Fuchs...what to do...
 

Just did a deal with Wheel Enhancment to exchange my stock Fuchs for some of their upgraded wheels. They do a wonderful job. The deal is to send your stock wheels back to them for a refund of the core deposit. Well, I did so and my two rear 7" Fuchs were not acceptable. Seems one is damaged on the rim edge by some curb rash and the other has a slight 'hop' in it when spun. They returned them to me but this cost me a $500 core deposit. They accepted the front 6" wheels no problem and their wheels are gorgeous.

Now what to do with the returned 7" wheels. They told me that they would be fine for track wheels but I don't do track stuff. If anyone is interested in buying them (cheaper) then let me know or if any suggestions exist as to what I could do with them then I'm all ears.

They were refused by Wheel enhancement, but they can be used, and they can be restored to any spec you want. Al Reed is your man for that. Then you can sell them for more than W-E offered you and get even.

Thanks for that tip... How do I contact Al Reed? Heard his name about this forum but I'm in No. Cal. and not otherwise familiar with him.

Search feature is your friend :)

Al Reed Polishing
3010 E. Coronado #A,
Anaheim, CA 92806
(714) 632-3907

Wait, they took your $500. for what?
I heard W.E. does great work, but my personal experience with them is that they offered me peanuts for my trade-ins, but want top $$ for their wheels.
My experience: they offered me something like $275. for 4 Fuchs (two 15x7 and two 15x8), and were selling 16x8 for $700.each. I declined, ended up selling my 4 fuchs for $500(easily), and getting 16x7,8's for $1000. complete set.

So could you please explain to me what happened to your $500.?

thanks
mike
'86 coupe

Until we see what they complain about, we can't make a judgment, although it sounds a little BS to me. If all Pelicans were to check their Fuchs, I think about half will have some "wobble" and more than half will have scratches through the anodising.
The pros usually are ruthless. I had one offer me 400 for 2 *NEW* in the box Speedlines in 10" and want another 800 on top of that to get 2 *used* sames in 8"....

Al Reed is your guy. He will repair the wheel too if the imperfection isn't too bad. I used him a few months ago, run his name on a search and it will pop up. Don't have it handy right now.



regards,

SmileWavy

"So could you please explain to me what happened to your $500.?"

The core deposit on each 16x7 wheel was $250. They say that these wheels are not acceptable for refinish/resale due to slight damage so they sent them back. I will contact Al Reed and go from there. Learned a lesson here.

how about harvey wiedman, in oroville, ca. short distance to grassvalley.

The core deposit amount sounds a bit suspiscious to me. Why would they pay $100+ over the going market rate for each core wheel? I suspect the answer might be that they never do :(

Sadly it sounds like the core deposit offer might be kind of a bait & switch. Ie their new wheels might be $1500, but they 'offer' $500 off for a set of core trade-ins so the new wheels are really only $1000, making them sound much more reasonable. You send the old wheels in, they are deemed to not meet their standards & then you owe another $500. Of course you get the old wheels back, but no way will you sell 2 7's for $500.

i hope what happened is that they did not take his 7"s but gave him new sevens as well as his old sevens, and kept the core deposit.

the deal probably ran something like this. 2 refinsihed 7" Fuchs for 1000.00 + acceptable core wheels (+500.00 core deposit, returned upon receipt of acceptable cores)

Suffice it to say that I wish I had not done this deal but that round is down range now. The deal was this. Fourteen hundred for four new chormed Fuchs plus core deposits. The deposit for the two sevens was $500 which was to be refunded. Now they have kept that $500 and returned the 'damaged' wheels. They did accept the two 16x6 fronts which likely are less useful for them to refinish and sell. Core deposit on them was returned as promised.

I will have these repaired, polish them myself and put them up for sale on ebay or some such. Red flag is/was that once you mount tires on the new ones they send you, the deal is done and you cannot send those back and cancel the deal.

In retrospect it does seem a bit 'scammy' and they do get a lot for what they do. On the plus side is that the chrome wheels they sent are beautiful. Let's hope the finish holds up.

I will now go pour a large glass of good Ca. Red and forget this error in judgement and move on. ;-)