Beaurepaires scrapped three of my wheels

[khamtran]

Beaurepaires said they checked with VW South Yarra and don't have a spare of steel wheels.

The repair shop did say it would take 2-3 days but I need a car, either a loan car or spare wheels to use while the wheels are repaired.

...a good re-machine job will be be indistinguishable from the original factory finish.

This is reassuring, thanks. I was initially worried as a few places said they wouldn't be able to get it to the point where you couldn't tell. Neway are confident they can though.

[RedMk2Gti]

khamtran

After all you are so lucky that Beaurepaires is willing to take responsibility as best as they can, given that you realised "the next day and took the car back"

A lot lot of doggy guys will just say it wasn't like this yesterday and send you away.

Enjoy your 98% new wheels when they come back.

[khamtran]

The guy at Beaurepaires was quite good about it.

The damage was undeniably their fault though as the marks were in the same place on all wheels. It was obvious that they were done by some machine. There would be been no way that a kerb could have done the damage. If they had tried to deny it I would have just gone through my insurance and let them chase Beaurepaires up.

[brimway]

I had a similar situation with Tyrepower. I had them remove my OE Denvers and fit new tyres to 18" Talladegas. In doing so, they damaged one of the Denvers but chose not to tell me. I noticed the damage when I got home and returned and confronted them. They admitted that they had done the damage and paid to have it repaired albeit, I had to travel 120 Kms round trip to get the job done.

After a few days, I noticed a strange noise from the front and found that both front wheels had loose wheel studs. I again returned to Tyrepower and complained about their lax attention to detail. At this point, they had the opportunity to apologise and maybe take steps to ensure that this did not happen again. Instead, the manager told me that he had made enquiries from other tyre retailers and concluded that VW Golf wheel studs were prone to work loose.

No argument from me would change his assertion that it was an inherent problem with " these European cars". To add fuel to the fire, the response from Tyrepower state and national head offices was aloof and disinterested.

Needless to say that I will never deal with Tyrepower ever again.

BTW My wheel studs are yet to "work loose" since the event!

[khamtran]

It's just so unfortunate to hear more stories like this.

I can understand that sometimes accidents do happen but to not say anything when they do and hope you don't realise is such poor form. Where has honesty gone these days.

[WEDEL.1]

Fortunately for me the Tyrepower at St Agnes (SA) where I go is beyond reproach.

Great service, prices and work.

Maris

[JCop]

It's just so unfortunate to hear more stories like this.

I can understand that sometimes accidents do happen but to not say anything when they do and hope you don't realise is such poor form. Where has honesty gone these days.

I personally think it's inexcusable for any tyre-shop to damage a wheel during a re-fitting.

I've replaced allot of tyres at work in my time, and the only time I ever damaged one (which we repaired on the spot free of charge) was when I didn't check that the rear of the wheel had sealed to the fitting machine properly.

Post some photos when you get the finished product back (if you have them done with Neway they use a relatively old lathe machine, so there might be some imperfections in the original alloy, but from personal experience VW wheels tend to have very little of this issue, although it's incredibly common with Ferraris and Renaults for some reason)

Best of luck mate!

[Sebast]

U shouldn't have to pay for their stupidity ......

[khamtran]

I got my wheels back from Neway Wheel Repairs today.

Overall, I’m not very happy as I was able to notice a difference straight away when they said I wouldn’t be able to tell from the originals. They are certainly not the 98% that they claimed they could achieve.

What I noticed immediately was the clearly visible machine marks and slight variations (most visible on bottom left and top right wheels) which were much finer in appearance on the original wheels. The technician said this was due to the remachined wheels not having the anodised coating of the original wheels. Anodising apparently allows the paint and clear coat to bond better to the metal to create a smoother appearance and shinier finish as well as making the surface of wheels harder and more durable so less prone to stone chips and scratches. Neway said they can’t do anodising. If I had known about anodising earlier I would have argued harder for replacement wheels with Beaurepaires.

What I also noticed is the clear coat has a slightly spotty cloudy appearance when viewed at an angle in sunlight. This seems to also have a slight dulling effect on the wheels.

There are also a few dust particles in the clear coat here and there as well.

All-in-all I’m pretty disappointed but then again I am quite picky. What do you guys think? Am I being too picky or is the finish okay? I’m just peed off because the wheels were perfectly fine before Beaurepaires battered them.

I’m taking the car back into Beaurepaires tomorrow to get a wheel alignment done (because they didn’t do it properly in the first place) and so the guy can also take a look at them.

Before and after shots are below. Let me know what you guys think.

Before (scrapped)
This shot was taken in the morning without any direct sunlight. With direct sunlight the wheels would've been shinier.


After (refinished)
This shot was taken in the afternoon with direct sunlight on the bottom two wheels. Notice the more visible machine marks.

[dru]

I wouldn't be happy either way, because like you - I am particular about those details on my car.

In saying that though, when I looked at the after picture first - I couldn't see anything out of place and had to actually look at the before to try and get my bearings on where the actual damage was.

[Gti Dave]

Hey man I too am very anal about scratches so I get them to inspect with me before any work is done so that way no denial can be made. Not sure if it's lighting but I can see the machining lines on the lower left after shot.

[Stiggy_21]

i too had trouble with beaurepairs..
i got new tyres, and stick on wheel weights. but it was as if they didn't even clean the wheel where they stuck them on...... soo a few fell off and dirt was very visible on the backs of the weights. how slack can you be.
i spoke to admin... didn't want to know about it, so i went to the store and after a long 'discussion' they re-did the wheels.
and now seeing more people have trouble with them.. i wouldn't go back to them.

lookin at your wheels, i can see the turning marks on the 3rd wheel but they look pretty good
definitely better than they were

[khamtran]

The machining lines are definitely noticeable on the after shot. There are inconsistencies in the lines as well which is annoying. The technician said the lines are noticeable because the wheels no longer have the anodised coating. The process of anodising supposedly creates interference effects to reflected light making the lines less noticeable.

I took the car into Beaurepaires today (to show them the refinished wheels) and the store manager at Beaurepaires did offer to do free regular wheel rotations and balances for the life of the tyres. While I do appreciate the gesture it is still little comfort to me.

I'm not happy with the overall outcome but I don't know what I can do now. I could write to the Beaurepaires Head Office as they do have a complaints policy but I'm not sure if that will do any good at this stage. My complaint isn't with store manager who has been very cooperative right from the beginning.

I'm just not sure whether to just live with it or lodge a complaint.

[khamtran]

lookin at your wheels, i can see the turning marks on the 3rd wheel but they look pretty good
definitely better than they were

The wheels in the before shot were a little dirty so they didn't shine that much. The original finish definitely looked better and shinier than they are now. All I wanted was for something to closely resemble the original wheel finish.

[Corey_R]

In saying that though, when I looked at the after picture first - I couldn't see anything out of place and had to actually look at the before to try and get my bearings on where the actual damage was.

I'm pretty picky and I could see some inconsistency in the machining... but I think compared to the before shot, much of the difference is the light.

At this point, unless you get 4 complete new wheels, I don't think you'll be happy.
But in saying that... I think if you asked 20 random people to look at your car and tell you where it has damage or imperfections, none of them would pick the wheels, unless you prompted them too...