Ok,

So I dropped off my car which is a 93' FD and a set of tires at this Auto shop called Kramers on wednesday morning for them to put new tires on. (Mount and Balance)

I specifically told them to not use weights on the outside and to be really careful with my wheels.

I went back a few hours later to pick up my car, I pay for it and do a quick look around to see that 3/4 wheels were ******* SCRATCHED/CHIPPED.

I went and told the owner (Kramer) immediately, he comes out and takes a look at it and calls the mechanic who did the mounting. He said that the plastic tool that they use must have done it and that the paint on the wheels aren't factory and gave me some bullshit story.

He did offer to fix the paint, which he wants me to come in tomorrow (friday) and he can go and get it paint matched.


Here are the specifics of my wheels and tires.

- Wheels are Gold JDM BBS LM - F1 Championship edition 17x8+35, 17x9+35.
- Tires that were put on were Falken FK452's.

I've always had a good relationship with this shop/owner. He's always honest and quick with his work and relatively priced.


I need your guys' help on this situation, what should I do from here on?
I don't want him to do some bullshit brush paint and mess them up even more, I want them to be fixed or I want to be compensated for what he messed up.

Factors that might change a few things

- I'm in the Air Force in Germany (German shop that's heavily affiliated with American's bringing their cars there to be worked on)
- I have a legal office on base that can help me in this situation if it comes to that.
- I'm moving to Italy in 3 weeks.

 

The best thing to do is to work it out with the owner ASAP. All the other options would cost too much time.

 

Since you've mentioned that he's an upfront and honest owner. Why not just bring it to a shop and pay for the fix first and have him reimburse you. That is, if you dont want them to mess up your wheels anymore and if he is willing to do so (ask permission first and write it down on paper if necessary.)

-AzEKnightz

 

Same thing happened to me with a set of DBK RGRs... I just dealt with it and accepted the fact that **** happens and this isn't the end of the world.

If the owner is willing to help out - you are one step better then I was.

All the best.

-M

 

Sorry to hear it..... this is one reason I've always been *very* careful of which shops I've brought my different sets of Fikses to when I need tires mounted on them over the years.

Usually when you tell the shop owner and guy mounting the tire on the wheel that the BBS/Fikse/Kinesis etc wheels are over $1000 *each* and you want to watch them do the work, they'll get honest in a hurry as to the capabilities of their machine and the guy working it.

 

it is a true art form to mount a tire on a nice set of rims w/o scratching them etc. I never thought it was tough until I did a few sets. It's no walk in the park.

To the OP. Sorry to hear about your circumstances. I would suggest coming to some sort of monetary agreement and move on. That way you can have them fixed how you want when you want.

Good luck.

 

i would say if the shop is willing to work with you that is a great sign. Just about every shop has disclosures stating they are not responsible for any damages/scratches to rims while mounting tires. I went through this a few weeks ago when getting new tires and rims mounted up. They were careful and I have no scratches BUT they stated to me they were not responsible for any damages even with the brand new machine they purchased 6 months ago.

Good Luck.

 

I went through this many years ago when Sears FUBAR'd my SSRs. They offered to pay the shop I picked to refinish them. They came back great, but the color compared to the other two rims wasn't 100%, not that most people would notice that kind of variation.