Wheel damage when getting new tyres

[DionM]

I recently got some new 225/40 R18 tyres fitted to the Charlestons on my Jetta. (Goodyear F1 Asym 2s).

On getting the Jetta back and cleaning the rims, I've picked up a few new bits of damage ... some circular scratches about 5mm in from the lip on a couple of rims (about 40-50mm long) and a couple of new gouges.

From a distance none of them are noticable and its nowhere near as bad as kerbing a wheel but still ...

Now I know low profile tyres can be a bugger to fit, but is this kind of stuff acceptable or should I be making a noise back to the tyre dealer? And is it going to get me anywhere anyway, from what I know these wheels are hard to repair?

[ffoff]

I'd be having a chat the tyre shop mate. They should be able to fit tyres without scratching them. Seems like someone working may have been a little tired/careless when fitting yours.

[yowie]

I have had this and other tyre shop misdemeanours. Now I always clean the wheels before I go and record the tyre serials, just in case.

[nightphotographer]

I took hi-res photos of my wheels and made a huge point of how rare and expensive they were to the fitter - and what do you know, they came back completely un-scathed It's happened in the past, so you just have to be careful.

[gareth_oau]

I've had a wheel damaged in the past. now, when I drop the car off, the fitter and I do a full walk around and look at all panels and wheels and we agree that there are no markings - exactly how it should be when I pick it up later!!

[DionM]

I spoke to the shop this morning and they admitted the damage. All 4 rims have damage, one is very bad in particular but the others are not great either.

They've offered me a cash payment ($200) or they will arrange repairs. I have to drop the car off with them for 3-4 days as they do the repairs, which is a real pain.

Annoyed as I wish they hadn't damaged them to begin with. I'm not sure how good the repairs will be ....

[kaanage]

Hope you don't go through this guy's experience

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/forums/f39/beaurepaires-scrapped-three-my-wheels-60544.html

[DionM]

Hope you don't go through this guy's experience
http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...els-60544.html

Oh that's not fun to read. Anyone know what the finish on Charlestones are?

[dylan8]

if they are painted finish they might be able to do a ok job.
machined finishes are a pain, basically means doing a full machine job to the face of all the wheels (not just the damaged parts...)
cant see how low profile tyres would be any harder to fit then bigger profiles...? 235/35 fitted to a 10 was exactly the same a the 205/55 on a 6.5

[kaanage]

The Charlestones have a machined face so be prepared to argue on the quality of the repairs

[DionM]

This is going to be messy it seems.

I wish they'd just been careful in the first place!

---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

Photos:









And tool marks on this one ... dropped it on a spoke, and then looks like a lever used against the rim ...

[Ben J]

Wow those are a lot worse then I imagined form your inital description. Thats tough :/ Id take them up on the repair offer, its better than nothing.

[Perun]

Wow, that's pretty butchered... I would say it happened while they were taking the old tyres off, by lowering the arm too far down.

Fitting up 225/40R18s is actually pretty easy unless we're talking about track tyres with stupidly stiff sidewalls, but it's quite easy to damage the rim when taking them off if you're not careful.

The problem with machined rims is that they have to re-machine the whole wheel and then clear coat it again, which WILL look different to the other rims which aren't being repaired. If I were you I would push for ALL FOUR rims to be machined. If they won't budge, make noise, threaten with going to different customer affairs bodies, etc.

rim: The upper or outer edge of an object, typically something circular or approximately circular

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[Rosey456]

Absolute disgrace!

I would be demanding 4 new rims.
Why should you be off the road for 4 days because of their incompetence? I'm sure your tyres cost plenty so they win and u lose. Doesnt seem right.
Have you any mates who are lawyers that can pen a letter of demand to the tyre people requesting 4 x new rims?

[Buller_Scott]

ouch man, that's really raw... it almost appears as if there was no effort made towards care at all.

they've put you in a very bad situation - who's going to be providing a car for you whilst your wheels are getting repaired? and do you trust them, who were negligent enough to let this happen in the first place, to repair your wheels?

i'd highlight to them that you werent prepared for this level of involvement with them when you simply drove in off the street to get four new tyres at retail cost, just like any other joe bloggs. i'd press for them to cover the cost to repair all four wheels, as quoted at a proper wheel repairer, rather than let them do further damage. if they dont know how to fit tyres without damaging wheels, how in the heck are they going to know how to repair machine faced wheels?

good luck with it all.