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Firestone damages finish on all four wheels!


Taxdude

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Last week I had a new set of tires mounted at Firestone (960 A/S's). So yesterday I'm washing the latest snow storm off the car and I notice that all four rims have been scratched and in two places dented. I know that the damage wasn't there before the new tires were mounted (first set of new tires) but can't prove it.

So what should I expect/ask for from the shop in the way of making things right?

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I would think any respectable shop would own up to it, but I would also think 99% of shops are not respectable. Do you have before pics? shortly before hopefully?

 

I personally have no respect for firestone after the whole wilderness AT explorer rollover thing.. so I'm not surprised.

 

Good luck, keep us informed.

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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Sounds like a rookie put the tires on from the outside instead of the inside of the rim. They may have also tried to pound on wheel weights to balance the tires instead of using the stick on flat weights on the inside of the rim.
Let's kick this pig!
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No before pic's that are close enough to show the detail needed to prove no prior damage.

Outside of the area damaged during mounting the rims were pristine.

 

The car only has 24k miles and the tires that were replaced were the originals. Only reason that they were replaced was that I drove over something that caused a puncture that was un-plugable

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Same thing just happened to me at Goodyear. I went back to the shop after I noticed and they owned up to it. They had the wheels sent off to be refinished and found out the spec b wheel has some special paint job and it would be $175/wheel to fix. They tried to get me to just pick some new rims out instead and they would give me my old ones back, too. It was very tempting, but I just got the spec b's and hadn't even had them on for a week.
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I had it happen with the OBXT at Les Schwab when we switched over to winter tires. Luckily, I noticed it when we were still in the parking lot, and pointed it out to the service manager. He denied that they did it, but there were literally metal bits still flaking off the wheel.

 

They took the wheel back and had it repaired. They added a layer of paint, but it matched very well, and you can't find the damage. Just had to go a week with the spare tire waiting for the repair. I could have pushed them for a complete replacement (and I definitely would with the spec.B rims!) but hey, it's just OEM OBXT wheels. Nothing to get excited about.

Ich bin echt viel netter, wenn ich nuechtern bin. Echt!
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I had it happen with the OBXT at Les Schwab when we switched over to winter tires. Luckily, I noticed it when we were still in the parking lot, and pointed it out to the service manager. He denied that they did it, but there were literally metal bits still flaking off the wheel.

 

They took the wheel back and had it repaired. They added a layer of paint, but it matched very well, and you can't find the damage. Just had to go a week with the spare tire waiting for the repair. I could have pushed them for a complete replacement (and I definitely would with the spec.B rims!) but hey, it's just OEM OBXT wheels. Nothing to get excited about.

 

Why should I try for complete replacement w/ spec b's? Are you saying it won't be possible to fix and/or paint properly?

 

They are taking them down to bare metal, filling in any dings or dents, powdercoat, paint job that's black then silver for the darker look, then clear coat. Does this not sound like they will come back good as new? This is being done to all four wheels, too, so it's not like there will be a matching problem. Just curious as to if you know something I don't.

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Yours will probably be just fine. Heck, they may come out just a little different, which is a good thing. I just love the spec.B wheels so much, that I'd probably damage they guy who damaged them.

 

I guess you could call it a disease.

Ich bin echt viel netter, wenn ich nuechtern bin. Echt!
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Yours will probably be just fine. Heck, they may come out just a little different, which is a good thing. I just love the spec.B wheels so much, that I'd probably damage they guy who damaged them.

 

I guess you could call it a disease.

 

:lol:LOL. Yeah, I think the other mechanics at the shop took care of the guy that did it. I could see all of them throwing stuff at him when he confessed. I'm just looking forward to getting them back. They sat in the basement for a month after I got them waiting for tires. I had tires on them for the drive home and back to the shop. At least I took a couple of pics with them on so I have something to remember them by.

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There's a cure for that... lighter, wider, aftermarket wheels.;)

 

Yeah - cure that flu with some Dengue Fever:rolleyes:

 

Trust me, it will happen. I just want to get through most of the year on the stockers, then I'll get some new tires for the stock wheels for next winter. Then I'll go whole hog on the new set for the following summer. It's all planned out. I've got complete control. I can quit any time I want...:spin:

Ich bin echt viel netter, wenn ich nuechtern bin. Echt!
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  • 3 months later...

Here's the crazy follow-up.

 

First, the repair job they did on the one stock OBXT wheel looked great at first, but by 6 months, the clear coat was peeling and cracking. So I brought it back in and made them fix it, again. So far, so good. They repaired it well and free of chage.

 

It was time to replace the RE92s, and I made the mistake of going back to LS again. Ooops. I'm inspecting the wheels after they mounted the tires and what do I find? They damaged THE SAME WHEEL that they damaged the first time!! What rookie manages to rash the entire perimeter of the face of the rim with the tire bar? In addition, I found tool marks on one of the other rims after we got home, and they were completely new. I just washed the car by hand the previous week, and had a nice mental tally of all the dings, chips, scrapes, and rash on the car and wheels. These were new.

 

So the manager said they'd fix the wheel, again. At this point, I'm just flat done with Les Schwab. I'm never taking any car back there again. Something has changed there in the last 10 years. When I first started taking cars there, I doubt this kind of damage would have happened, and if it did, they would have simply offered a new set of wheels from their catalog and have the monkey who did the damage detail your car with his tongue. Their customer service has gone down the tubes.

 

I made them mount a different 17x7 wheel on there with the same tire so that we wouldn't go the week or two with a stinkin' spare. I think it looks prety good. A bit on the aggressive, bling-bling side, but not a bad match for the OBXT. Check it out, along with the tool marks on the rim, in the attachments.

DSC01242.jpg.234f3b38996a543275b09c8055c002af.jpg

DSC01243.jpg.377fd61badbd2bd4bee84e1efeb8705f.jpg

DSC01245.jpg.20bd0750778d5578ae845f942ce8a5f8.jpg

Ich bin echt viel netter, wenn ich nuechtern bin. Echt!
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