Is it a shame I have new wheels and tires before Jon? Yes. Will that be the case when his come in and they're shiny and scratch-free? No.

While I'm on the subject, here's my experience with Edge Racing. I ordered some wheels and tires from them since they advertised in Grassroots and had good deals. I was surprised to not get a confirmation email immediately. I was surprised the order did not ship within 24 hours as advertised. I was surpised I didn't get an email explaining that the tires were on back order. It wasn't until I called that I learned the tires were back ordered in spite of what the availablity quote indicated. I asked for expedited shipping to compensate for the delay, the csr declined. I asked for an order confirmation email, the csr said the 'order shipped' email was sufficient.

I'm the passive-aggressive type consumer who won't throw a fit, but instead pass the experience on to others and, naturally, never patronize them again.

Here's a report card of all my tire-related purchases. Since it's Corporate America, I believe the grade school rating system is appropriate.

Tire Rack (online) and Les Schwab (in store) get pluses for expediency, inventory accuracy, and complaint handling. (Tire Rack quickly replaced a strut I ordered that appeared to have been previously installed).

Edge Racing (online) gets a check for expediency, inventory accuracy, and complaint handling. By contrast, Craigslist gets a plus for expediency and inventory accuracy, a check for complaint handling.

Price wise: Craigs < Edge < Tire Rack < Les Schwab

Back to the TSWs. I like them considerably more than the stock wheels and more than I thought I'd like them before mounting. They're still a bit shiny for a Japanese coupe but a good dose of brake dust will solve that. We'll see how the Falkens will stand up to autocross.

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