Dealer damaged rims during balancing (pictures)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fire0nic3
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I tried numerous shops over the years and finally have a shop I trust, most of the wheel service guys really don't pay attention, or care, or both. My best and most inglorious experience was when I had my 911 detailed (it was gift) and one of the guy took a brillo pad to my Fuchs wheel and satin finished them....what made it worse was that I had just paid 1,000.00 to have them polished and refinished.

Wow, I had forgotten about that and now i am pissed all over again =)
 
Oh and you guys know that I'm the one that never has a complaint about Infiniti, but this bother's me like an annoying tick on my back.
 
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Fire0nic3 said:
Did the dealer repair it for you? Was it your stock 18's?

I noticed the the inner rim is like a different color than the outside. They don't have to do the entire outside when their only doing the inside right? Thanks!
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I did it myself. It was actually a set of new 20s from my GMC Z71. It was also a different color on the inside. I bought a few different colours of spray lacquer and experimented til I had the perfect match. I sanded the damaged part down smooth to blend it in then a few light coats of paint , I used some wet sandpaper between coats. It turned out great, if I do say so myself.
I did this on a scuff on the outside of my PIAA Sport Mesh rims I had on my G35 sedan and it turned out quite well.a couple years ago.

At my Infiniti Dealer, I actually heard the service advisor tell the tech to hand torque my Enkeis on my FX35 and he told them if there was the slightest mark that they were dead meat :laugh:
 
Thanks for the info, but I'm not good with DIY painting things haha. I'm just going to let the dealer take care of this monday when I come in for my tranny reflash.
 
ouch im sorry dude. tired of carelessness of people, esp. infiniti techs! were not dealing with a toyota or a kia. quality vehicles deserve quality and trusting work. hope all works out broo.
 
"LittleGagne" said:
ouch im sorry dude. tired of carelessness of people, esp. infiniti techs! were not dealing with a toyota or a kia. quality vehicles deserve quality and trusting work. hope all works out broo.
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Thanks bro!

I hope they do what's right.
 
Sad and true esp these days "if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself". Keep us updated on what happens.

Sent from my ADR6300
 
Fire0nic3 said:
Nah, I'm not damaging them. I'm leaving it the way it is and taking it to the dealer on Monday. Hopefully they will agree to refinish the inner part of the rim they screwed up.

I've had a few friend's tell me already that it's normal, and how you can expect damage when removing them cause their a real pain in the ass to remove. They told me the stock balancing weights are actually glued to the wheel.

Next time I do a tire rotation and balancing, I'm going to take it to a specialty shop that actually watches what they do.
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Not normal at all. Friend is being nice and don't want you to be upset. I balanced my 18" all 4 of them. Tire shop was vey careful and removed some weight with special tool,so not to scratch rims.

Your rims got damaged very bad. Some idiot done them and hope you won't notice it.

Sorry to see it :bomb:
 
Thanks Sobi, even the factory service manual states to be careful when performing the weight removal when balancing.
 
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Fire0nic3 said:
Thanks Sobi, even the factory service manual states to be careful when performing the weight removal when balancing. It makes you wonder if the techs actually use the factory service manuals when performing work on our cars or not, or just guess the stuff.
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Same going with car washes :-( at dealer. I won't let them ver ever wash my car. They use dirty brushes and scratch car and etc.

Well who would care about your car,besides youself? It is not service guy car,so they are "oh whatever" attitude and don't be carefull :-(

Like for example you take rental car and race it the way you wodn't abuse your own car :wink (2):

So point being is that DEALER should do replace your wheels. Push them that refinishing is not an option for you as you want OEM and etc. They screwed it up.
 
sobi6111 said:
Same going with car washes :-( at dealer. I won't let them ver ever wash my car. They use dirty brushes and scratch car and etc.

Well who would care about your car,besides youself? It is not service guy car,so they are "oh whatever" attitude and don't be carefull :-(

Like for example you take rental car and race it the way you wodn't abuse your own car :wink (2):

So point being is that DEALER should do replace your wheels. Push them that refinishing is not an option for you as you want OEM and etc. They screwed it up.
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New rims from the dealer cost like $1300 a piece and I need two new front ones, so I highly doubt they will give me new ones. I'd be fine with refinishing them, but they only need to do the inside. The outside is fine and not scratched.
 
Unfortunately these things happen. Techs in general are humans and as such they make mistakes. I am going to go out on a limb here and hopefully will not enrage or encite certain passions but techs are now very careless, no matter if it is "luxury manufacturer"or not. Also Infiniti is still not on par with Lexus nor the big three germans when it comes to luxury and sometimes service (again this is my opinion and if you disagree then so be it).

I have had ok dealings with my local Infiniti dealer. Nothing spectacular, nothing beyond what I received at Mazda, Honda, or even Nissan when I owned my Titan other than a nicer waiting area/loaner vehicle. My local BMW dealers were better and Mercedes blows them away also (tickets to the movies if you want instead of waiting an hour for service with a ride there and back, flat bedding in my friends C63 for service while he is at work and then delivering it to him via flatbed on the same day before he gets off work). I hear at least one of my local Lexus dealerships is just as good.

I hope this gets resolved in a manner you find fitting. My best guess is that they will refinish the inside of the two damaged wheels for you. Good thind it wasn't the face because very rarely will the refinish on the face match the non-refinished wheels perfectly.
 
SexualChocolate said:
... Also Infiniti is still not on par with Lexus nor the big three germans when it comes to luxury and sometimes service (again this is my opinion and if you disagree then so be it).

...
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I've been test driving a bunch of "luxury" cars lately with my mother in law, and I totally agree. FWIW, Infinitis are priced accordingly...

SexualChocolate said:
...flat bedding in my friends C63 for service while he is at work and then delivering it to him via flatbed on the same day before he gets off work). I hear at least one of my local Lexus dealerships is just as good.

...
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My local Audi dealer did this for me once while my A4 was under warranty and I didn't even buy the car from them! :tup:
 
More Pain

After finding out that the right side inner wheel was damaged, I now find out that the left side inner wheel was damaged too:mad.::mad.:


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The only ones that weren't damaged were the two back wheels:ninja:

---------- Post added at 10:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

 
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Aaron it is just the inside and they will be able to match it just fine.
You worry too much. Just let them fix it, and if it isn't to your satisfaction, tell them so. They screwed it up and they have to fix it. It should not have happened.

Heck the only time I see the inside of my wheels is when I change them out in the Spring and Fall. Then I give them a thorough cleaning back there and a few coats of wheel sealant.
 
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It's not that I'm worrying. It's just I go in for a simple tire balancing and everyone and their mother knows how to balance a tire properly if it's the right shop.
 
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Dropped my car off this morning to let them look at the damage on the rims, and to have the tranny reflash done. Got a brand new 2011 G37x loaner with 900 miles on it.

I'll be going in the morning to pick the car, so we'll see if they fixed what happened with the balancing.
 
Fire0nic3 said:
Dropped my car off this morning to let them look at the damage on the rims, and to have the tranny reflash done. Got a brand new 2011 G37x loaner with 900 miles on it.

I'll be going in the morning to pick the car, so we'll see if they fixed what happened with the balancing.
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good luck Aaron...hope they take care of everything to your liking!
 
Thanks!

I miss my car so much, it was my first time getting a loaner and leaving my car at the dealer overnight. Everytime I have maintenance or service done, I always sit and wait there.

I really miss her right now =[
 
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