Cant get my powder coated wheels clean....

[Gregs_gsxr]

any good luck ?

[sman]

Havent touched them since tuesday. Powdercoat guy says hes not sure how well he will be able to match the 1 that needs to be redone now, so getting the rest of these spotless is low on the priority list. Might finally bite the bullet and get some chrome 10 spokes like ive always wanted.

[Gregs_gsxr]

those would def look good as well

[sman]

Went up and spoke with them today. They say there is no way they could have chipped the powder coat on the wheel, I say otherwise, accidents happen. It WAS NOT when I brought it in. If they would just admit to chipping it, I would probably be ok with that. But to tell me that no one there ever makes a mistake is what irritates me.

That however is not the problem. The problem is this thing is bent. Its not bent a lot. But it is noticeable. None of the employees would give me any time or insight on the issue, just told me its not their problem and walked back inside. So I waited around to talk to the manager. He was very busy, but made time for me. He came out and looked at it. We talked things over and he was concerned about it. He was not demeaning like the other guys. We took it inside and dismounted the tire, showing me there is no way it could have damaged the wheel. I am aware how the process works, and DO believe there is no way that machine bent the lip unless it was being seriously misused.

It was in dismounting the tire that things started to make sense. The inside of the sidewall is torn completely apart leaving almost nothing there in 1 spot. About halfway across the wheel from the dent. After talking to all of his guys no one claimed to have worked on it, but there were a few staff members who had the day off. So an interesting thing I noticed was the extreme lack of weight on the wheel this time, just 1 tiny piece of stick on weight. There was a 4 in strip of it before (you can see the rements of the tape) and a clip on on the outside of the wheel (you can see the outline of it).Now there is almost no weight. The puzzle finally started to come together, we took the tire and turned it half way around to line up the jacked up sidewall and bent lip and tried to re balance, an astronomical amount of weight was required.

So the tech that did the work Wednesday could not get it to balance correctly, in an attempt to get it to balance he turned the tire on the wheel halfway around. It then balanced almost perfectly with no weight. He then sent it out the door. He probably never noticed the lip was bent, and the reason I didnt notice it was bent before was the sidewall was actually pushed out in that area just SLIGHTLY, enough to fill the tiny gap between the tire and the lip of the wheel. Turning the tire meant there was a good straight sidewall along the bent wheel and it now was visibly bent.

The results? Someone is getting in a lot of trouble Monday when they track down who did the work. According to the techs (and manager) there today, that is in NO way safe to drive on and they didnt want me to take it with me. I should have been immediately notified when the tech took the tire off and seen the inside of the side wall, weather it was ignorance (which they are supposed to inspect the inside of the tire if it comes off, supposed company policy) or he was just lazy, hes in trouble.

How did it work out for me? They still say they didnt scratch or chip the wheel, and its obvious they didnt damage it (thank you Michigan roads). But as an act of good faith they are replacing the tire for free. Thats good, and I appreciate it, as a new BFG KDW NT is $187.... http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tir...48506&pc=38299

Just wish they would own up to chipping the wheel....

EDIT: Either way, im down till Wednesday when the tire comes in, apparently none of their stores in the area have one in stock.

[meissen]

Sucks that they won't own up to the chipping, but at least they're replacing the one tire -- that's definitely better than nothing. What's your plans now? Try to fix the chip and dent or just get different rims?

[sman]

They took just the wheel, no tire and put it on the balancer and it came out 100% balanced. So its straight enough to use. Wont afect the car any. So I will probably just run it as is. I dont really have the money to get new wheels or to have this one recoated. Ive been spending money like its water lately on the car and out in the barn. Need to take a spending hiatus for a month or 2.

I will probably hit the chip with my touchup paint I have in the glove box, see how it looks. If its still bad ill probably have it redone before the M&G.

[sman]

New tire came in and got mounted yesterday. Finally got around to throwing it on tonight, then went for a test drive!
7143745553_d25f5c2776_b.jpg

Good to have the car out again, ive only driven it 3 times so far this year, crappy luck with everything it seems. But all seems to be sorted now, ran like a champ, no problems. Put it back in the barn all cleaned up, going to get it out and take advantage of the supposed decent weather tomorrow!

Also, finished my first full tank of gas with the new setup, got 230mi out of it. Came to an average of 15.7mpgs... Hopefully its my lead foot and getting used to the new setup and getting over the hype of getting the car out. I was pulling 18-21 consistently last year. Not really *****ing, because I know this is the wrong hobby to complain about that, just found it shocking.