Review of Grant 1004 "Classic Nostalgia" series "Tuff" Wheel

[rapom65]

I've been wanting a Tuff steering wheel for my project Duster for some time now. I keep a regular search going for an affordable original but little has turned up on my radar screen. Out of fustration I decided to give the Grant 1004 a try mainly because I didn't find any negative comments about it in my web searches. With a MSRP of $349.66 the $195.97 price through Summit looked pretty good so one was ordered up. This quote is cut and pasted directly off the Grant website listing for the 1004: "The Nostalgia Wheels are designs patterned after some of the most popular classic designs of the 60's & 70's muscle car era. This wheel is very close to the old Tuff Wheel style. Its all around beefy classic styling is the perfect match for your ride."

I have to admit I was pretty stoked when it arrived and the excitement built as I opened up the box. That feeling lasted a total of about 3 seconds once I had it in my hands. I'm going to try to make this review as fair and unbiased as I can. In as few words as I can state it: This is where the term "Chinese POS" was coined. Really Grant???? A MSRP of $350 bucks! I think Summit miss~placed the decimal point in their add. $19.59 would be over paying for this steaming cow pie. Yeah, I'm that pissed. To add insult to injury I had to pay return shipping to get this thing out of my sight. Before you all write me off as a crackpot here is what I laid two C notes out for.

Pic 1: 1st clue was the leather "wrap" around the spoke/wheel junctions. This is to cover were the base material is exposed because the leather is cut as a straight strip vs how the original's leather is cut, formed and stitched around this area in one piece. Horrid workmanship. Two of the three "wraps" were not glued sufficiently and the edges were already peeling up.

 

[rapom65]

Pic 2 & 3: However the steel is cut (laser, water, whatever) a little nub of metal is left from the process. Ok granted, not that visible, but it is sharp as hell and will leave a nice bloody furrow in any skin that is unfortunate enough to drag across it. A couple of swipes with a file before the plating process would solve this problem.

 

[rapom65]

Pic 4: Speaking of plating these are supposed to be nickle plated with a brushed finish. They're plated alright but the brushed finish looks like someone took a couple of swipes at it with 60 grit sandpaper and threw it in the plating bin. On the spokes it isn't that noticeable but on the center flat it is really obvious and comes together from three different directions. It was really hard to get a decent photo of this with my cell. I tried over and over and this is the best pic of the lot. Yeah this area is mostly covered by the horn ring and hard plastic "button" but it's just another indication of how cheaply made this thing is. The silver pin stripe tape on my "button" was not applied right and was already lifting off. I would have thought the horn ring would have been included but that is in the Installation Kit, extra of course.

 

[Bulldozer]

wow that piece of "wrap" looks like ****. is that for real ? I would have sent it back too , although I have never had to pay them for shipping on any returned item to them.

 

[rapom65]

Pic 5: The reason the spoke wraps were peeling up is because the glue application was so spotty. That wasn't the case on the drivers side of the rim because there was plenty of glue visible there.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

At that price you should call the police and report a robbery. You can't even apply "you get what you pay for" You payed top $

 

[rapom65]

Pic 6: Just like a cheep paint job that looks great from 30 feet away. I don't even want to get that close to one of these things again. Sad.

Sorry if I come off strong but this really pissed me off. I just wanted to get the word out and back it up with photographic evidence as there is nothing out on the web at the moment to warn anyone off. Grant will never be considered again for any purchases I make.

 

[rapom65]

It's a freaking shame what $200 bills will get you now days. It is obvious to me that pure profit was the driver behind this product. Make it as cheap as you possibly can and sell it to those Mopar dupes at an astronomically inflated price. There were other things I could have pointed out like the cheap *** quality of the leather but I need to get over it. Life is to short.
It just amazes me that these could be produced by Chrysler with the quality and quantity they did. 50 years of manufacturing advancement and this is what we get. Progress...????

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Sometimes you just have to vent, and then you can move on

 

[69_340_GTS]

I had a generic Grant wood wheel for a few years. The edges of the metal spokes were damn near sharp as razor blades. After "shaving" the skin off of various portions of my hands several times, I finally got rid of it. Their quality has sucked for quite a while.
I do not think Summit has the right to charge you return shipping. The wheel you got is obviously defective.

 

[lil red]

I bought the foam wrapped one last year and was happy with it.....mind you it was a lot less money......but that leather wrapped one sure looks like ****, i'd be just as pissed.

 

[rapom65]

I also have the foam wrapped version on my Barracuda. It is what you'd expect for the price point and I have no gripes with it at all. If I was the CEO of Grant I'd either fire the entire team in charge of this mess or give them all a promotion for the 99.99% profit margin earned on each sale.

 

[Abodybomber]

wow that piece of "wrap" looks like ****. is that for real ? I would have sent it back too , although I have never had to pay them for shipping on any returned item to them.

This.. Send it back, demand a decent product,or a full refund. You paid that much for it, it goes back for failure of customer satisfaction. That simple.

 

[Abodybomber]

I also have the foam wrapped version on my Barracuda. It is what you'd expect for the price point and I have no gripes with it at all. If I was the CEO of Grant I'd either fire the entire team in charge of this mess or give them all a promotion for the 99.99% profit margin earned on each sale.

Same with the "generic steering wheels", great luck.. The high end stuff never impressed me, doing 20+ years of retail auto parts.

 

[RedFish]

Another failure of aftermarket vendor. We've seen it 3836363543 times.
In reality, Its about the material, workmanship, and labor required. To produce BMW quality in a small quantity of leather wrapped wheels, the retail price would probably be closer to 800.00
There are more women than men who pay the premium for quality shoes and handbags made of leather. How many hotrod owners will pay similar for a leather steering wheel ? We need a minimum of 1 million in pre order to get that price down. LOL

 

[Bad Sport]

That is sad indeed. I'da been pissed also.

 

[rapom65]

Read your Summit return details (the very small & lightly printed part on the back of the label). They give you a "no postage due" USPS return label but a set fee, based on package weight, is deducted from the return credit before it is remitted back to you. I could call their customer service and demand a credit for the return shipping but that would probably be another exercise in frustration.

The anger dissipated but I am just so disappointed in the quality that I felt I had to let others know what you'll get in return for your hard earned money. There are other sources out there. Who knows if they're any better.

 

[ssba]

Original tuff wheels have moulded foam grip to look like wrapped and stitched
leather. No real seams. Just so you know what to expect if you happen to buy one without seeing it in person.
The brushed finish is done the same way without any concern how it looks under
the cap. The machine work is very good on originals without that start/stop nub.