Pretty sure tyre fitter scratched my alloy

Sammy_Jankis

Just went to get two new tyres fitted on the rear. The place was very busy as it was lunchtime and the weekend thats in it. Therefore when the alloys were put back on the car, I paid and off i went. It wasn't until I stopped into aldi on the way home I saw two chunks out of my alloy. I nearly hit the deck as I'm only after getting the alloys refurbished over a month ago and have been really careful.

When I got home I called the place and was speaking to the same chap who put them on. He said "maybe it could of been the machine, sure come in and I'll take a look". The place is 40 minutes drive from my house so I said I'll be over in the morning.

Any who I thought someone on here may recognise if the scratch is machine/technicians fault as I'm 99% sure they were perfect going in.

dantastic

The original alloy paint is powder coated and baked in an over and it's very hard.
When you had the alloys refurbed they would have used just regular spray paint. Perfectly normal, powder coating is expensive.

But the tools they use _will_ be in contact with the tyre. The mark you have there is from the tyre iron as the old tyres were removed. Again, this is perfectly normal. They did nothing wrong, it's just that the new paint on your wheels isn't as strong as it would be on a standard set of wheels.

No one is at fault here to be honest, just get a bit of touch-up paint.

Alun

dantastic wrote: »

When you had the alloys refurbed they would have used just regular spray paint. Perfectly normal, powder coating is expensive.

Not necessarily, some places just sand and spray, others do a proper job and strip and powder coat. You pays your money ...

Supergurrier

Not normal there is a chunk missing from that alloy.

They used the wrong tools/didn't know how to use them properly

Red Nissan

It's not possible to mark wheels these days in the tyre fitting and removal process with modern machines.

Tyre levers only act against the fitting head of the machine and no contact is made with the wheel surface.

The damage is potentially conducive to manual stripping and hammer fitting. Or a blow not connected to the actual fitting process, like as if the wheel was thrown on the ground to free up a machine whilst the fitter went for the tyres ~ you mentioned a busy shop.

Or impacted by a lever that may have fallen on the wheel or out of fitting head ~ that can happen too.

Supergurrier

All points to a lazy/careless fitter

Sammy_Jankis

Cheers for all the info.

Silvera

Three of my alloy wheels were damaged recently when new tyres were fitted. I only saw the damage when I got home due to stains from the white foam they use when fitting tyres. They viewed the wheels the next day and agreed to have them resprayed...blamed their "new" machine! Got them re-done a few weeks later (at my choice of bodyshop).

Sammy_Jankis

Silvera wrote: »

Three of my alloy wheels were damaged recently when new tyres were fitted. I only saw the damage when I got home due to stains from the white foam they use when fitting tyres. They viewed the wheels the next day and agreed to have them resprayed...blamed their "new" machine! Got them re-done a few weeks later (at my choice of bodyshop).

Good to hear places taking responsibility for their actions. I'm going over tomorrow before work.

porsche boy

If your talking about the marks where the word 'safety' is on the tyre I would say with a fair degree of certainty that those marks came from kurbing the alloy. The reason I say that is because the tyre machine will scratch the alloy in a circular motion along the side of the rim, kerbing will mark the alloy at an almost vertical line ro the rim.

If, as has been suggested, the tyre leaver done the damage then the chemical metal that was used to repair missing parts wasnt mixed properly and remained soft, but honestly I really doubt that.

Just for reference, as I dont see anyone else mention it, I've been working in a tyre & service shop for years and I've seen plenty of alloys scratched due to both the breaker bar and the separating arm. This damage honestly dosent look like either.