jcw wheel refurbish, warrenty?

[Will OT]

Can anyone help me, my mini has the jcw spyder brush alloy wheels, they all need refurbishing around where the wheel nuts are put on. Would i be able to get this done on the warrenty, the car is only 3 years old and i dont feel this is wear and tear.

[fergy]

Outwith the 3 year warranty and you have no chance.

Inside the 3 years and you might get a replacement set, whose warranty will run out at the 3 year point.

I went through similar with my BMW wheels that corrided, got a new set at 2 years old, and if I had kept it till closer to 3 would have needed another new set

[Jolly]

As long as the car is in warranty, and you have not had them refurbished previously, they should be replaced FOC under warranty.

No doubt if they are kerbed round the outer edge they will use this as an excuse to wriggle out of the claim. You argument [if this is the case] should be that the kerbing is no where near the wheel bolts, and thus the wheels are in need of replacement. (not fit for purpose)

I had issues with my polished R99 alloys (similar finish to yours) and it was a nightmare to get through on warranty. Wheel replacement cannot be authorised by the dealership, and someone from the regional office must come to 'inspect' them before a claim is given the go or not.

RANT ALERT

My local dealer was so useless, that they have lost all future business from me. I now use another dealer (the one who finally got the claim put through).

My main problems were as follows:

• I took the car to the dealer about a month after purchasing the car from an independent garage for a warranty item. While I was there I asked about rectifying the damage done to the alloys by the previous owner. They explained about there re-furb service and I agreed to have three out of the four alloys repaired.

• About three months later they started to corrode. The best description would be that they looked like someone had spilt tip-ex on them, but it was under the lacquer, and smooth to the touch. I took the car back and enquired about having the alloys replaced. Was told that it would require head office authorisation. Fair enough I though, the matter was to be dealt with next time the head office bloke was visiting the dealership. I would be telephoned in advance to get the car there etc.

• After about two months of being told that the head office guy was new and required training etc, a date was finally set to get the wheels looked at. Take the car up there and leave it with them

• Get a phone call telling me the claim had been refused. When asked why, the initial comment is "they are not genuine wheels, he has never seen them before. They are too shiny". Somewhat confused by this, I drive back to the garage with my dad (no courtesy car avliable) and speak to the service manager. The bloke who has supposedly "looked" at these wheels apparently cant come to the desk because he is upstairs in a meeting and has asked not to be disturbed. I then take time to point out that these are genuine wheels, with the help of the MINI accessory brochure conveniently placed on his desk. I also mention that they are the 'polished' variety, maybe that is why he thinks they are "too shiny" Upon further questioning the service manager now changes the story. He then claims that the reason for refusal is that they were previously refurbished. I cite that the refurb was carried out by them with no warning that it would void the respective warranty, and that the corrosion is no where near the outer rim.

• As if that wasn't enough his deputy then appeared holding the spec sheet of "my car" as it left the factory. Unfortunately for him, he appeared to be holding the spec sheet of my Brothers MINI, who up until this point was also on their books. Upon being told this they return with the correct sheet, citing that it left with 15" rockets, and thus the wheels aren't genuine (note he has now changed tack again, two minutes ago it was the refurb that was the problem). Once again, with the help of the brochure, I take the chance to show him up again. Believe it or not R99's are dealer fit only. You would have thought that as a Service manager he might know something about the cars he's dealing with. Making one final point that the car has not even been moved from the car park, suggesting that the wheels have not been looked at, I call it quits and give up.

• I leave in a rather bad mood, half a day wasted and I've had the pleasure of speaking to a wooden post for most of it. Determined not to let it lie my Dad and I contact the original MINI dealership from London who supplied it to the original owner. Sure enough they have it on record that they fitted the R99's at PDC. They are genuine as I knew. I also had one off and it was stamped with BBS and MINI on the rear. If they had bothered to get the car on a ramp, they would have seen that.

• MINI customer service were useless, they said that the car would have to be taken to the supplying dealer to have the wheels assessed, with no guarentee that they would be replaced. Errr I think not.

Anyway, the ensuing arguments were rather boring, but I decided to take the on at their own game. I took the car down to a dealer who sponsors MINI2 in Blackpool . They took some photos of the wheels, sent them off to head office, without even involving some stiff who had to come and look at them. Two weeks later my car was sat on my drive complete with new alloys.

Job done.

Sorry for the massive post, but it might give you a taster for what you might be in for, depending on how much of a clot your local dealer is.

[Will OT]

im still under warrenty, im taking it in next week, i have told them the problem and they are all ready trying to blame alloy wheel cleaner. Ive told them i dont use wheel cleaner, and i dont. I will let you know. Do you have a picture of your wheels?

[Jolly]

Ahh wheel cleaner, good luck it sounds like they are already preparing to refuse the claim.

Pics are below. They were like this on all four wheels.

[Will OT]

how do i put in a picture?

[Jolly]

To add a picture you need to host the pic at somewhere like Photobucket.

Then, once the photo is hosted, get the URL. e.g 'www.nnfv.com/fenq.JPG'

Then add the following infront of the URL: [pic]

Then add the following at the end of the URL: [/pic]

So, say that fake earl above was the pic I wanted it would look like this:

[pic] www.nnfv.com/fenq.JPG [/pic]

But without the spaces between the code and the url.

Hope this helps,

James.

[Will OT]

ah this is fun, apparently the car has 3year warranty but the wheels only 2 because they were fitted when the car had the works convertion. I though the convertion made no difference to the warranty. Even so, the my argument is that the wheels have always been faulty, they have not just become faulty. the argument goes on............