Cracked alloy

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PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
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Just having the tyres replaced on the car, a 4 year old XKR, and have been told that one of the alloys is cracked. There is no sign of damage, ie its a fracture. As the car is only 4 years old, do you think there is any chance of recourse from Jaguar?

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
quotequote all
after the shambles with BMW and the fact this isn't a cheap car to start off with, plus only just 4 years (its technically under 4 from first reg by 6 months).

The cracks are on the inside of the rims, which are otherwise immaculate. This is not damage from any form of crash, it is clearly the same fracture on both wheels, both on the inside from the top of the rim into the alloy, about 1 cm. As it happens, rather than waste my time and stress trying to place a claim (nor should it matter I am the 2nd owner), I've gone and taken them to a specialist alloy repair shop who can fix them and warranty the repair. £53 per wheel or £13 if I have them painted. They were gloss black so taken the opportunity to repaint them all a new colour and get the 2 of them fixed.

Quite why people jump up with the "why does the OP feel entitled" crap. The car hasn't been clobbered, fully pampered for and these 2 wheels have failed. If the wheels were not repairable I would now be looking at at least 4k to replace the wheels.

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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Nanook said:
PH XKR said:
Quite why people jump up with the "why does the OP feel entitled" crap. The car hasn't been clobbered, fully pampered for and these 2 wheels have failed. If the wheels were not repairable I would now be looking at at least 4k to replace the wheels.
How much?!

£4k to replace 2 wheels? What on earth are they made from?!
all 4 would be closer to 4k than 3

Its irrelevant anyway as they are being repaired and repainted as we speak but yes, Unobtanium biggrin

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
quotequote all
After this set or tyres are through I am going to look at alternate side wall sizes to try and get a bit more cushioning, I actually prefer the look of sidewall than a pin stripe. My alternate, an e39 m5, looks great on 18s with some sidewall. Rides lovely too

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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xjay1337 said:
walm said:
Au contraire.
If you get a new OEM wheel for £400 you are some kind of negotiating genius. They'd be more like £2k each wouldn't they?

ETA - can't read. Yes £2k each.
I guess so, but look on Ebay and selling sites....
You'd be surprised what you can get, the amount of money people waste... you can buy complete sets of genuine OEM wheels for the cost of 1 from a dealer. But people don't bother to look.

More money than sense I guess.
I never understand the logic of buying used to replace something broken (in these circumstances). I buy a set off ebay, whats to say they wont crack or already have started but not visibly? I'd much rather outlay on them and get some sort of warranty than not. Similarly on the M5 I had to replace the illuminated gear knob. RRP was £180 or I could get a used one from ebay for £60. The one from BMW should last another 14 years as the old one has, the ebay one would probably suffer the same issue in short time.

Also back to alloys, buy off ebay/used, how do you know how they have been treated?

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
Wheels either are cracked or not.

Wheels don't often come with warranty from OEM. Because you can smash into a curb after 10 minutes, crack and bend your wheel and try to
Only a few companies offer warranty to structure and usually they are forged wheels for the motorsport/aftermarket, not the OEM.

There is no guarantee that new is better than used in terms of durability.
Your new illuminated gearknob may have broken in 14 years or 14 minutes. The same could have easily been said for the used part on Ebay.

When you buy a used car, do you buy all new OEM wheels because you "don't know how they've been treated"?

The point is you are off your rocker if you can buy a complete set of 4 wheels, often with tyres, for £800, but instead choose to buy one single replacement wheel for £2k.
In the worst case scenario you have four replacement wheels with tyres for less than the cost of one without tyres.
Even taking into account many cars have staggered fitment you are still getting 2 wheels..

Ultimately, your money, you do what you want.
But a wheel is a wheel, as long as it's round. I've never had any issues and I've lost count of the amount of aftermarket wheels from Ebay and similar that I've bought.
sigh

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
PH XKR said:
sigh
Sorry, won't bother offering other suggestions.
You didn't offer any suggestions, at all. Instead you suggested, wrongly, that new does not come with warranty, you failed to grasp that whilst the new gear stick could fail in 14 days that it gets replaced, you went on to say buying used is just as risky as buying new, which again when buying new you are buying a level of assurance/insurance if you will.

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
quotequote all
mko9 said:
I put it down to the spread of run flat tires, with their much stiffer sidewalls. The bumps and shocks of the road are transmitted more fully to the wheel. Add to that the proliferation of 20-21-22" wheels with much shorter sidewalls (that are probably still RFTs). In my opinion.

I had a slow leaker on one of my 2011 535i tires. Turns out the wheel was cracked in three places, one of which had been previously repaired by the former owner.
Quite. Fortunately I didn't have run flats nor need them but the sidewalls are ridiculously thin. Next time round I am going to see if I can work out a safe replacement with more sidewall

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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Piersman2 said:
OP, what style are yours? THh prices I've seen for OEM have been about £500-600 a wheel, which is ridiculous.

I bought a 2010 XKR with the kalimnos fitted. The OSF was leaking air so I took it in to be told the rim had been bent and was cracked. I found a refurb to replace it on ebay for £300'ish, it was the only one on there. I got it swapped over, all good.

Unfortunately I also managed to scrape the NSF on a kerb so took it off to tidy up the paint. It's also got a bend in it the inner rim, I assume the previous owner must have hit a few big pot holes or run up a kerb at some point. I think I'll get the old OSF repaired and then swap over and then keep the NSF as a spare.

Apparently my Range Rover also has 3 slightly buckled wheels and 1 badly buckled, although it rides pretty good to me. That can wait for now as the wheels I have on it are like hen's teeth! smile

Anyone care to recommend a decent alloy repair outfit near Reading / Bracknell area that can do cracks and buckles?
No idea what rims are on it, big old beasts but smaller than the old corvette. If you want a good place, its a bit of a drive but Platinum Alloys in Swindon (used to be Lepsons) are very good. That's where I go, its also where the local Maserati, Lambo, Porsche, Ferrari and BMW dealers go. Reasonable price as well.

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Friday 13th January 2017
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I meant more sidewall height

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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To get back to the dealer would cost more than the repair. Fortunately very very minor and being repaired as we speak

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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4rephill said:
PH XKR said:
.......Fortunately I didn't have run flats nor need them but the sidewalls are ridiculously thin. Next time round I am going to see if I can work out a safe replacement with more sidewall
If you raise the height of the sidewall to a suitable degree by going to a higher profile, how are you going to maintain the same rolling radius?
Well, I'm not, but the ecu can be adjusted to take it into account

PH XKR

Original Poster:

1,761 posts

103 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
quotequote all
Every ECU since the dawn of wheel size options has had to take it into account. The real truth is I'll just keep the profiles OEM or replace the 20s for 19s or 18s