Am I just being a little too OCD about this?

I picked up my car on Saturday after having the front right wheel and all four tires replaced. Today was the first chance I got to wash it. I know I have one wheel that is a little curbed. I did that myself and boy did I know it. The other three wheels should have been perfect. So unless they put one of the other three on the front right, then I'd say they gave me a used one. It was pretty dirty on the inside when I picked it up, but it was raining too, so I figured it might just be wet. Now looking at it closer I can see chips all over the place on the thing. It is definitely not new.

 

Two of the other wheels have damage from the machine they put the tires on with. It is obviously NOT curb damage that I don't know how they could say it is anything else. One of them has a gouge on the top of the lip that goes halfway around the wheel. Obviously I couldn't have done that. The other one is chipped and gouged in the exact same way. You can tell that it is something that gouged the paint and not from grinding on a curb.

 

So here is my dilema... I've already bitched to this dealership enough in the last year. They did the whole stuttering thing, the cooling fan thing, and now the wheel. I guess typically dealerships don't hear from drivers unless there is a problem, but what would you do? Obviously I am going to call them on this and have them take a look. I think it is ridiculous that they don't have technicians who know how to put a tire on a wheel without screwing it up. I have concerns about them charging for a new wheel and putting a used one on the car too... I guess I don't really have any choice but to let them know about this and have them fix it. Am I just being too anal about this or would you take the wheels back to them too?

I'm so anal I'm full of $hit...or so says my wife. Ya gotta go back. At least so they know what a hack they have running the tire machine. Nothing is ever simple. Sounds like something that would happen to me. Maybe this is what justifies getting aftermarket wheels.

Go back for sure - if they don't know they've screwed up, they will not learn & correct in the future.

 

Why you did not get a new wheel is beyond me. That sucks!

Tell me about it.... I'd rather just get some aftermarket wheels, but I don't have a thousand dollars sitting around at the moment that I can spend on something like that. What I expect is when I leave my car at the dealership that it will come back to me in the same condition I left it. If they wanted to throw used wheels on the car then why didn't they put STi rims on? Or maybe SpecB wheels. They could at least get creative.

i say if it says new wheel and other items on the reciept id drop in and point out their mistake

I just went out to snap some pictures to document the damage in case they might possibly save me a trip. I looked at all four wheels and the front left one is the only one without evidence of wheel weights being removed. So it looks like that is the new one. It is also one of the damaged ones, so I guess I get two more new ones, eh? I think I should also get to keep these. Man, if this keeps up then I might come away with a full set of OEM wheels and tires. lol Not really my intention, but if I have to look at the bright side, then there it is.

 

This is curb rash:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/WheelDamage-3.jpg

 

There is no mistaking that. It takes chunks of metal out of the wheel and not just paint. Now tell me if these two pictures look anything like curb rash...

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/WheelDamage-2.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/WheelDamage-1.jpg

 

There is no way that was caused by a curb. Lucky for me I still have the tires too. If I caused that kind of damage myself then it would surely show up on the tires since it is so high up on the rim. I think this is pretty air tight.

 

What I'd like to know is how they thought that the guy who owned the car they mounted those wheels on wouldn't notice that they borked the wheels. My car was spotless when it was towed in to them. I was getting ready for a show on Saturday and I had just polished the car the weekend prior. They had to know I'd notice. They rolled the dice and they lost.

did you get new tires too? on the ones with damage?

They had to replace all four tires. There was only one wheel damaged in the accident, so that is all they replaced. Since the tire got chewed up a bit on the curb (and also since I really wanted the guy who did this to know he ran the wrong car off the road) they replaced all four tires. I had to pay $270 for betterment, but I got a new set of tires for the price of one. Plus I got to keep the used ones. So now I've got a set of tires with 70% treadwear left on them just waiting for me to find some 17"s that I like.

You are NOT too OCD about that. I know I would complain.

 

--Lee

1st pick is definatly curb damage.

2nd picture looks exactly how the wheel looks if you dont alow enough space for the arm on the tire machine to flex. i know i have done it.

3rd looks like the lever they use to pry down on the tire they jammed it in and chiped the paint. deffinatly not curb damage.

 

i would bitch and they will probably just have the wheels touched up.

since they replaced all four the guy changing your tires is new or a dumb-**** id go and show them what kind of shitty job they did for you

 

 

 

im 100% sure it was from mounting/unmounting your tires, they may not give you four new wheels though, i say they credit/give you the cost of four new wheels (what you would (customer) end up paying) + the tax they would charge you and go buy yourself some nice summer wheels/tires and use your OE's for winter

Maybe they should just put those wheels on one of their new '06 models and see if the buyer is interested in touched up wheels. As far as I'm concerned they should replace them and force the touch ups on someone else. They have a technician who doesn't know how to work their machinery. How am I supposed to trust any of the work they do if they can't even mount a tire properly?

