I bought my tC when they were first available in California and it was hard to get them.
The only dealership in SoCal that had a tC available for sale was Toyota of Orange which I had though had a good reputation.

I was told I could not buy the tC without buying the 17" chrome wheels for $2000 I told them I could get 18" Volks or other high quality wheels for that price and that I was concerne over the quality of these wheels. They told me because they only make $900 on the sale of the car the wheel option is not negotiable.

I reluctantly made the purchase because I wnated the car. After a few months the chome started peeling. My suspiciuons were correct Toyota is cutting every corner possibly to rake in profits selling these inferior $2000 Made in China wheels! I bought Toyota for Japanes quality not this low qulaity Made in China chrome.

It now now over a year later and Toyota of Orange still refuses to take back these substandard wheels. I will now be forced to notify Toyota Motor Sales in Torrance and Toyota Motors in Aichi Japan and take Toyota of Ornage and Toyota Motor Sale s(USA) to small claims court.

I STRONGLY reccomend not dealing with Toyota of Orange and I srtongly reccomend oyu just say no or go to another dealer if being pressured to buy these inferior upgrade wheels.

NOTE: If anyone else has had this same issue I would like you to email me at tscsciontc@aol.com so I can look into filing a Class Action Lawsuit againt Toyota Motor Sales USA on behalf of other Scion owner/victims.

 

Do you have pictures of the wheels? If so you shouldve contacted Scion along time ago to report them. Plus I dont think this really qualifys for Scion News and Press Releases should be under Reatail Shop Experiences.

 

The sad thing about this story is there are no chrome 17 Scion rims available for the tC. If they look like the stock ones then those have been cheaply chromed. If it was an actual Scion part, which there was none in chrome, I know Scion would replace it if it was defective.

 

This has nothing to do with Toyota Motor Sales USA. The chrome wheels are not a factory option. The dealer simply sent stock wheels and had them chromed aftermarket. Call Scion Corporate and notify them of the issue, they might be able to help. If anything take the dealership to court not Toyota.

 

If your still under warranty just go back to them and get it fixed...they hafta fix it cause its their part and they installed it...not to mention they jerked you buy making you buy a rim that they say are "Mandatory" for the sale thats not even a genuine Scion accessory...Im sure corporate wouldnt be too happy about hearing them pullin **** like that. They hafta fix it 100% unless the damage is caused by you curbing the wheel of course

 

TSCSciontC thanks for bringing this up. It is unfortunate that it has taken over a year for us to be made aware of this problem, and in researching this issue we have no Service Dept. records of it.

You should know that we would be happy to replace any wheels you have with a defective finish on them.

We've tried to contact you by telephone, but the contact numbers that we have for you are no longer valid, so we have sent you a registered letter regarding this matter. Please contact us to arrange the replacement of the problem wheels.

We will stand behind our products, and service, just as we have for more than 30 years as Toyota of Orange.

 

Let me make sure I understand this. You bought the car at a dealership that required you to buy aftermarket wheels because they only make $900 on the sale of the car. You were lead to believe the wheels were factory and therefore, you are upset at Toyota/Scion for using shoddy materials.

Do I have the story right?

If so, here's the deal. There is no such thing as factory chrome wheels for the tC. What you have is either factory wheels that have been dipped or you have aftermarket wheels that the dealer in question substituted for the originals. The wheels are not covered by the factory warranty. Your beef is with the dealership.

Did you check at other dealers before you purchased? Dealers that view the $900 mark-up on these cars as insufficient are short sighted at best. Rather than foster a customer relationship where you want to buy accessories from them, they install what they want and charge what they want and tell you that if you want the car, you have to take it. I'm totally opposed to giving dealers like this any business as it only reinforces bad bahavior. Scion frowns on this kind of deal, but there is nothing in the dealer agreement to prohibit it.

In the future, learn to shop for the right dealer. Price isn't everything as you have painfully learned. Find a dealer who is willing to do things in a customer friendly manner. Don't give your money to shady ****** who can't seem to understand that this isn't the '80s any more.

 

This guy posted the same thing over on www.yoursciontc.com, and everyone there told him pretty much the same things. The guy is basically mad because he bought a dealer-installed option to get his car quickly rather than ordering one with the options he wanted and waiting. Now he's not happy. Tough.

The dealer should warrant the wheels since they installed them, but like the others said, this has nothing to do with TMS or Toyota corporate.

 

If you notice they both only have 2 posts and they registerd on the same day just find it inresting.

 

Just to clarify...

The wheels are the same EXACT wheels that are standard on the Scion tC with the "Scion" logo in the center just they are chrome instead of alloy. Which is odd because I check with Tustin Toyota this Saturday when I went in for my last free oil change and they also claim that these wheels in chrome is not an "official" Scion option meaning that Toyota of Orange must have taken it upon themselves to hqave the shoddy chrome work done and charge $2000 for and lie to their customers and tell them they the wheels came like that from Scion (Toyota) as O.E.M.

To futher clarify. One member suggested I curbed my wheels. The chrome is peeling in places that would make that theory impossible. I rotated my tires this weekend and discoved the chrom is also peeling INSIDE the rim thus blowing that theory out of the water as well as the theory that maybe the Eagle One Chrome wheel cleaner may have cause it as the spray would not have gotten to inside the wheel where it is also peeling.

So perhaps it isnt Toyota Motor Sales fault directly except perhaps they should be policing their dealers more carefully and not allow lying criminals to sell cars under their name. As this is not the first shady Toyota dealer I have come across. Manhattan Beach Toyota are also pretty shady in my experiences.

 

Per your other post. Since ther are 2 differnt threads of this, you shouldve researched the tC more and researched if the tC had chrome wheels or not. Although they may have not told you the truth you still shouldve researched before you signed the paperwork. Cant blame anyone but yourself.