Today I headed to a goodyear to get my new black motorsports mounted. They mentioned it'd be $35~ per wheel plus $65 for the alignment and I agreed. I came went with my friend and got my car and brought it to goodyear. My two friends helped me bring the wheels. When I get there and take the rims out of hte back and place them at the front desk this other individual randomly butts in from the back. He tells the front clerk, "You told him that if we scratch the rims we're not responsible right?" The other guy just sists there quietly and says nothing. So I say, "Who's responsible then?" He haphazardly raises his hands not knowing what to say and points to the wheels. I turn to my friends who were talking and while laughing I say, "Did you hear that?" The guy persists and I say, "Are you ****ing kidding me?" I say no and begin to move the wheels, basically I told him I was leaving. He goes, "I never cursed there's no reason to disrespect company policy." Then he looks at the wheels and says, "You can pay me $100 per wheel and I'll try not to scratch it." Now that pissed me the hell off, I grabbed the stuff and left. I suppose I have a temper but I seriously wanted to raise some hell over that guys face. The fact of the matter is the other people around me, including the kid at the counter did not say a word. I felt like this moron attempted to use the fact that I was already there to be a conniving bastard. Anyhow I left that place and headed to a tire kingdom where I payed $230 for everything plus the $15 tip. The older gentleman at the counter was very honest and told me that if mistakes happened then they would cover it. Anyhow I chilled there and watched it all get done.

At one point the person doing the job mistakenly placed a tire incorrectly on the wheel and had to do it over. My friend told him and he did it again, he was pissed though and I noted to my friend that he was going to rush now and probably mess up that wheel. Anyhow I forgot all about that and the next thing this kid wanted to do was drive the car around the block to "check my alignment." He wanted to see what direction it was pulling so I frankly stated, "It pulls right." Again he says, "I'm going to drive it around." And I state again, "It pulls right." So finally everything is on and he's ready to do the alignment. One of the other workers points to the alignment machine. The kid in the car makes a circling gesture with his finger, he wants to drive it around the damn block. I quickly state, "No that's fine it pulls to the right." The kid gives me a "whatever" gesture and puts it on and does the alignment fine.

They were all good people, chatted with me and admired the car some. The kid that was doing the car bullcrapped a lot about his honda beating cobras but that's ok i'll live. Supposedly he built his honda that beats supercharged cobras in his garage one day. hahaa! He doesn't know what it had on it though, and the honda outside isn't it. Anyhow I was nice and left, I was really excited to drive it and all the head turning on the way back was pretty enjoyable.

Anyhow I washed the car 20 minutes ago and I noticed something. That same rim that had to be removed twice is scratched on the chrome lip. The scratches are pretty noticable and you can tell they were done during the process, they run perfectly circular around the rim. One of them goes around atleast a foot, the other one half a foot. Then there are some other swirving scratches. Frankly if I couldn't see it it wouldn't **** me off but I can. Now I'm not to sure what to do, if I bring it back it'll make for some tense moments. Some of them were pretty nice people so I'm not sure how to go about it. The fact that I drove it off the lot already means i'm just going to get pissed there for nothing but who knows. What would ya'll do? Oh yeah, i'm definetly going back to a goodyear and asking some questions. A previous goodyear I had went too had been busy and recommended the one that I think tried to rip me off.

 

GET EM'

 

Probably more trouble then it’s worth going back to the tire installer. If you didn’t catch the scratches before you accepted the car you’re probably not going to get anything except a lot more *****d off.. Be nice to see some pics of what damage was done as it might be a lot less noticeable then you think. I’ll be having my CCW 505’s done in a couple of weeks and I’ve already thought about what just happened to you. Fortunately the tire installer is a friend and a vette owner himself so I’m reasonably confident the install will get done without any damage. On the other hand as with any outside work you never for sure because no one will be as careful as yourself! Anyway lets see what the wheels look like installed……… Sorry about the damage done to brand new wheels......

 

maybe we can get some pics if he can get off his butt tonight

 

I will, I guess i'll get them repaired whenever I get them widened. But god, someone needs to figure out a goddamn way to do this without scratching. God, do I have to engineer a machine to do this properly.. christ.

 

I mean I understand they're not very expensive wheels but what if they were your ccw's? Or the iforge aero's I plan in the future? There needs to be a safe way to get this done, I don't want to be paranoid everytime I need to get tires changed. We sat there for two hours monitoring it all, all I can say is there's a huge chance of scratching. Look at that, I took all the precautions and got screwed.

