Tire shop messed up VMR wheels

Just went to get 2 of my 4 brand-new VMR 810 wheels and brand-new Hankooks mounted. Could only fit 2 at a time because I didn't want to scratch them in anyway going to the shop/back in my GTI.

Well guess what. They messed both of these up! Very pissed right now

I left one wheel with the shop to send out Monday to have fixed or repainted or whatever.

The other one isn't too badly marred but still just the same,,,pissed

I trusted this place because he mounted and balanced my Austin's without any issues.

Now- these are 19" however- he said "No Problem at all"...sooooo???

Anyone have or had this happen before? The first one is by the valvestem. not too big of a deal - ill touch it up somehow.

2nd wheel is a little worse chipped right by the centercap.

What pissed me off more was- he said- just put the center cap on- it will cover it. Well; no bueno there. To some- these are no big deal- to me- it took me 4 months to save the money in increments to get these as a Christmas present to myself...Oh well

Does anyone know of a reputable tire/wheel shop they would recommend in the Deerfield to Ft Lauderdale Florida area?

Shitty, I hate it when people are careless with something that has value to me, something I've erned. In your opinion would a layer of painters tape have helped? I've been thinking about taping my wheels up when I take them in. Hope the shop makes it right.

athos56 said:

Shitty, I hate it when people are careless with something that has value to me, something I've erned. In your opinion would a layer of painters tape have helped? I've been thinking about taping my wheels up when I take them in. Hope the shop makes it right.

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You know- I had him take the wheel over to the spinner to see how it lined up and such. he said maybe it nicked it from the center adapter but when he put it all back together and tightened it down, there wasn't anything touching. It had to be poor operator error, cheap frickin hired labor IMHO.

I showed him my receipt on these wheels I just purchased and asked him are you going to give me the price I paid for the wheel or? He said I can not charge you the labor for the mount/balance or I can have my wheel guy who repairs high end lambos>>>whatever cars.

He must have screwed up wheels in the past to have this guy on retainer like that? I will give you a call Monday to update you. You should have it on Tuesday? Really? OK...

This lil experience for me really bites. I work soooo hard to be able to buy things like this for my car. Fiancé whole heartedly disagrees....maybe she is right...to stop dumping hard earned money into it.

This sucks man. The good news is that looks repairable if his Lambo wheel guy is any good. I curbed one of the powdercoated VMRs I have, damage was worse than what you've got, and the dude did an amazing job and you can't tell they've been repaired unless you're like 2 inches from the wheel and know exactly where to look. I agree it's maddening that people have so little regard for other people's property.

I narrowly avoided this recently with some Neuspeeds I bought that are painted white. Had tires shipped to a shop from tirerack, I showed up with the wheels and the guy was like "Pretty sure we're going to scratch the shit out of these, here's a different shop". It was a busy shop so maybe he just didn't want to take the time to do it right but I appreciate him not doing what your shop did.

r-gazmic said:

This sucks man. The good news is that looks repairable if his Lambo wheel guy is any good. I curbed one of the powdercoated VMRs I have, damage was worse than what you've got, and the dude did an amazing job and you can't tell they've been repaired unless you're like 2 inches from the wheel and know exactly where to look. I agree it's maddening that people have so little regard for other people's property.

I narrowly avoided this recently with some Neuspeeds I bought that are painted white. Had tires shipped to a shop from tirerack, I showed up with the wheels and the guy was like "Pretty sure we're going to scratch the shit out of these, here's a different shop". It was a busy shop so maybe he just didn't want to take the time to do it right but I appreciate him not doing what your shop did.

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Yeah, after he took the tire off and gave that to me he said I don't think ill attempt to mount these again later. Duh...I wont be back at your shop for any business again... I mean, the damage is sooo minor but for me its irritating and that I am a stickler-OCDish when it comes to this stuff.

I don't know who to take the wheels to after this now? The guy who mounted the wheels was standing nearby. Didn't speak a lick of English- but was starring at me and listening to me talk with the co-owner about it.

