Rim Damage From Changing Tires!

[doodman]

WOW, a new rim from the dealer costs $479.80. Does anyone know the backspacing for the stock rims on the TE? The dealer didn't know.

Frank, this is obviously very careless work on the shop's part. And those rims are very costly. I'm curious as to what you've decided to do about this situation. Do you mind telling us (as I didn't read anything in the above posts)?

 

[ftlee20723]

I'm curious as to what you've decided to do about this situation.

I have asked for new rims. I have not heard anything back as of yet though.

 

[Ryan_S]

The same thing happened to me on my Subaru ($500 ea Prodrive rims) when I made the mistake of going to Tires Plus. They tried to tell me it was somehow my fault that I had low profile tires.

In the end they replaced 2 of the rims with brand new. I would suggest not settling for anything less. If you are having a hard time just escillate (manager, owner....) till you find someone who will make it right!

Scratches like that are just carelessness. Oh and don't ever go back there

 

[chimyz]

Sloppy, sloppy work. A reasonable manager or business owner wouldn't argue and should repair or discount (not sure about replacing though). I wouldn't have even questioned that if it was my business.

Good luck. Keep calm and see what they can do. If nothing, Fu€ken spit on the motherfu€ker and make his life a living hell...or something like that.

 

[ftlee20723]

Check out how they took off the center caps.

 

[vwfan]

damaged rims

I am in the same situation - or at least similar - had my winter tires taken off and now I have serious scratches to all four rims! how do you prove that it is the fault of the mechanic as he denies he did it.... I have pics I can post if anyone could give me advisc???

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I've had 2 sets of tires changed on my Runner and I'm sure the previous owner changed a few sets and my rims don't have scratches like that from any tire changing machine;any scratches my rims have I put there.

 

[vwfan]

the scratches were not there before changing my tires and the scratches are consistent on all four rims. You may laugh but I am not kidding man.

 

[T4Fun]

next time i will take pics of all 4 wheels and show them to the tire store before they do any work! if there is any question of damage, take it to small claims court. Not hard to prove to judge damage to vehicle was done. I am sure the owner/store would pony up then.

 

[vwfan]

Thanks for the advice - yeah will be doing something about this - just got the car last fall too man! ..I am going back to that mechanic and prove it was his machine..all I can think of right now before heading to small claims.

 

[chimyz]

You may wanna share this info with the better business bureau in your area and perhaps tell us who it was so no other members in your area get sloppy work from this same guy.

Someone else mentioned it before, but Ferrari or Pinto, it is of great value to someone and there is no excuse. This is plain and simple disrespect.

By the way, I have 4 unmarked rims for sale now. Make him pay full pop for new ones and I'll sell you mine for pennies on the dollar. (just trying to throw some humour out there...good luck).

 

[elemint]

They are wheels on a vehicle not jewlery. Are you guys born anal or is it something you work at?

 

[RonMAIDEN]

They are wheels on a vehicle not jewlery. Are you guys born anal or is it something you work at?

It's not being anal but I don't just automatically accept damage than can be avoided especially on a brand new vehicle. And it doesn't matter if it's a $20k vehicle or a $250k vehicle a business should take care of your vehicle when it's in their possesion.

 

[Ryan_S]

They are wheels on a vehicle not jewlery. Are you guys born anal or is it something you work at?

It's the principal of the thing. There is no reason that they have to be so careless when installing the tires. Next time you go in for an oil change (or whatever) and you come back with a big scratch in your bumper would you be pissed? I imagine you would.

 

[Tmansfield]

Okay, Things like this can happen. it sucks and you should have the wheels replaced/re-finished. I have worked for Discount Tire Co. for almost 10 years and this kinda thing does happen its from a worn out "duck head" on the tire changing machine. and or a rookie employee. this kind of damage shouldn't happen and can totally be avoided! make sure you have the company who you had the tires changed at take care of it. regardless of what the price of the wheels are make sure that you leave happy. if you went to Discount they will take care of you for sure!!!!

 

[chimyz]

They are wheels on a vehicle not jewlery. Are you guys born anal or is it something you work at?

I work tirelessly at being anal...but you do have a point. These things are gonna get scratched up at some point, just sucks when someone else does it, especially on all 4... after doing to the first, you kinda gotta wonder why you are paying some Tool to do the work?

 

[Grape Ape]

I had my tires swapped out on Saturday and it was busy, the guys were just flying through the tire changes....with that said, I checked for damage and there was not a single mark on the rims. Definitely not the norm nor would it be accepted.

 

[ftlee20723]

I took my 4Runner to Ye Olde Wheel Shop in Elkridge MD to see about wheel reconditioning. Two different people came out and looked at my wheels and the first words out of their mouths was "Wow, just Wow".

There are scratches in the rims that I cannot get good pictures of so, what you see in my pictures is just what I could get pictures of.

They want $200.00 per wheel to fix the damage. They told me that even if they fix them, it will look "better" than it is but, they will not look like they were before I had the tires mounted. They told me that they need to shave the face of the rim down to get all of the scratches out and there is no way for them to match the "anodized" color that it is now. So, it will end up being a different color.

They told me it would take a week to fix my rims. I am not leaving a new 4Runner with 140 miles on it on one of their lifts for a week. Accidents happen and all I need is for someone to hit the 4Runner and then it needs paint.

BTW, I was talking with the District Manager for the tire company that I took my vehicle into on Saturday. The person that worked on my vehicle is no longer employed with their company. Whether or not he got fired or quit I don't know.

They are wheels on a vehicle not jewlery. Are you guys born anal or is it something you work at?

You can say what you want. It is not just a couple of scratches on a rim or two. They damaged all 4. I am sure you would be just as upset if you just paid $38K for a new vehicle, it had 80 miles on it when I had the tires mounted, and they messed your rims up this bad. I owned a 2006 Tacoma 4X4 Double Cab that had 20K miles on it and the rims didn't even remotely look like what my new wheels look like. Do you mount tires for a living? It might explain why you feel this way.

 

[Uneek]

Anal or not, it's the principle behind it. Scratching it myself is one thing. But someone else causing the damage is unacceptable and they should be held liable.

 

[rook]

I put myself through school working on cars. That is some of the laziest work I've seen. So much for the "skilled american workforce". Having mounted and balanced my fair share, I'll lay a bet on the fact that the tire-dink carelessly pried off the center caps with a screwdriver, not looking for the correct area to insert it. Then after having his way with the air gun. lets the wheels bounce a couple of times before landing face down on the shop floor. After a couple of text messages and an argument with his girlfriend, he took out his frustrations on the tire machine, carelessly mounting, not watching the arm on the rim edge and then airing up. Then the roach coach shows up. Two sausage subs, chips, cookies and a DIET coke later he gets around to blasting the wheels back on with the air gun and haphazardly slaps on the center caps, not givin'afuk about all the damage.

Now what remains is restitution. It's your call, they are clearly guilty and should honor you as a customer. Personally, I could live with the scratches, but I'd want the tires refunded so that I pay dealer cost and all labor reimbursed.