I'm really pretty annoyed this morning. It's a long story and you guys/gals don't need all the details, but we had our new stock 16" alloys installed on Wednesday. Yesterday I notice a string of weights in the driveway, so took the car back this morning. Sure enough, they had come off one of the wheels.

Unfortunately, when the tech removed the wheel to rebalance, he scratched the new alloy along the bead, a few millemeters wide and about 3-4" inches in length, probably with the tool he used to remove the tire. I didn't see it until I got home.

The wheels are not solid aluminum, but have a thin coating of some sort on them. And they are peeling slightly along this damage, and something tells me this peeling will continue. And finally, while I know aluminum doesn't rust, it can corrode, and I'll bet it does so where the coating is damaged. I'm going back in Monday to complain.

 

wow thats crappy... I cant believe the weights just fell off...

 

You're amazed they fell off- I'm amazed they stay on! Just sticky tape on the back, and adhered to the inside of the rim.

You wanna hear another one? The weights are 7grams each, and there are 9 on one rim, 6 on two other rims, and none on the fourth rim. So, did another string of weights fall off already, just on the short trip home.

I called the dealer back immediately, to see if the tech had used weights on all four wheels, but the service rep hasn't gotten back with me in over an hour.......... aargh!

I'm normally a pretty patient guy, but I seem surrounded by incompetance.

 

clearly incompetence...

 

Crap, that sucks Rich. I know you were stoked on getting those wheels. I hoping your dealer comes through for you... and I think I'm going outside and taking a look at mine now.

 

Wow, the xD might be a budget car but thats no excuse to make lower quality accessories for it. First the paint being very thin, now the alloys can be scratched easily! Yeesh.

 

Let us know what you find? BTW, I just talked to the service department again (I had to call them back again, even though they promised to get with me). I'm told three needed balancing, the fourth was true........

 

My feelings exactly, Chels- my '03 Passat has a couple scuffs on the alloys from hitting the curb, but they ain't peelin'

 

The dealer will have to replace the scratched one. I had a ton of bad experiences with tire shops destroying wheels. One of these experiences took 3 months to resolve. Big PITA.

All alloys have sticky weights and if the surface is cleaned before they are applied they will stay there forever - centrifugal force works to the benefit of the adhesive, not against it.

And what's up with "thin paint" stuff coming up again? The paint is no different than the one used on Toyotas or Lexus cars - we've been through that before when people following dump trucks were complaining about tC paint. Paint is perfectly fine. Road gators are evil, Dump trucks are evil. Don't blame the paint.

 

<All alloys have sticky weights and if the surface is cleaned before they are applied they will stay there forever - centrifugal force works to the benefit of the adhesive, not against it.>

My wife's previous car was a Maxima, and it didn't have sticky weights- it had clips to hold the weights along the outer edge.

 

I guess you are right, older OEM alloys had clip-on weights. If somebody put one of these things on my wheel today, I'd bite their head off.

 

They actually looked okay on that particular car. Hey, thanks for all your help Zoltiz, it really has been appreciated. This car was supposed to be our 'mudder' but I like it so much that I've found myself obsessing over it. Incidentally, my wife just got 35+ actual mpg on her second tank of gas. Probably because she's learning to not always have her foot on the gas or brake....:-)

 

My wheels were put on Thursday. Drove to and from work Friday and about 150 miles Saturday. Three wheels look fine but the fourth looks odd.

There are 10 weights still on it (a string of eight plus two more to the right of those) but only some tape remains to the left -- enough for two. The tape looks as though the weights were ripped off. I guess the tech could have put the two on in the wrong place and removed them and left the tape? I don't feel any imbalance but we're only talking about 1/2 ounce.

What do you all think? I wouldn't have thought to check on Thursday.

 

Tekno,
Why not give a call to the dealer? Maybe the tech still remembers; yours may very well be the only alloys he has installed these last few days. I'm going back to my own dealership today to complain about the scratch on one of mine (see above).

 

Yup. The tech confirmed he'd put too many weights on and then removed a couple. Turns out he rememered since I was the only xD last week getting wheels... image that

Seriously, the service I've gotten so far has been outstanding and I can really OCD over my car.

 

Well, good.
Two things- in my opinion, the alloys are really good looking, but would prefer the weights be not so easy to see. On my Passat, they can't be seen from streetside.

 

I think the main problem is dealer techs trying to mount and balance wheels/tires. If any wheel requires that much weight you either have a tire with a heavey spot or a screwed up wheel. Shops with the proper equipment will be able to match up the tire and wheel so as to use as little weight as possible. Remember, you can balance a square box. Just try and get it to roll right tho!