Tire shop scratched my wheels

[StangTime]

I was washing my wheels today to remove the tire lube and noticed the shop scratched both back wheels installing the tires. I thought it was just dried tire lube but sadly, not. The scratches go halfway around the sharp corner on the rims. The shop that did them said they needed to do the rear 30 profile tires on their state of the art machine with their experienced tech. Such a nice gesture.

Hard to see when looking at the rim straight on. But from the side, there's a clear line where the paint is gone. I don't think its down to bare aluminum.

How to deal with this? Take them back and get the rims repaired? Gloss black is going to be hard to hide a repair. Would they need to repaint the whole wheel? Seems like a lot of trouble. Use touch up paint? Seems like that would be quickest, most unprofessional way to do it.

I'm pissed.

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[MrMike]

Man that sucks.

This makes me wonder if they used enough grease or just didn't have experience with performance wheel and tire setups.

It looks like the wheels already have some other dirt on them in the pics? Just from driving home?

Did the shop review the condition of the wheels with you before installation? When I took mine in they took each wheel out of the box and reviewed them. Two had small scratches on the inside. I told them to go ahead and mount.

Touch up paint sucks imo, especially on wheels. Doesn't look quite right. Not sure how I'd deal with this.

 

[tosha]

It will be down to shop's ethics and how much they care about reputation unfortunately. One shop I went to f-d up the wheel quite a bit more than what you have and masked the damage with a Sharpie. When I came back they told me that I did it myself or the car came like this. It was one of those big tire and oil chains.
Some other place compensated me for tire damage that they have made, but that was more of an exception.

Except for a couple places at race tracks that do high end race cars on daily basis, I am yet to find a barely adequate tire service that can do anything beyond a minivan or suv properly.

Sorry to hear that happened mate. There are some wheel repair service places that you might look up and get a quote from. I told myself that wheels are a wear item and stopped stressing about it. They will get scratched and damaged over time regardless of how much we try to preserve them. Don't lose your sleep over this.

 

[StangTime]

Man that sucks.

This makes me wonder if they used enough grease or just didn't have experience with performance wheel and tire setups.

It looks like the wheels already have some other dirt on them in the pics? Just from driving home?

Did the shop review the condition of the wheels with you before installation? When I took mine in they took each wheel out of the box and reviewed them. Two had small scratches on the inside. I told them to go ahead and mount.

Touch up paint sucks imo, especially on wheels. Doesn't look quite right. Not sure how I'd deal with this.

These wheels were flawless before the tire shop got them. I inspected and hand delivered them in thier original boxes. That brown gunk was on tire when I got them. They were quite dirty. This was a large shop. KalTire. I'm surprised they messed this up.

 

[MrMike]

These wheels were flawless before the tire shop got them. I inspected and hand delivered them in thier original boxes. That brown gunk was on tire when I got them. They were quite dirty. This was a large shop. KalTire. I'm surprised they messed this up.

I hope they do right by you. I'd be pissed too.

I agree w/tosha that it's going to come down to the ethics of the shop.

Best thing you can do is keep your cool when interacting with the shop, explain what happened, and ask what they will do to make it right. Get in touch with them as soon as they open.

 

[tosha]

This was a large shop. KalTire

The one that messed my wheels was active green+ross - same sh!t as kaltire. I will never go to a tire chain place again, they are all set up for speed and cheap servicing of middle aged to old cars. I'm sure they pay bottom of the market to their staff. And as I learned the hard way, thy don't stand behind their work because they know that at this point I will never come back anyways.

interestingly, the place that reimbursed me for destroyed tires was a Ford dealership. Doesn't change the fact that a set of two Cup2 tires went into a garbage bin, but at least they made it right.

For the future, you could try to find a performance shop in your area that specializes in performance cars, track builds and high end stuff. There is a bit better chance that those guys would have more experience with low profile tires.

 

[MrMike]

The one that messed my wheels was active green+ross - same sh!t as kaltire. I will never go to a tire chain place again, they are all set up for speed and cheap servicing of middle aged to old cars. I'm sure they pay bottom of the market to their staff. And as I learned the hard way, thy don't stand behind their work because they know that at this point you will never come back anyways.

interestingly, the place that reimbursed me for destroyed tires was a Ford dealership. Doesn't change the fact that a set of two Cup2 tires went into a garbage bin, but at least they made it right.

For the future, you could try to find a performance shop in your area that specializes in performance cars, track builds and high end stuff. There is a bit better chance that those guys would have more experience with low profile tires.

I 100% agree with you.

I always take my vehicles to the dealer or a small specialty place for tire work, regardless of people telling me I'm wasting money. The quality of work at my local dealer is good, and the specialty shop will mount anything I bring them w/o issue.

 

[NightmareMoon]

If you left the grounds, they can claim it wasnt them and that you went through an automatic car wash or something and the rails scratched them

You could ask for a refund or $50 or something but I wouldnt expect anything.

The fix would be to clean them up and repaint them entirely, but if it were me I’d try to just get some black touch up paint on those spots so they dont’t catch my eye and go on with life.

 

[StangTime]

I emailed the shop these pictures and 15 minutes later I got a reply saying someone would call me shortly. An hour later they called me apologizing and didn't question anything. They want me to bring the wheels in and they will repair them at Rim Doctor. A very reputable business that I have had past positive experience with. They'll do a better job than any attempt that I could do. Wheels will be about a week to fix. I'm ok with that.

 

[Torinate]

Jeez Todd, that stinks!

Good on them for taking responsibility!

 

[JOKER M1]

Great they are taking responsibility, I went through the same situation last year. It was Belle Tire but they called me and said they scratched one of my wheels. They hit the TPMS and something popped out and scratched the entire outer surface. I chose to have them replace the wheel since it was the Mach 1 HP wheel. Glad to see places stand by their mistakes

 

[WItoTX]

Black touch up paint and find a touch-less tire changer next go round. I gladly pay more for quality equipment and techs who give a shit about their job.

Sorry you have to deal with it. It sucks, but apart from babysitting them to do it right, not much you can do now.

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

Is it paint removed, or plastic transferred onto the wheel from the shoe on the tire machine? Maybe try to use a plastic tool to give a small spot a little rub to see if it comes off? If they are going to fix it anyway, doesn’t hurt to give it a try so long as you don’t make it look like you did something more to it.

 

[jpjr501]

Always take pictures in the parking lot before giving them the keys.

I save my best friend. His 2020 Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody was getting new tires. We took pics in the parking lot and came back at the end of the day with trashed wheels (3 of them). This was the Dodge dealership where he bought the car a year earlier.

He showed them the manager the damage and when he said your guy did this he wanted proof. Pulled at the time stamped pictures. He now had the scratched set still on the car and brand new set in the box at home in the garage.

 

[MAGS1]

Always take pictures in the parking lot before giving them the keys.

I save my best friend. His 2020 Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody was getting new tires. We took pics in the parking lot and came back at the end of the day with trashed wheels (3 of them). This was the Dodge dealership where he bought the car a year earlier.

He showed them the manager the damage and when he said your guy did this he wanted proof. Pulled at the time stamped pictures. He now had the scratched set still on the car and brand new set in the box at home in the garage.

I always do that when taking my car in for service. The dealership I go to actually does it now also. All the advisors have iPads and they do walk around photos/video outside and inside the car. I’ve never had any issues with my particular dealer but have heard some horror stories about some others

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