In reference to the BD wheels...
They may have switched suppliers along the way? Companies like that are constantly churning vendors in an attempt to improve the bottom line. If company "A" was selling them a basic quality wheel for $35 (completely random number) and they purchase 10,000 wheels a year, then they get a bid from company "B" for $32 a wheel and they are the built using the same or very similar components they are going to jump at the chance to add a quick $30k to the bottom line. So what if a few wheels go bad, replacing a few wheels is still pretty cheap, even if the customer does complain.
Aaron
