Wheel scratches on Tire change
04-19-2012, 08:36 PM
#16
Like others have said, the hypersilver finish is VERY soft. I had an Infiniti dealer fit a set of all-season tires to my new G37S 6MT, and they scratched the crap out of all 4 wheels. I specifically talked with the dealer about it beforehand and asked them to reassure me that they knew how to handle these wheels, and got the expected story about how they knew what to do with "their" wheels, did them all the time, etc.
They did own up to the damage they did, and had someone refinish all the wheels - and they looked absolutely awful, far worse than the scratches. They looked like someone took a spray can from Pep Boys and sprayed them in the parking lot, which is exactly what I suspect happened. After another few days of arguing, they agreed to fit a new set of wheels from another car in their inventory. They also took the wheels and tires to another shop (Firestone) for mounting. They did a much better job, though 3 of the 4 wheels still ended up with a few small scratches. After a couple of weeks of these headaches, I decided to live with them, in hopes of someday finding a reasonable match for the hypersilver and touching them up myself.
When I talked with Enkei about touch up paint (no go, see other threads), they said that these wheels require rubber spacers and clamps, which most places don't have. Any metal parts contacting the wheels will scratch them, the finish is just too soft for anything but rubber.
The moral of the story is, ask the installer to show you their rubber spacers and clamps on their equipment before letting them touch the wheels.
They did own up to the damage they did, and had someone refinish all the wheels - and they looked absolutely awful, far worse than the scratches. They looked like someone took a spray can from Pep Boys and sprayed them in the parking lot, which is exactly what I suspect happened. After another few days of arguing, they agreed to fit a new set of wheels from another car in their inventory. They also took the wheels and tires to another shop (Firestone) for mounting. They did a much better job, though 3 of the 4 wheels still ended up with a few small scratches. After a couple of weeks of these headaches, I decided to live with them, in hopes of someday finding a reasonable match for the hypersilver and touching them up myself.
When I talked with Enkei about touch up paint (no go, see other threads), they said that these wheels require rubber spacers and clamps, which most places don't have. Any metal parts contacting the wheels will scratch them, the finish is just too soft for anything but rubber.
The moral of the story is, ask the installer to show you their rubber spacers and clamps on their equipment before letting them touch the wheels.
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Zelf24 (02-16-2015)
04-20-2012, 07:31 AM
#17
Registered User
Yes the paint is done from the factory very shoddy if you ask me. I had black showing through the rims on only one side of the spoke. Took back to Infinit to get it claimed under warranty and they tried to tell me somebody sprayed a chemical on it and that was the problem. I called BS because it was only on one side of the wheel. He said Infiniti wouldn't cover it so that is when I decided to just go get powdercoating done. Now I just clean the wheels with a sponge and soap and water. They come out sparkling clean.
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