Costco Damaged My OEM Rim's!!!

[yonyon]

This sort of thing happens all the time. Usually it happens on a rim clamp machine and could be prevented by using a plastic duck. If they used a steel duck then they're completely at fault.

If you want to see some nasty wheel damage you should see what a corghi am26 can do when someone makes a mistake.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: SuzukiGoat
I would NOT settle for a refinish.

The new coating comes off. Just takes about six months. ID price out a new rim...you didn't go in wanting a rim damaged.


One wheel on my wife's GN has been refinished...and 2 years later, I cannot tell which one!

 

[SuzukiGoat]

I've had multiple sets of cast aluminum wheels repowderciated over the years, from multiple shops... I've never seen a coating last nearly as well as the original finish.

We don't have salted roads and I don't hit curbs. Any damage was from rock chips...but it spread immediately.

I don't know if it's just the casting or what... but the refinish has never lasted for me.

 

[kkreit01]

I love Costco. I've been an executive member for years. Several year ago I took our '01 Alero in to have the tires rotated (back when they did free rotations just for being a member). Upon pickup, I noticed they didn't even put my hubcaps on correctly. If they can't be trusted with hupcaps, I never went back to their tire shop.

Anymore, you have to take pics of each wheel before you take it in.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: SuzukiGoat
I've had multiple sets of cast aluminum wheels repowderciated over the years, from multiple shops... I've never seen a coating last nearly as well as the original finish.

We don't have salted roads and I don't hit curbs. Any damage was from rock chips...but it spread immediately.

I don't know if it's just the casting or what... but the refinish has never lasted for me.


Are you referring to POWDERCOATED wheels? If so...why? I doubt the OP has them.

 

[Tosh]

Of course they're going to resist: not much of a case if you left the shop without inspecting them first. Sorry!
I stand and watch the tire shop's every move when it comes to shoes for my baby. So many things for them to screw up: door dings, running over tools, lifting, jacking, wheel scratches, tire direction, pressure, lug nut torque, yanking on stuff/adding generic fluids during their 'let's find something wrong' safety check, etc.

You're just lucky they don't dump the car down the pit or pull it off the lift. (Look for videos!)

 

[AboutTires]

You guys just gave me an idea for an article, "What to do when a tire tech ****s up your wheels."

I used to be the guy Costco called when their techs did this. We call it "mounter drag" when the metal mounting head gets pulled downward by the tire and contacts the wheel. If the tech is not paying attention, the rotation will drag the head along the surface and leave a nice pattern of damage on the very outer lip, similar to curb rash.

Scraped up wheels can be refinished, and the finish will last for decades if done right. But if the refinisher is talking about doing it with the tire still on, walk away. If they're talking about hours and not days, walk away. That's doing it wrong. To properly refinish, you have to take the whole face back to bare metal, reprime, paint or pcoat, and then clearcoat the whole thing. If you try to redo just the damage, you get a tiny gap between old and new clearcoat. Water gets in that gap and hoses the repair.

 

[ryster]

Costco damaged two rims on one of our vehicles during tire install. They admitted the damage when we picked up the vehicle, and told us to go get the wheels repaired or replaced and give them the bill (after also filling out a Costco incident report.) So, we went to a reputable wheel repair facility and the facility swapped our damaged rims with 2 refinished factory rims. Can't even tell which ones are original vs. refinished. We took the bill to Costco and they cut us a check for the $400 cost of the repair/replace. Probably won't go back to Costco for tires again, but they did make good on their mistake.

 

[AboutTires]

As promised: "How to keep an installer from damaging your wheels, and what to do if it happens anyway."

http://tires.about.com/od/wheel_safety_m...Your-Wheels.htm