I just got my new Kuhmo's from Tirerack and I brought my wheels up to a local custom wheel shop to have them put on my Work Meister wheels. I originally had my first set of tires put on at a normal old goodyear tire shop and they eventually got the tires on the wheels, but they had a lot of difficulty with them because they're reverse rims and they really didn't have much experience with putting tires on reverse rims. However they did get them on and just barely scuffed the outside edge of a couple of the wheels. Not enough to tell.

I decided to go to a place that has more experience with custome wheels for this tire change, so I went to a custom wheel store. Well I came back and the guy told me that he's got some bad news and some good news.

The bad news was that they scratched the rim up pretty good on one wheel trying to get the tire on.

The good news was that he wasn't going to charge me for the mount and balance and he said that the company would buy me another Work wheel to replace the scratched one and then I'd have a spare.

I just bought the new wheel from Work for $708 not including shipping. I also made sure I got a Purchase Order slip from the wheel shop that did the damage. So they're gonna repay me. I hope this works out.

 

Someone told me that you have to have them use a "touchless" tire machine in order to ensure no damage. If a custom wheel shop doesn't have one, then who does in my area?

 

dude,

i know you had a bad experience the first time around, but try again for a hardtop - you're car would look aaaawwweesome with one!!!

re: the wheel - glad the shop is owning up to their mistake.

 

what an expensive mistake for the wheel shop. Glad you'll have a spare now

 

LOL...damn Leo....I'm just gonna let you do everything to your car, & wait for you to let me know who to go to, to get mine worked on....

 

Yes, yes, I haven't been having a lot of luck with things related to my S2000 lately. I still love the car but my ownership has certainly had it's share of issues.

 

That's really standing behind your work! You should name that shop when they come through. Every shop makes mistakes. Few would step up to the plate like this. BTW, they could have just offered to fix it and it would have been fine.

 

Well I kind of know the guy that works there from High School and I think he feels bad because I specifically told him that I wanted them to do it since they have tons of experience with custom rims. So the fact that they screwed it up is really ironic.

On a side note, I rimmed one of my front wheels on a curb and it made a single long scrape that is similar to the four small scapes they made with the tire machine. The wheel repair shop was able to smooth it out, but the polished lip is quite dull now and the wheel certainly doesn't look new like it did.

So I would certainly expaect them to buy me a new wheel if they can't return the current wheel to it's previous condition.

Well I haven't gotten any money from them yet, so we'll see if they stand behind what they told me after a few days pass. If not, then I just bought myself a new wheel. I did get a formal we-owe form from them telling me they would buy a replacement rim, so that ought to be all I need.

 

at discount tire, when I worked there, when a wheel was scratched, we replaced it no matter how much it costs. glad you got the same kind of deal here. they seem to be an honest company and I'd go there again.

and haven't heard of a touch-less tire mounting machine. its not easy fitting tires on large wheels but you need a bit of experience under your belt before doing so. if they do a good job, tip the installer.

 

Yeah, I figured the larger wheels with the lower profile tires are the biggest pain to mount. After they screwed the first rim, they actually brought me in the back to let me watch on the second one. It certainly wasn't a pretty process. Actually, getting the new tire on wasn't the issue, it was getting the old tire off. The guy told me that the Kuhmo's are so much stiffer than most of the tires he's had to work on. I don't know if that's true, but I'll be sure to tell my next tire mounters to take their sweet time and be as carefula s possible since these wheels and tires seem to be very difficult to mount.

Now that I have the car back at home it's really hard to even notice the damage unless you do a close inspection. But they agreed to buy me a new wheel, so I'm takin it. It will be nice to have a spare.