dgreen78

So I am driving along the road and I hear a very odd grinding noise. I pulled over and 2 of my spokes on my Kineses F110 wheel are cracked all the way through the spokes! I was amazed as I thought these were bullet proof strong wheels! So I have the car flat bedded away to a near by shop. The tire guy comes back to me and says that they have been welded up recently! I just bought these a month ago from a forum member online that told me they were "just re-painted because of some minor scratches." I am pretty pissed at this point for not only being f*cked over for buying welded up wheels but this could have killed myself or others on the road!!! Imagine if I was driving the car hard and it busted completely!

You can see the welds on the back side were the cracks are if you look closely. Come to find out these wheels were bought from a major wheel company online, welded up, painted over, and re-sold!



You can see the spokes have been welded up and painted over:



Let me know what you guys think....

LVDell

I'd be very pissed and demand a refund. That's just low to hide that and DANGEROUS!!!! If for some reason the other member bought them used as well and honestly had no clue then I'd refrain from totally lambasting him but still demand a refund.

Another reason I only buy new or from one of my many long time friends here on RL.

Macster

From the 996 Turbo factory manual:

Checking the radial and lateral runout
Note
· Straightening and welding work on light alloy wheels is not permissible!

You just learned why. Straightened/welded light alloy wheels are not to be trusted.

Sincerely,

Macster.

dgreen78

You would think a major wheel supplier for Porsches would think twice about selling these right?

ca993twin

What does the seller have to say? I think you deserve more than just a refund... they acted in a reckless and dangerous manner.

Fastboy

Is it kosher to name the forum member, so that others might avoid such ungainly dealings?

dgreen78

The seller says he is sorry he has no money to repay me. He tells me to talk to the wheel supplier he bought them from. I tried and they have offered me a percentage credit to buy more wheels from their outfit.

AeroTurbo

Put some pressure on this tire dealer and demand a full refund or your pick of wheels. I can't think of something more dangerous and negligent than this other than having the steering wheel fall off...at least if the steering wheel falls off you have a shot at slamming on those great Porsche brakes and surviving. I've been in a nose to end 3 times followed by 8 barrel rolls down a hillside in a tarmac rally in a GT2 and this wheel issue scares me.

ca993twin

Unless they fix this mess to your satisfaction, gather your paperwork and photos, and file a suit in small claims court. Find out if they have any sort of state-issued license to do business, and file a report.

Macster

Generally for a used car it is buyer beware.

But in this case the owner/seller violated a caution by having the wheels repaired when they shouldn't have been.

Further he substantially misled you, lied to you, regarding what sort of action had been done to the wheels. This is fraud. And furthermore he put you and your passengers at considerable risk of harm.

Next the wheel repairer is in for it. You (or the seller in this case) are entitled to reasonable skill and care and experience in wheel servicing.

The wheel repairer in this case did not provide those items it went ahead and repaired the wheel even though Porsche cautions against this.

The wheel repairer is supposed to be current on all wheel repair restrictions.

Either it was not or it chose to ignore the restrictions.

This is consumer fraud.

Speak to someone at consumer fraud division of the county where you live or where the seller lives and where the wheel repair shop is located and see if there's a consumer fraud case or two to be filed.

A consumer fraud case is much more likely to get their attention than you calling up seeking some compensation.

Sincerely,

Macster.

doubleurx

He did not buy them from the people that repaired the wheel. He bought them from a private party that bought them from the wheel shop. The person that sold them to him should refund the purchase, no exceptions. As for the repair - it shouldn't have been done in the first place, but the OP has no contract of sale from that party.

SeanR

Need to know who they are, so others can be a bit wary.

Macster

Right but my point and I made it poorly is that the buyer could suggest the fraud thing to the seller and he could pursue the wheel repairer to help cover some if not all the cost of replacing the wheels.

Sincerely,

Macster.

RxPorsche

OMG glad you are ok I will sh#% my self if that happen to me. I will very mad if something happens and I were with a family member in the car. That is some really bad business decision to sell those wheels someone could have a great crash. Again glad that nothing worse that a scare happen to you.

deckman

The names of everyone has been discussed on 6speed before the thread was closed due to vendor pressure. If the OP doesn't want to expose them here that's his choice. IMO none of the parties on the other side of the OP are clean. The seller didn't disclose the repair and now is claiming hardship. Cry me a river. The wheel vendor resold a wheel that should have been junked and now offers a discount toward a future purchase. Like the guy would want to business with them any time soon. Last but not least the wheel repair shop shouldn't have tried to fix it in the first place and apparently did a poor job to boot.

Yuck.