Over the weekend I got my new rears mounted. When I get the car back to see the final result, I have a deep scratch on my right rim and little dents and dings all around from the bar used to pry the tire off of the car. On top of things, I wanted to keep my old RE050's, but one of them is now useless to me as the guy applied too much force and poked 2 holes in the tread.

I talked to the owner today and he's all about giving me a refund, but that's it. He merely stated that with low profile tires, the rims will ALWAYS have some sort of minimal damage to them due to the stiff sidewalls. At the least, I'd like to have my refund + money to have my rims refinished or have the wheels replaced (which I requested).

Let me add that this was done over spring break while I was at home. I am now back at school which is 2 hours away. The only reason I took my car there was because my friend worked at the shop and guaranteed that my rims would be flawless after the mounting.

What can I do to make this go my way?

 

I was told the same thing BEFORE they mounted my tires as well. Especially since I had a polished lip, they warned me there might be some scratches here and there.

Luckily, mine came out fine.

I really doubt there is anything else the owner can do other than a full refund.

Good luck with it though.

 

Post some pics of the damage if you can.

Get some estimates for repairing the wheel and apply the refund towards the repair.

Lesson learned...find a place accustomed to working with polished lip wheels and have the equipment to do them right.

 

hey negcamber do you know of any good polish wheel repairers in the jax area? I had a similar situation and looking for a repairer

 

a good tire installer will not scratch rims regardless of how low pro the tires are

 

Sorry, I don't. Charles (slo_s2k) might know though. Post up in the Florida forum.

 

This was also my assumption. The thing is, these were stock AP2 v1 rims, not anything fancy with polish lips. I'll get pictures of the damage up later today.

 

It just pisses me off that my rims were in perfect condition before they were manhandled by the installer. I always thought it was standard procedure for the company to replace/refinish the rims if they were damaged during mounting.

If they can't correctly install some 255/40/17's I'd hate to imagine what'd they'd do to some 20"+'s on 35/30's.

 

i take my time, especially if Im working on friend's wheel...but the manager should at least pay for the wheels to get repaired and lend some loaner wheels so you can still drive your car...

 

This happened to me when I got my winter tires mounted. When they went to take off the old tires the "stiff" sidewall would pull on their little prong/claw thing and it would dig into the rim, thus marring and scratching the outside edge. This only seems to be a problem with older machines, and installers who aren't paying attention. It was just a local mechanic who I thought I would throw business to, but it was a mistake. All 4 were beat up, but after getting a little forceful (me getting lawyered up) he agreed to pay to have them repaired. You can still see some of the deeper scratches, but they are dedicated winter wheels now.