaining straps from being 'hooked' on something in the UPS hubs, or while transferring from one vehicle to another.

Live and learn.

 

Were the wheels damaged? I have shipped many sets of wheels and can tell you the way Tire Rack ships them is NOT a good way to protect the wheels from UPS! One single piece of cardboard will not be enough to protect the face of a wheel from the knotheads at UPS! Additionally, if you do not put them in a box or wrap them with cardboard, UPS will charge you additional for not doing so. BTDT!!! Tire Rack must have an agreement to ship wheel/tire packages w/o a box or completely wrapped in cardboard. An individual cannot. The best way is to use bubble wrap and cardboard (I've used wood b/f too) to protect the face of the wheel, use shrink wrap over top and put them in a box. Do NOT try to strap/wrap two wheels/tires together, you're just asking for trouble.....

I have wrapped wheels/tires up as above and strapped them to a pallet to ship common carrier with success too.

I've never had a wheel damaged in transit but, Tire Rack sent me 3 complete wheel/tire packages a couple years ago b/c their packaging failed and wheels were damaged.

 

Hate to tell you, but Tirerack doesn't bundle 2 wheels/tires together because of exactly the problem you encountered.

They bundle 2 tires together - easy to do because they are light and the straps are very short, only having to run around the sidewall sections vs the entire diameter of the tire. They can't fall off in any way.

Mounted wheel/tires are shipped individually with at least 2 cardboards (not 1) on the face and one on the inner side of the wheel. They never ship 2 together as you learned the hard way.

I've shipped many mounted wheel/tires only using shipping tape (not bands) and not had a single problem since individual wheel/tires don't end up working against one another as they are rolled around in the shipping process and therefore the carboard and tape has nothing trying to separate them from the wheel.

Like I said, your problem was caused by trying to ship 2 in bundle, which is a no no.

Here's a photo of how I ship wheel/tires w/o bands. Overkill (probably) on the tape, but then again there's no way the cardboard will ever separate from the wheel, and the entire package is waterproof.

 

Wow, looks pretty labor intensive, but better safe than sorry. This is a good thread as I have some wheels/tires that I may need to ship soon.

 

Wheels arrived un-damaged (I had actually used a lot of bubble wrap on the faces) but obviously the package was too heavy and too hard to handle. Lesson learned - which is why I wanted to put out this experience so others could avoid a hassle.

 

I've definitely had my share of shipping wheels and tires in the past (probably over 10 sets!). I usually do something similar to XJRS Owner, but in sets of two. Definitely overkill but added assurance. People usually are shocked by shipping costs, but it does protect buyer and seller.

 

I sold a few sets of wheels/tires, mine is boxed with plenty of bubble wrap inside as well as cardboard. I do this b/c I don't trust those yahoos at UPS or FedEX.

 

I've done wheels like the above person as well. But instead of tape, alot of plastic wrap then a little tape. Never had an issue.

 

Just regular cheap azz plastic wrap? I like that because tape is a pita.

 

Yes, the plastic type that sticks to itself like saran wrap. You can buy in fairly decent sized rolls at home depot and walmart (usually green colored). Cardboard on the front and back, enough to protect the rim good, especially the face, and wrap the **** out of the wheels with the wrap, then when done, use a little bit of packing tape to make sure it doesn't unravel.

 

The wheels are finally on my car .. thanks to Duane for following up and pushing UPS. Throughout this whole ordeal I received one.. just "one" phone call from UPS about the missing wheel. They aren't that good with keeping people in the loop. Excuse my crappy instagram pics...

 

Wheels look great on your DB9. I was real impressed with Element Wheel's service when I ordered my ACE Mesh 7's.

Thanks for the heads up on the shipping of wheels. I have a few people interested in my stock wheels ($795 set) but kinda glad they haven't sold as I haven't really figured out how to ship them yet. Mine will not have tires on them so was thinking of just using boxes to throw them in?

 

Thanks dan87951. I haven't seen your DB9 with ACE mesh. You got to post some beauty shots . I did order one replacement wheel from Element Wheels just in case UPS couldn't find it and it was a pleasure to deal with them.

 

The wheels look great on your DB9, hph! Thanks for being so patient while we worked through that ordeal....

 

Glad it all worked out, those look very nice on the DB9.

Great thread, thanks for sharing the lessons learned!