Dealer Rant: Rim Damage

Last Saturday morning at the dealer for my 20k service (oil change & tire rotation). I was the 1st vehicle in the shop at 7:30 am & out before 9 am.

I did my walk around before driving off for damage.Nothing found but when I was gassing up & was looking at the truck & in particular something about the rims caught my eye. On closer inspection, I noticed the area around the lugs the finish is all chipped from the lug wrench/air wrench. Took a look at the others & all of them are the same.

WTF, they were able to do three rotations without a problem & now they look like shit!

 

i feel your pain, thats why i have reservations about buying a new set. chip away....

 

Caring about the customers property is unfortunately the last thing on many technicians minds.

 

The dealer opens this morning in about an hour, I will be calling.

 

Meh, rims are bound to get scratched and chipped anyways. Just move on....

 

I take pictures of my wheels before I let any garage touch them just in case. I spent a lot of money on them, if something happens I want to hang proof it was their doing. So far so good.

 

I agree, they're just rims and bound to get scuffed up. I use my truck as a truck, not a garage queen.

 

Not just that but if you hand them over for some one else to do any sort of maintenance with them involved, you can't expect them to handle the rims gently.

That'd be like letting your wife/girl spend a weekend with her ex alone and not expect anything to happen.

 

Maybe you don't care, good for you! If my rims are going to get scratched & chipped, I'll be the one doing it.

I just got back from the dealer, they confirmed the damage but want their "wheel guy" to look at it. Almost looks like the finish is bubbling up from under the finish. If so, that will be a Toyota warranty claim.

I'll be dropping it off for a loaner later this week.

 

So by what you're saying this was a problem with the finish and not the tech who did the work? Two different things then...

 

No, there is damage from the monkey who rushed to rotate the tires but there is also what looks like paint bubbling.
The shops lead tech didn't have an answer to the lug nut damage. It looks like they were spinning them off with a air ratchet & dropping them on the concrete.

 

I see...I hope they make it right for you.

 

Damage on each wheel.

 

I understand you might not like this nor agree...
however.
from those pictures, anything and everything looks totally normal and commercial acceptable.
the chips do not seem totally clean and show a little bit of dirtiness, this would be a typical sign of fresh new damage vs previously was there damage.
if any part of that damage gets repaired or warrantied, well sir you really pushed them over the edge and I would take whatever they give and run like hell.


I will also add that my factory off road wheels aside from the rash from rocks that I caused myself off road, there does seem to be some peeling and shitty over all paint quality though in areas aside from my rock rash.

 

Although the damage looks very minimal, I've taken my wheels off my truck a ridiculous number of times in my garage doing various things and I don't have any damage around my lugs. I care about MY truck though. A junior high dropout changing tires while half drunk/stoned for minimum wage does not care as much.

 

wait wait wait, these are two seriously different states of mind...

 

I feel bad for you if your wife isn't faithful enough to not cheat on you over a weekend alone.

 

I'd like to be the first to respectfully disagree. If my new / undamaged OEM wheels came back from a dealer looking like that, we'd be seriously discussing a free new set of OEM wheels. And no, I would not accept repainted wheels as most dealers would first offer. They all have wheel repair guys who come in with a small van or trailer and repaint wheels right in the parking lot. If you know anything about paint though (as I do), you'll know that the process these guys use doesn't hold a candle to the OEM paint process. And if you happen to live in an area where road salt is used, the damage shown in those pics is a perfect invitation for oxidation to start destroying not only the finish, but the wheels themselves.

 

understood But hold on, the OP has a 2015 with 20k miles, this issue he is having is specifically Not with brand new wheels, but on a car that is now 3 years old.

If they are brand new I would argue that both him and you have a possible leg to stand on here..

But no way will they be giving any car, a set of new wheels, for that type of damage, other than maybe a 5 miles brand new on the lot vehicle..