 

Your assesment of the damage is right on with what someone else told me.

 

wow. you have to be really inept to mark up oe wheels like that. OE rims and tires are usually very easy to mount and dismount, and your rims are no exception. The first mark is from the swing arm gouging the rim while the turntable is spinning, and the second set are from the pry bar getting pinched between the tire and the rim, most likely during the dismounting phase. This happens when no lube is used on the beads and when the other side of the bead (opposite the one being pryed on) isn't in the drop center of the rim, which makes a VERY tight removal, hence gouges.

well i wouldnt say it is easy changing OE wheels/tires

 

 

low profiles and lower the profile the harder it is

 

dealerships and tire places usually inform the customer that "while servicing your vehicle we had a little incident, but we'll pay for the replacement"

 

but since they didnt.... let them know asap, leave a message with the service department right now...and tell them you'll stop by tomorrow morning at 7AM causing you to change your schedule so they should give you a loaner while it is being taken care of

You are assuming my schedule is that easily changed. The dealership is on the other side of the valley from where I work. It isn't exactly convenient. I'm sure we'll work something out. It looks like just two wheels are damaged. Damn. I was hoping the curbed one got it too, but no such luck. Just the new one and one of the other ones. They couldn't damage the ones I need replacing anyway, could they? Noooooo. That would just be too damn nice.

 

My invoice says that OEM wheels are about $236 apiece. Two of those gets me really close to a new set of aftermarket rims. I'm sure I can find a set of 17" wheels for $500 bucks. In fact, I have a friend dying to sell me his Racing Hart C2s for $500. I wonder if they would just pay me back for the betterment I paid on the new tires.... Tomorrow will be interesting I guess. They better not tell me they will only touch them up. SOA will hear from me if that is the case.

Strange.. I wonder what kind of antiquated machine did that??? The last time I had my tires changed the guy pointed out a small scratch saying that they had someone complain that (the tire shop) damaged the wheel... He showed me how the machine holds the wheel and removes the tire and it came nowhere near where the road rash was.

 

newer fancy pants machines are very good at not doing any damage at all. older machines which are in 90% of the shops probably are very easy to damage a rim if your not carfull or experianced on the machine. and just cause they are oem wheels and tires does not make them easy to mount. the low profile tires are very hard to mount. some are easyer and some are harder but in general they are pretty hard.

Take it back. Let them have it! Sounds like they put Mr.Butterfingers at the machine or they swapped your wheels which is even worse:icon_mad:

 

One of the worse things I fear whenever I take my car to the dealer, imagine a worker who has the same car and then takes parts off your well maintained (anal maintained ) car to swap with his beat up car. I get really paranoid. I would absolutely flip if this happened to my wheels.

Judging from what happens in dealerships and repair facilities, I've gotten pretty "O.C." about making sure work actually gets done and done right.

 

I've gone so far as to

 

1) Take pictures of my car before dropping off for service, epsecially in areas that they will work on

2) Marking parts to make sure they were removed or service properly. e.g. Scratch the paint on an oil filter, put a discreet mark or small piece of electrical tape on front wheels before rotation, etc.

3) Ask for all removed parts back and the cartons that the "new" parts came in. Provide a box in the trunk for them to put the stuff in.

4) Inspect the vehicle BEFORE paying

 

I've caught all kinds of things like billing for work not performed, interior with grease on it from the mechanic's hands, and so on.

 

If I were you I'd be back at the Service Department in front of the Manager inquiring how he was going to fix "his" problem with "my" vehicle. (Yeah I know that isn't gender neutral )

 

Be Skeptical, and Be Well.

Not only did they fix the two wheels that they messed up, but they also fixed that other one that I curbed myself. My dealership rules.

Not only did they fix the two wheels that they messed up, but they also fixed that other one that I curbed myself. My dealership rules.

Fixed how? Did they send them out to a shop? Pics of the repair?

They had a wheel guy come to the dealership to do the work. Most dealerships have someone who comes around every couple weeks to work on the trade ins. They'll do touch up work and wheel repair and that kind of thing. I'd show you pictures, but you wouldn't really be able to see anything. I can't even find where the damage used to be. They look like brand new wheels. I need to call whoever did it and ask him what kind of paint he used, because it is a perfect match. I seriously can't tell where the repair work was done.

If they smooth out the curb rash, there is obviously metal mssing, right? Do they use some sort of filler (like lead filler on body panels)? If you can't tell the diffreence, that is just too cool. My worries about dinging a wheel have now subsided somewhat. Sweet.

 

There is no mistaking that. It takes chunks of metal out of the wheel and not just paint. Now tell me if these two pictures look anything like curb rash...

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/WheelDamage-2.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/WheelDamage-1.jpg

 

 

I would FREAK OUT if my car came back with these marks on the rims.

 

I too am very anal about curb marks, etc on my rims (It looks like I don't know how to drive worth a ****) and would be all over the dealer for answers.