Tire Shop Scratched My Wheel
 

Hey all, looking for a little advice here. On my way to work this morning I noticed some clicking as I'm going down the highway. Pulled in to the parking lot and sure enough there's a screw stuck in my tire. It was a few pounds low but not too concerning so I brought it to the local tire shop to have them plug it.

When I get the car back I see some pretty noticeable scratches where they took off my wheel weights. I took it back to them, talked to the owner and he was basically unwilling to help me out. Said he could try some touch paint but wouldn't have it re-powdercoated.

For reference these are WedsSport TC105X's that I had powder coated satin black. Considering I only had the wheels on for 2 months I'm pretty pissed.

So I'm looking for advice. Do I got yell at them till they pay to have it fixed? Do I just foot the bill and have it re-done myself? Or do I just live with the scratches?

Thanks

https://i.imgur.com/dpEs9Vs.jpg
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/uDHW***.jpg[/IMG]

Damn dude. When I read the thread title, I expected to see some baby scratches... I’d be $&@#ing pissed if I were you.

If the tire shop is a chain, go to another shop under the same chain and bring the issue up to them or look for some kind of corporate number on their website.

If it is not a chain, Yelp and Google reviews are actually a pretty good way to get the shop owner’s attention. Be sure to post pictures and maybe get a couple friends to review aswell.

Talk to the manager's boss or call corporate and complain. Take it to social media if you have to.


Unless you signed some form that said they weren't liable for any damages.

Quick update. Its a small shop right next to my work. I went back and talked to the owner, trying to be civil. Said I know some powdercoaters in the area and it would probably be around $160 to have it redone. He said there was no way he was paying 160 to fix a few scratches and I'd have to see him in court if I wanted him to cover it.

So I guess I'm going to leave a few bad reviews and then take him to court. Which, to be clear, I'm not happy about. But he literally told me to

Aftermarket wheels and aftermarket powder coat... You know there's something on that sheet he signed waiving liability.

It's the inside of the wheel. Judging by the brake dust it isn't exactly kept spotless. What do you want them to do? Ask the wheel weights to take themselves off?

We have plastic wedges for removing weights, they can still get at the finish. There isn't a whole lot you can do.



:lol: Calm down a bit. It's powerdercoat on an aftermarket wheel that's daily driven. Move on, the car will be fine. Or buy some tire machines and do it yourself.

I'd be pissed too, but there's no way I'd powdercoat my wheels either if they're brand new, just buy the finish/color you like in the first place. Removing wheel weights shouldn't scratch up the wheels unless the guy doing it just doesn't give a fuck, which based on the response of the owner sounds like the case here.


Good luck, hope you get them in small claims court.

My first car had TE37SLs with aftermarket blue paint (not powder coat). I went through 4 different sets of tires, never did I get my wheels scratched like that. I suppose it’s because the shop I went to had competent workers...

Back to OP. Would I go to court? No. I would definitely leave some reviews with pictures and get the wheel redone later down the line.

You should also go to a local chain tire shop with solid reviews (future ref.). I like supporting local shops, unless they’re terrible at their job.

I didn't sign anything waiving liability. I didn't sign anything actually. No repair order or nothing, just dropped the car off and picked it up when it was done.

And you cant tell me there's no way to get off wheel weights without scratching the wheel. Some light marks maybe, but cutting through the powder coat is just unacceptable.

I do realize that I'm frustrated right now, and probably not thinking the most rationally. Will I actually take him to court? Probably not. But I paid over $2K for these wheels and haven't even had them 2 months before they get cut up. I think I'm allowed to be mad.

Those look like gnarly scratches. I'd be pissed too. I would probably leave bad reviews and take him to court. Make him pay with his time at the very least for this mistake. To me it sounded like a bluff about taking him to court and you should call it. I think you should just on principal of not giving a fuck on such nice wheels. I would also try and add at least a days pay on top of it for wasting your time on top of damaging your property.

Did the owner say this is acceptable? Would the owner be okay with that sort of workmanship being advertised their customers. Of course not, anything else is an excuse.

No paperwork. So you took you $2k wheels to Jimmy's Tire, Lawnmower and Surfboard Repair on the corner, paid cash under the table, and are now surprised at the results?

The weights are double sided taped to the wheels. You pry/scrape them off. A screw driver works really well, but scratches the wheel. A plastic scraper made for wheel weights sucks to use, but generally doesn't scratch the wheels. There's no magic way to get them off the wheel.

I would say small surface scratches are acceptable, but it’s clear whoever worked on this particular wheel was an idiot. You’d think after the first carve mark they would let up...

And I hate to ask [to OP], but did you check your other wheels?

Also, places that still use scrapers and screw drivers to remove these adhesive wheel weights are probably not very good shops. They make tools specifically for application and removal of adhesive wheel weights (e.g. https://www.kstools.com/en/news/pres...without-damage).

They're an auto tire repair shop. Like all they do is repair tires. It's not unreasonable to assume they could repair a tire without fucking it up.

About 22 years ago I got some fancy new forged wheels on my honda civic... (it was the late 90s) When I needed new tires, I just went to an NTB. Car came back with huge scrapes and deep scratches all over the front of the rim from where they used the pry bar and didn't seem to care at all where they were putting it.



The manager said tough shit. I called corporate and they repeated the managers comments. I stayed at that store for 3 days showing it to customers and telling them not to shop there while the manager continuously threatened to call the police if I didn't leave.



Ultimately nothing ever happened either way and I had to move on with life. I don't think I drove even one customer away. Learned my lesson though... If you have nice wheels, be very particular about where you take them. Average tire shops do average peoples cars and if you look around you will see on average no one gives a crap if their car is all scrapped and banged up.

Yeah in hindsight it was a mistake to take it there. Guess I learned my lesson