Tyre fitters damaged rim

[rabw]

This morning I went to STS and had 4 worn out Pzero Rossos replaced with 4 new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics. They've always been fine in the past, but this time the manager wouldn't let me drive my car in, and wouldn't let me go into the workshop due to H&S. This meant I wasn't able to lean on the tyre fitter to not treat my car/wheels like those of a Mondeo.

After the car had been in the garage for 10 minutes, the tyre fitter came out and said "Have you had these wheels refurbished, I've taken some off the rim". Trying to keep calm I said ok, from a quick glance it looked like maybe an inch of damage had been done, so I didn't think it worth kicking off about as I can fix it fairly well myself. He then said "I used soap to get the other tyre off, and it's fine". I wondered at this point whether you're always meant to use soap when de-mounting?

Anyway, got the car home, cleaned all the excess soap off the rim/tyre, only to find he'd taken far more than 1 inch off the 1st rim, more like 1/5th of the rim is really rough where the tyre has been pulled off.

The reason why they're not quite 100% robust is that all 4 wheels have been refurbed (by me, but I'm good!), but I've had 2 sets of tyres on and off since the refurb, and its always been fine. I guess it's a bit of a grey area, but do you think I have any come back? There are no fitting instructions on the Goodyear website, but Bridgestone say "Lubricate tyre beads with mild soap solution before mounting and de-mounting.". Also I phoned another fitter to ask of correct procedure, and they said "yes, you should use a lubricant of some kind when de-mounting tyres". I'm sure had he used soap to take the tyre off, there would be no damage done.

[esselte]

rabw said:

This meant I wasn't able to lean on the tyre fitter to not treat my car/wheels like those of a Mondeo.

Do you think it's OK for him to damage some wheels then....

[rabw]

esselte said:

rabw said:

This meant I wasn't able to lean on the tyre fitter to not treat my car/wheels like those of a Mondeo.

Do you think it's OK for him to damage some wheels then....

Of course not, but I think there is a tendency for many people to treat 'everyday' products with little respect.

[Parrot of Doom]

I've seen people take great care and still damage wheel rims. It can be difficult. That said, they should always use soap.

Me, I'd get them repaired and take my business elsewhere.

[Mr Whippy]

It would be good practice to use soap.

My 2p, don't go there again.

Tell them why as well.


PS, finding it hard to know what they have actually done... any chance of pics? Has he scraped the rim edge paint off with a lever, or has the paint literally popped off the alloy wheel?

[eowen]

Go back, and ask for the cost of a wheel refurb.

[Steamer]

A friend had exactly the same problem when he used to get part-worns fitted on his posh rims.

Not a pretty sight when it kicked of in the fitting bay and he refused to move his car (blocking the whole workshop).

Its an awkward one - his problem was he was a tight git anyway & used to kick off about everything... the damage was also VERY minor. (and I'm making NO relation to the OP here)

But, I could see his point, even though he was having cheap rubber fitted on a smart car - you still dont expect your rims to be damaged.




I think as POD said - take your business (and your friends) else where.

AND

If you are a bit paranoid, tell the garage boss before hand, I'm sure he wouldnt mind. When my car goes for service I always tell the manager & leave a note on the dash... 'Please do not wash this vehicle'.

[Rags]

The way I look at it is:

The only thing these tyre fitters have to do, day in day out, is fit tyres to wheels, so they should be very good at not messing it up.

Also, how do wheel refurbishing companies manage to put tyres on newly refurbed rims?

Rgds

R

[jon-]

He admitted it, you should have spoken to the manager who would have more than likely offered you a refurb at no cost. That's what happened to me when the lacquer got taken off my rays by someone at HIQ, the manager was spot on and i just have to send them the receipt for the refurb and they'll pay.

[Nolar Dog]

Rags said:

The way I look at it is:

The only thing these tyre fitters have to do, day in day out, is fit tyres to wheels, so they should be very good at not messing it up.

That's how I'd see it too.
Personally I'd have fully examined the wheel as soon as it became evident that damage was caused. ie: before leaving their premises.

It went in with no damage, I don't see how it's acceptable to come away with damage.

[rabw]

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like I'll get in touch with them again 1st thing tomorrow.

The back of my invoice says I have a 10 day 'Examination Period', so I think tomorrow morning should be reasonable (if not quite as good as at the time of fitting).

I phoned their customer support who said get in touch with the manager, and if I had no luck with him, then call back.