 

I'll take wheels and tires to be mounted to a WHEEL STORE ONLY. Goodyear, and Tire Kingdom dont know S**T about the aftermarket wheels we put on our cars, and they don't have the machinery to mount the tires.
Here in S Fl. There are 2 places I go. Thunder Alley, in Margate, and Good Roads in Lauderdale. A wheel shop is the only place equiped with the proper machinery to put the tires on my CCW's or any other wheel I'd buy. FYI, Even the dealer won't touch the aftermarket wheels. The last time they did they screwed up a set of Ronals, and it cost them plenty.

Sorry to hear about what happened to you.

Steve

 

Go back and show them what they did. The guy said he would fix any mistakes. You had a bad time at the first place but the second shop sounded straight up to me. I think they will try to do something for you.

I think it is difficult to fix a chrome rim though.

 

I'll bet you could make a lot of money with a piece of equipment that could handle custom wheels without damage! You'd also need to find people smart enough to run it. The wheel mfgs like CCW do such a fantastic making the wheels with high tech everything and then we take them to BRAINDEADS tire store for mounting. Very hard to find good places in the northeast... not like CA and FL where you have a lot of HP cars running around.

 

Goodyear scratched my right rear wheel when repairing a flat. Right in the middle of a spoke, nice 3 inch long scratch. I didn't notice it until I got home. They wouldn't do diddly about it. I pissed and moaned about it until some yoyo ran into my left front wheel with the bumper of his freakin' van and scratched it. Sigh, if it was on the other side I'd have a matched set.

Stuff happens I suppose. Anyway, finally got out the sandpaper and polishing wheels and repaired both scratches, then shot some clear on the wheels. Looks Ok, not perfect, a little more polished than the OEM "high polish", but you really have to look to find the repairs.

 

we souldn't go through all this mental stress before and after changing wheels! I mean I want to make my car look better with new wheels but that also makes my life more stressful for weeks!

Isn't it possible to cover the face of the wheels (or any visible side of it) with something that wouldn't disturb the mounting process but yet protect from scratches, at least reduce the chances ?

 

well when they are using crowbars there aint much you can do. watching them remove tavares' wheels reminded me of my laast trip to the dentist... to pull my wisdom teeth

 

You need to do your homework. I called Discount Tire corporate and asked them to recommend their best high end wheel guy here in Las Vegas. They did, and he was also notified by them that I'd be coming in. This guy did a set of iForged and a set of Crays for me, and both were absolutely flawless.

You also have to know the process....how the tires are mounted, what surfaces are touched by the machines, etc. If they know that you know what you're talking about, you automatically get more respect and care on their part. You also have to let them know you'll expect nothing less than perfection, but if something does happen, they have to replace your wheel, no questions asked. Get that in writing before they start. If you do all of the above, you pretty much have your bases covered.

 

Well I suppose I messed up on doing the homework. I still think these scratches are pretty excessive and i'll post some pics. I'm definetly going to need to find a much better shop here in south florida.

 

Basically it comes down to the correct tire mounting machine that can handle (a) rim diameter (b) rim width (c) runflats. Also need someone who can operate it correctly. Proper machine shouldn't touch the face of the rim.

All Goodyear stores don't have equipment capable of run flats, let alone a machine that can handle more then a 17" rim diameter.

I had my Z06 replicas installed by MacMulkin Chevrolet (forum dealer) during the pre delivery prep. Perfect install down to where the center logos point to the valve stems

 

Do yourself a favor .... next time make the drive North to Goodroads on Commercial Blvd just off 95. They have done all my rims (I called Thunderroads, Steves referral above, and they wont do Vettes with pressure sensors per owner, other than Steves) and never a problem. They install the tires on the rims with the rims on the machine upside down so as to not scratch them while working with the ultra stiff sidewalls on runflats. They also use a softer center on the balancing machine. I have dealt with them for 19 years and NEVER had any damage. Problem is ... they have some of the best wheels available for purchase and I am a kid in a candy store when visiting.

 

Hey Scott,

Good Roads is a sick place for a wheel addict like me. I get lost in that place for hours at a time.

Daniel, Take the ride up 95. It's so worth it. these guys are pro's and have been around forever. They also give you a great deal on most of their wheels, and have Tons of stock.

Good Luck,
Steve

 

Yeah, I really appreciate it it guys. I'll definetly head up there. Thanks again

 

I read this thread with great intrest as I am getting ready to change wheels. I have been apprehensive about the prospect of finding someone to make the change without doing any damage. I'm in Orlando and would drive to South Florida just to make sure it goes off without a hitch. That said, I wonder if any of you guys know of anyone in Orlando with the same qualifications as Goodroads? As I said, this thread has been very valuable, any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

 

If there's nothing in Orlando hopefully someone could recommend something a little closer for you. Like tampa? Either way I'm happy to know about goodroads now, best of luck with a shop in Orlando bud.