Owner said I will get my wheel guy to repair it and I will have to doc my workers pay. Im sorry- but that isn't my fault buddy.

rumbard1981 said:

Yeah, after he took the tire off and gave that to me he said I don't think ill attempt to mount these again later. Duh...I wont be back at your shop for any business again... I mean, the damage is sooo minor but for me its irritating and that I am a stickler-OCDish when it comes to this stuff.

I don't know who to take the wheels to after this now? The guy who mounted the wheels was standing nearby. Didn't speak a lick of English- but was starring at me and listening to me talk with the co-owner about it.

Owner said I will get the my wheel guy to repair it and I will have to doc my workers pay. Im sorry- but that isn't my fault buddy.

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I'd see if there are any performance or tuner shops nearby who do mounting/balancing, they'll be more used to dealing with nice wheels and lower sidewall tires. Maybe even ask the shop you went to if they know of anyone who can mount and balance those safely, that's how I got sent to the shop that got my Neuspeeds setup with no drama.

I've also had a tire shop damage my wheels, though stock Austin's. But, this type of stuff happens far too often which is why I don't let anyone outside of a VW dealer touch my car anymore. That or a reputable tuner shop. You'll pay more, but it's worth it imo.

I was talking with a friend that works in the tire department at Costco. He's into the car scene and has mounted a LOT of VMRs over the years. He said there is something about the design of VMR's hubs that make mounting tires extremely difficult. The operator has often has to flip the wheel over multiple times while dis/remounting because they just don't fit right. He also mentioned most fully automated tire machines will almost never be able to properly do VMRs because of this design.

I'd recommend anyone take your VMRs to a performance auto shop that is very familiar with VMR wheels for the best chance at keeping your wheels safe for tire mounting.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Blaylock1988 said:

I was talking with a friend that works in the tire department at Costco. He's into the car scene and has mounted a LOT of VMRs over the years. He said there is something about the design of VMR's hubs that make mounting tires extremely difficult. The operator has often has to flip the wheel over multiple times while dis/remounting because they just don't fit right. He also mentioned most fully automated tire machines will almost never be able to properly do VMRs because of this design.

I'd recommend anyone take your VMRs to a performance auto shop that is very familiar with VMR wheels for the best chance at keeping your wheels safe for tire mounting.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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Wow! Good information here. Thank you for letting me know. Will be looking into some reputable shops from now on. I just hope that my wheel that i left at the tire shop comes back fixed/painted correctly.

Fingers crossed!

rumbard1981 said:

Wow! Good information here. Thank you for letting me know. Will be looking into some reputable shops from now on. I just hope that my wheel that i left at the tire shop comes back fixed/painted correctly.

Fingers crossed!

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It would be nice is someone found a video covering this type of info.
Then when one goes to mount you could educate them.

At this point. I just tape up my wheels and say "don't mean to be a dick, but I'll pay extra for the soft hands, no offense but more than likely you're gonna scratch it. How much not to?"

Sandman GTI said:

It would be nice is someone found a video covering this type of info.
Then when one goes to mount you could educate them.

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Exactly!

Twist said:

At this point. I just tape up my wheels and say "don't mean to be a dick, but I'll pay extra for the soft hands, no offense but more than likely you're gonna scratch it. How much not to?"

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That's what I said to the owner yesterday when he was saying- what do you want to do?

Do you want to not pay for the mount/balance or do you want me to have my wheel guy repair/fix the damage?

I said- not to be a dick about this...lol... will you reimburse my 300 for the wheel- of course- he said no... which- I understand... mind you... I was very pissed off...

The thing is... he mounted/balanced tires on my Austins a month ago without any issues whatsoever...

Could it be that VMRs are typically reverse mount? I went to a couple of places that wouldn't touch mine because of that.

It's a moot point for me now because I've since curbed a wheel. <doh>