greg1234

Hi everyone.

I just noticed some marks on one of my wheel rims which I think must have been put there by Micheldever Tyres last Friday when they balanced my wheels. The marks are a set of about 6 little vertical notches cut into the rim (when I say vertical I mean perpendicular to the rim) - so they definitely aren't from scuffing. I've also been paranoid about scuffing the wheels since I scraped the rear one a few months ago and had to pay £300 to get it refurbed.

Anyway - does this sound like the sort of damage that could have been caused during wheel balancing? I didn't buy any tyres, I just went there for balancing.

Secondly - what's the best way of getting them to cough up for a refurb? I assume it would be unreasonable to ask for a new wheel..

Thanks in advance...

MelissaM

Greg,

I'm sorry to hear about your wheel. I can't answer whether the marks you describe could be caused by wheel balancing, so I hope someone else will chime in.

I can tell you what my mechanic offered to do for me. When I picked up my car from its major service yesterday, he told me that he'd had a little accident and dropped one of my wheels. It has scratches on each of the spokes. He offered to take a certain amount off my bill, or I could take the wheel to a place of my choice to be repaired, and send him the bill for the wheel repair and the rental car. The amount he offered to take off the bill will more than cover the repair, and I have a second car (which he knows.) He insisted on that price, for my inconvenience.

That, gentlemen (and ladies), is how to provide customer service!

Good luck in resolving this issue in a fair & reasonable manner.

-- Melissa

John Miles

Greg,

Micheldever damaged two of my wheels a year ago. It was done by the machine that aids the removal/fitting of the tyre on the rim. I pointed this out straight away and they agreed to a refurb. They actually refurbed all four wheels to ensure colour match. They use Spit and Polish in Kent who do an excellent job on Porsche wheels. They even loaned me a car while wheels were refurbed (4 days). They would have had Spit and Polish collect and deliver from my home if I had wanted.

They immediately accepted blame and agreed to fix. The challenge you have is getting them to accept that they caused the damage. I don't see how just a balance would cause such damage.

BTW I think that Micheldever's price for refurbishing via S&P is under £30 per wheel. Who charged you £300?

Good Luck.

J

PS I now ALWAYS get mechanic to agree perfect state of wheels prior to any work and check carefully before leaving.

greg1234

Melissa - yes, that's a fair and reasonable way to behave..... I would hope to get the same treatment.

John - I have Speedline split rims - to refurbish them properly they need to be split apart, refurbed, then reassembled using a new gasket etc etc. Can't be done for 30 quid. There are very few people in the UK that can do the split rims. Jasmine Motorsports are able to - that's who I used.

I'm still trying to work out how they did it. But I can't think of any other way it could have happened. It's obviously recent damage and was clearly done when the wheel was not rotating (or else they'd be scuffed, or the notches would be angled).

Christer

Greg

Is the damage bad - can you get pictures posted?

I also have new wheels and am a little worried about damage - but it is unavoidable at the end of the day.

Sorry to hear about this and hope you get it sorted. Micheldever did not damage my wheels when fitting and balancing a few months back.

Christer

George Stevens

[quote] Jasmine Motorsports are able to - that's who I used.
<hr></blockquote>

Greg

I don't know where you are in the country but Jasmine don't do refurbishing themselves, they use Diamond Styling in North London, it's cheaper to go to them direct.

Pain in the a*se though, I had a mag rim dropped face down last year, plus a local dealer managed to scratch my Mercedes along the bottom of the two doors by dragging a battery charger along it, so I know exactly how you feel!!!

Taj

Hi Greg,

I would be interested in seeing a pic, as there is a chance that the weights used to balance your wheels are clipped onto the rim. Some mechanics use adhesive weights, others use clip on weights, and sometimes its dictated by the wheel which may only accept one kind. I would check this because if the weights are clipped on, then some scratches are almost inevitable as they remove the old weights prior to measurement.

Taj.

1991 C2.

greg1234

I'll go borrow a camera again and post some pics. John - when yours were scratched, what did they look like? Can you describe the damage?

George Stevens

Taj

I have never had weights put on the outer rim on either Fuchs, cast alloy or more expensive magnesium rims. This is just pure laziness.

Any good tyre retailer will see that these are high quality wheels and clean the inner rim with a solvent and use self adhesive weights.

I use Charlett Tyres just outside Oxford (01865 842727). They have the latest kit for 17" and 18" wheels. All the local Porsche specialists use them. I had a set of Pilots fitted to my Magnesium rims, not a scratch, plus they cleaned the inner rims and stuck the weights to the inside rim.

Taj

George,
I absolutely agree with you on what should be done and which weights should be used, i.e. adhesive every time. It's a shame that not all wheel fitters follow "best practice", and this may be the case with Greg's wheels, where someone in the past has fitted clip on weights to the rim, and maybe, Micheldever removed them therefore resulting in the scratches.

Taj.

Christer

I am pretty sure Micheldever used the self adhesive weights on the inside of my wheels - I think I need to check.

greg1234

What's bloody annoying is I gave them every chance to take extra care. When I turned up I asked the guy "Do you have a Porsche specialist?" to which, predictably, he snorted and replied with heavy sarcasm "No, we don't have a Porsche specialist, sir, but all our staff are trained on all wheel types". Next up were the young lads who were actually working on the car - I sidled up and reminded them in as matey a way as possible that the wheels cost £1,500 each to replace. Finally when they were about to torque the wheels up I asked what setting they were going to use and they replied "140" - when actually the manual says 130. When I told them this they didn't even acknowledge it, so I had to ask again "What did you use? 130?" which elicited another snotty "Yeah" as in "Yeah, you moron, course we did"...

&gt;sigh&lt;

It's difficult to draw the right balance between letting them get on with it and intervening, especially when they take it as an insult or an indication that you're an idiot.

I tried to take some photos but they didn't really come out. Here are the best ones:

<a href="http://www.alpina.demon.co.uk/wheels2.jpg" target="_blank">Dodgy photo 1</a>
<a href="http://www.alpina.demon.co.uk/wheels5.jpg" target="_blank">Dodgy photo 2</a>
<a href="http://www.alpina.demon.co.uk/wheels6.jpg" target="_blank">Dodgy photo 3</a>

domsterUK

Micheldever are useless buggers. They failed to balance my wheels correctly (a balance weight fell off, then after they rebalanced them I still had vibration - turned out their machine was 'out of calibration' that day).

Also, they set my tracking for me. I needed 0-1mm of toe in. After my fronts were down to the canvas on the inside edge I found they'd handily set them to 6mm! Cheers guys. Very helpful.

Absolute monkeys on the fitting side (when I asked why the weight had fallen off the fitter said it was because I wanted it on the dirty inside edge... when I suggested he cleaned it he said that cleaning the rim may damage it and that I'd only complain if it did... remember that this is on the *inside* of the rim...) - but not too bad on the customer service side as they did all the right things re reimbursing me after I complained. Still, no excuse.