TheBen

Good luck. This happened to me but the tire shop denied they did anything to it.

C4SJOHN

When or the next time you take your car in for any service have the manager or service writer walk around your car with you and have him/her point out any damage, prior to them working on your car. They should note on your work order any damage before you sign the work order. When I do this the manager knows up front that you are concern about how they will protect your Porsche. This has worked for me over the years.....

P-daddy

I feel your pain man. Just this past week end. We brought my gf's BMW to the dealer for an alignment. When we picked it up, the entire underside of the front bumper was scraped up. Man....we were pissed. Like many of you guys, I know my cars inside out and front to back. Of course, they denied I spoke with the manager very nicely and politely. In the end, they offered to repair the scratches at no charge to us.

Bruce SEA 993

I did not pursue it with the shop. My buyer did not want refinished (by my refinisher) wheels so I just blew it off.

I have a REALLY good guy up in Bellevue, TruLine Alignment, and would take anything I have in the future there. I do not care about the cost and he is not that much more expensive.

On the BMW, I had new to me wheels that he was going to install tire on from the TireRack. He went over the wheels with a fine tooth comb and checked for runout. He wants you back in every 5k after an alignment to see the wear. He is REALLY into his work!

2qwik4u

I might have to do this by phone tomorrow, won't be home from work in time.

Steve 96C4S

This has been a really interesting thread. I've had this happen too, and of course the shop denied it. I had it happen again and I was so mad about it but decided to just "let it go" and had them refinished somewhere else at my expense.

The walking around the car with the shop owner or tipping the guy in advance bit, that's great stuff. Personally, I hate the idea of tipping a guy in advance to do a job he should pride himself on and do right in the first place, but if you got the money then it's worth it. I don't, and wouldn't tip a guy to "do it right". I'd expect them to know better since I take it to the best place in town.

The thing is, the best place in town still sucks a lot.

Wish I had the dedicated type of tire shop that takes incredible pride in not f'ing up your wheels like the one that one of you guys mentioned. People regularly recommend this place in Silver Spring MD to me over the years, and it's the only place I go to for tires and wheel issues but they still mess up my wheels now and then with scratches. Fairly depressing...

Ish993

[QUOTE=Steve 96C4S;9084931]The walking around the car with the shop owner or tipping the guy in advance bit, that's great stuff. Personally, I hate the idea of tipping a guy in advance to do a job he should pride himself on and do right in the first place, but if you got the money then it's worth it. [QUOTE]

I feel ya, but I have a soft spot since I worked in a tire shop in HS and college and I must tell you that a few $$ make a big difference to someone earning a low wage. I could always spot a car guy and was glad to slow down and take extra time to make it just right.

Ed Hughes

Like noted, never just leave your car unattended. You can also seek out shops that understand high dollar wheels and how to handle them. There is a Discount Tire in San Diego that has first rate equipment, and they know how to handle expensive wheels. That is NOT to say all DT's are reputable in this area. When I got my new polished/forged/expensive wheels on my Targa, I did the homework to select thecright shop for tire mounting.

I can't imagine taking anything related to a nice car to a shop of any kind without vetting it out first, and letting them know what I expect. There are good shops out there. These forums are littered with similar stories, people need to heed to potential problems.

skywachr

I had this happen as well on a newly refinished Cup II at a Discount Tire in Scottsdale. I went back, spoke with the manager and they never questioned my claim.

They only asked that they be able to have it done locally by someone who does work for all the high end import car dealers in this area. They said that if I was not satisfied that they would pay to have it sent to a finisher of my choice in CA. The local guy did an absolutely flawless job in matching both color (wheels are flat black with polished rims) and finish. The result was that I found a great local alloy wheel refinisher.

Now I always do a walk around inspection before any work on the Porsche wheels.

My experience is that coming at a situation like this calmy and only firmly if needed seems to make a great deal of difference in the final outcome. These guys have enough people treating them like **** to become justifiably defensive and unmovable in situations like this, often leading to a bad end result.

abiazis

Please keep us advised on how it all turns out.........

Don't be too soft in your approach if they push back at all - better to let them know you are miffed to a degree to get some immediate action.........

Chances are after this episode is hopefully resolved to your satisfaction or not with this shop, you probably won't go there again anyways...............being nice when it involves extra cost to a repair shop usually isn't effective......having tried it both ways in the past....

Based on the feedback on this thread on past similar experiences it looks like a 50/50 chance.........hopefully you will be treated right and the rim will be repaired at no cost other than your time.......

BobbyT

This is why I dread having any work done at a tire shop. That is, until I found Wheel Dynamics in Monterey Park, CA. They work on Porsches almost exclusively, and have all the latest trick tire mounting and balancing machines, including the Corgi Artiglio (a magic mounting machine that truly does not touch the rim or face of the wheel) and the Hunter Road Force balancer. Plus they know how to use it. Nice people, too.

windydog

This happened to me. I took the car back, and showed them what happened. They made things right by purchasing me brand new wheels.

This is what i would say: I am happy to allow you to fix the wheel, but i will need you to sign this form stating that the wheel has been repaired by you. At this point, i am holding you responsible if anything should arise, such as a crack in the wheel.

In the end, they took my old wheels, and purchased me forged wheels for my car.

After that, i go to Americas tire company and watch the guy actually remove and install my tires.

I haven't had any problems after that. Make sure that they use that rubber guard.

Jon93

Interesting thread- food for thought indeed.

Perhaps as well as having the shop inspect the wheels before hand, I'll take some pictures too.

Chuck W.

This happens way too often. Most of the "techs" that do this kind of work just don't care. That is way it is important to let the boss know it is important to you and what condition the wheels are in. And then stay with the car and watch.

I bought a set of turbo hollow spoke wheels from a fellow Rennlist member on the other coast. When he took the wheels in to have the tires removed they chipped a wheel. I had a feeling I was going to have all four wheels refinished and powder coated so it was not a major problem and told him to ship them anyway. The shop stood behind their word and send me a check for the repair on the one wheel after I sent them the receipt.

Good luck and keep us posted.

2Many Cars

I'm afraid that's the main reason we hear these stories. I once was waiting while I had new tires installed on my old Alfa and watched the tech use his airgun to tighten the lugnuts in a circle. I howled that he could warp my wheel doing that and he should use a X pattern to tighten and he just looked at me like I was the biggest A-hat in the world.