Dealer scratched new Fuchfelge wheel..what are my options?

[Cloggie]

Brought my new Fuchfelge wheels to Porsche to get my tires mounted and balanced. Theory being that they have lots of experience with high end wheels and tires...and so ought to do a good job.

Well, they scratched the anodize off near a valve stem and now the question is how to repair it.

The ideas include re-anodizing with a local provider, but I am somewhat nervous about the long term durability of a redo. Porsche is committed to make it "right" but not sure if it is possible.

Replacement of the wheel is basically not on as Fuchs only makes a few of that colour/size/offset and even if available, they are certainly going to be stupidly high priced.

Anyone out there have any advice or comforting words before I go off and sulk in a corner for the rest of the week?

D.

[917_Langheck]

Originally Posted by Cloggie

Replacement of the wheel is basically not on as Fuchs only makes a few of that colour/size/offset and even if available, they are certainly going to be stupidly high priced.

D.

Wonder if that scenario would hold if one of the dealer's cars was made similarly unusable?

Doubtful. I'd be willing to bet the dealer would want to be made whole, and a repray isn't likely to cut it.

[GeorgeK]

Not your business. You gave them perfect wheels, they give you perfect wheels back. I take it Porsche have a rather good relation with Fuchsfelge

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Dealership buys you a new wheel. Wheel will have to be stripped of paint, then stripped anodizing, then anodized to the exact same sheenas original (that won't happen), and then repainted.

So dealership buys you a new wheel.

A similar thing happened to me years ago with dismounting tires from a set of Harvey's RSR finish deep 6s and welded 7s. Went to the high end shop in town, explained how they were made, how long it took to have them made, explained that I had sold the wheels so they have to be perfect. Be extra careful in every step. Go to pick them up, one is scratched, all are on the dirty/sandy shop floor, backs are scuffed from poor handling. They ended up giving me $1K which I gave to the fellow who bought them.

[Discseven]

"Making it right" means they buy you a new wheel. Am confident you'll have to apply some pressure to make that happen. (Best thing for them is for you to ignore the situation.)

[David Inc.]

Happened to me last year. All the faces of my refinished fuchs were marred by dirty rubber caps used in mounting and balancing. The shop made good on it and sent them back to the finisher to be redone, then used the proper cap when they came back. They took care of the cost.

Edit: As far as re-anodizing with a local provider: No. Not unless they're extremely good and do all four wheels. Getting just one re-done will leave you with one wheel that doesn't match the others, no thanks.

[stownsen914]

Man, I sure wouldn't want to be in the business of mounting and balancing tires on expensive rims. Seems like a low margin business with huge downside.

[Cloggie]

Originally Posted by stownsen914

Man, I sure wouldn't want to be in the business of mounting and balancing tires on expensive rims. Seems like a low margin business with huge downside.

It's not cheap...240 Euros plus parts like Euro 200 for aluminium valve stems, plus VAT....it would have added up to around $550 USD just for mounting four tires onto loose wheels.

What it requires is CARE and attention to detail. I have handled those wheels while doing mockups and always with padding underneath, always with masking tape on parts which may get scratched...they were perfect going in,

I am leaning to telling them to contact Fuchs and let's get another one.

I worry about quality of re-anodizing and also the matching process.....so let's see what they come up with.

D.

[fallingat120mph]

Originally Posted by Cloggie

Brought my new Fuchfelge wheels to Porsche to get my tires mounted and balanced. Theory being that they have lots of experience with high end wheels and tires...and so ought to do a good job.

Well, they scratched the anodize off near a valve stem and now the question is how to repair it.

The ideas include re-anodizing with a local provider, but I am somewhat nervous about the long term durability of a redo. Porsche is committed to make it "right" but not sure if it is possible.

Replacement of the wheel is basically not on as Fuchs only makes a few of that colour/size/offset and even if available, they are certainly going to be stupidly high priced.

Anyone out there have any advice or comforting words before I go off and sulk in a corner for the rest of the week?

D.

Just chiming in to let others know to check your wheels after tire mounting. Both times in the last few years my wheels have come back scratched and half were near the valve stem (same as OP). Talking to other owners around here, tire mounting and the lack of care going into it, seems to be on the decline - as it's actually come up a few times...

I took it for granted with my old shop and never had issues. They closed down and now I have taken two sets to two different installers. "High end wheels" being a specialty at one in particular.


My car is a near daily driver so.......not hyper focused on something I have been able to partially correct at home, but very disappointing none the less.

If I had new rims-yes, I would be upset.


Best of luck to you and the outcome.

Erik

[stownsen914]

I've had a couple bad experiences having racetires mounted. Enough so that I've acquired equipment to do it myself (gulp). We'll see how that goes. At least if I damage something, it'll be on me.

[Cloggie]

OK, dealer says they will have the wheel completely stripped, the black parts repainted and the whole thing anodized at a regional shop...that they apparently have used before.

I raised the concerns about whether it would match and such and to make a long story short, they believe it will match but remain "committed to making it right" including a redo-do if needed.

We shall see, about 2 weeks to do the whole shebang...

D.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

If it's not stripped with chromic acid, it will require a lot of surface prep to match the anodized tone. Even with chromic, surface prep will still be required.

Good luck.

[Bill Douglas]

Can you lend them another wheel so they can try to match it.

[Cloggie]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Can you lend them another wheel so they can try to match it.

They have all four....my intent is to lay them all out side by side when the errant one is refinished and if they do not match, well, then we have a different conversation.

We shall see....couple of weeks apparently....

D.

[Bill Douglas]

Good luck, tot ziens for now.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Cloggie

Brought my new Fuchfelge wheels to Porsche to get my tires mounted and balanced. Theory being that they have lots of experience with high end wheels and tires...and so ought to do a good job.

Well, they scratched the anodize off near a valve stem and now the question is how to repair it.

The ideas include re-anodizing with a local provider, but I am somewhat nervous about the long term durability of a redo. Porsche is committed to make it "right" but not sure if it is possible.

Replacement of the wheel is basically not on as Fuchs only makes a few of that colour/size/offset and even if available, they are certainly going to be stupidly high priced.

Anyone out there have any advice or comforting words before I go off and sulk in a corner for the rest of the week?

D.

Let's see them pics of the scratch.

[Cloggie]

Ah, good thought....too late I fear....I should have asked....I think the wheels are at the wheel shop as we speak..

D.

[josephvman]

You might be able to send it back to Fuchfelge, or their US distributor, and have them refinish it correctly.

As a previous post indicated, this is high-risk for relatively low return for dealers. It appears you didn't buy the tires from them, by your post. If that's the case I'm surprised they'd even agree to do mount your tires.

[Jonny042]

I have nightmares about having tires mounted to the 16 x 7's and 9's (in unobtanium silver/black!) Fuchsfelges that I have for the latest project.

I'm considering having them wrapped first with a heavy 3M vinyl.

Anyone else tried this?

[Cloggie]

Originally Posted by josephvman

You might be able to send it back to Fuchfelge, or their US distributor, and have them refinish it correctly.

As a previous post indicated, this is high-risk for relatively low return for dealers. It appears you didn't buy the tires from them, by your post. If that's the case I'm surprised they'd even agree to do mount your tires.

Fuchsfelge is a last resort....when I bought mine I was living in the US and they told me they brought only 3 sets of the colour I wanted into the USA that year.

I think these wheels are short runs for them, and I am pretty sure they have very limited spares.

Worst case....we will see how things turn out.

D.