I've taken some photos, just uploading them, although I think it photos better than it looks in real life & daylight. All rims were immaculate when I went, the only slight defects in the finish were a few very small marks around the bolt holes.

[richyb]

jon- said:

He admitted it, you should have spoken to the manager who would have more than likely offered you a refurb at no cost. That's what happened to me when the lacquer got taken off my rays by someone at HIQ, the manager was spot on and i just have to send them the receipt for the refurb and they'll pay.

Did you insist on getting this in writing before you left? Its just one of these things they might try and wriggle out of.

[rabw]

richyb said:

jon- said:

He admitted it, you should have spoken to the manager who would have more than likely offered you a refurb at no cost. That's what happened to me when the lacquer got taken off my rays by someone at HIQ, the manager was spot on and i just have to send them the receipt for the refurb and they'll pay.

Did you insist on getting this in writing before you left? Its just one of these things they might try and wriggle out of.

No however there were 3 of them that were aware of the situation, so it might make it a little trickier to deny if I just turn up there.

[richyb]

rabw said:

richyb said:

jon- said:

He admitted it, you should have spoken to the manager who would have more than likely offered you a refurb at no cost. That's what happened to me when the lacquer got taken off my rays by someone at HIQ, the manager was spot on and i just have to send them the receipt for the refurb and they'll pay.

Did you insist on getting this in writing before you left? Its just one of these things they might try and wriggle out of.

No however there were 3 of them that were aware of the situation, so it might make it a little trickier to deny if I just turn up there.

I've never had it myself but you do hear of people getting told 'yes come back and we'll sort it FOC' then denying all knowledge of it. TBH you don't have much to go on if you don't have it recorded somehow.

[jon-]

richyb said:

rabw said:

richyb said:

jon- said:

He admitted it, you should have spoken to the manager who would have more than likely offered you a refurb at no cost. That's what happened to me when the lacquer got taken off my rays by someone at HIQ, the manager was spot on and i just have to send them the receipt for the refurb and they'll pay.

Did you insist on getting this in writing before you left? Its just one of these things they might try and wriggle out of.

No however there were 3 of them that were aware of the situation, so it might make it a little trickier to deny if I just turn up there.

I've never had it myself but you do hear of people getting told 'yes come back and we'll sort it FOC' then denying all knowledge of it. TBH you don't have much to go on if you don't have it recorded somehow.

I had the damage noted on the receipt along with the FOC offer.

[Deva Link]

I think some of these places do it on purpose - Jeffreys in Warrington was highly recommended to me but they broke the surface right around both rims when they replaced 2 tyres on my Merc and scuffed/gouged the face of one. I'd had the car 18mths and had been so careful - the wheels were unmarked.

They just shrugged and said get them refurbed but I wouldn't have been happy with anything other than new wheels (refurb would have voided the warranty) and that was never going to happen.

They used to have the tag line "we won't damage your alloys" on their website but I notice it's gone now - perhaps they did it so often they were forced to remove it.

[tinman0]

Deva Link said:

They used to have the tag line "we won't damage your alloys" on their website but I notice it's gone now - perhaps they did it so often they were forced to remove it.

Perhaps its not impossible to sometimes damage an alloy, and if refurbs are so easy to damage and you get every halfwits on site shouting the place down that they want new wheels every time you mess up a badly refurbed wheel - who can blame them from removing that slogan?

[rabw]

Ok here are some pics...

1) This is the worst end of the edge of the rim where the tyre was pulled off with no 'lube'.



2) This shows the same area, but zoomed out. Its not very obvious, but you can see the damage continuing all the way to the bottom of the photo. In daylight (photo taken in my garage with v directional light) it's more obvious.



3) This is another area damaged on the same (1st) wheel. I cant see how this is from pulling the tyre off, must be from a tyre lever? I know these wheels are refurbed, but I've never had any damaged caused to them when I've had tyres changed before. On the 3rd wheel he did, there's also now a ~1 inch area like this (that he admitted to creating).



This is doubley annoying since I spent so long getting them looking at their best in 2007. At the end of my article you can see a year on still looking perfect.

http://www.alfa-news.co.uk/?p=113

[Deva Link]

It's just careless that, these days the equipment exists to remove tyres without anything coming into contact with the wheel rim.

[olimeads]

it looks like either a bar has been used to pry off the tyre (Usualy saved for steel rims) or the arm on the machine has slipped and came into contact.