Cracked alloy at tyre shop

Z

Z4hid

Member
 Harrow, NW London
Hi All,

Need some advice from some wise heads please!

Situation:
My car tyre pressure (run flat) was falling from 2.3bar to 2.2 over 7/10 days which was annoying me more than anything else so went to the tyre shop to have the wheel looked at. They couldn’t see anything obvious so I asked them to reseal the wheel. In doing so, the wheel cracked and air was leaking out. They said the crack must have been there from before and got worse as they removed the tyre. I thought that was fair enough so left it.

Meanwhile:
I bought a new wheel from another tyre place and asked them to inspect the wheel. The lad there said it was caused by the tyre place and there was a indentation to the side of the wheel showing where too much force had been exerted. He said it was a common mistake and he too had done that himself. (Something about RF’s being tricky to remove and BMW alloys quite weak)

Revisited the original tyre shop
Went to the original tyre shop who initially said there was ‘no way it was caused by us’ but when I asked them to look at the wheel he was more open to the idea. The indentation was pretty clear to see so left the wheel for the manager to inspect and call me.

The Manager
The Manager didn’t call me so I called him and although a nice enough bloke with 45years experience in the industry he was taking no responsibility and kept on saying BMW wheels are weak and have problems and that I had asked for it to be re-sealed. I reasoned with him that I had no issue with the lad doing the work but the extra force caused the damage and definitely wasn’t a crack there before. He said it must have been there originally and why I came in with the complaint. Again I said the complaint was with the tyre.
Anyway, I said I’ll get an independent to look at it but he said that will cost £200. I said fine but if its proven it was your fault then you have to pay £200 +£200 for the wheel I bought. ‘Im not paying that’ and so the cycle continued…I did say can I not claim against your insurance but as his excess was £700 so that didn’t make sense.

Any thoughts on what I should do guys/anyone had this issue before?

Many Thanks

Zahid
 
The issue as I see it is that you were already losing pressure, this can happen on cracks you can't see. Sure, you can see they've also used too much pressure, it could be a combination, their fault, or the crack. It's something you'll be hard pressed to prove, and take into account the hassle factor. They'll use the fact it was losing pressure already against any argument from you. Removing runflats can damage wheels, its why BMW suggest a) they do it and b) you don't swap summer/winter tyres on the same rims.

I'm sure others will have their opinion along shortly for you, but mine would be to chip away at the garage to see what if anything you can get, and accept the fact you may simply need to purchase the new wheel at a cost to you. You never know, if you don't get the wheel paid for, you might get a voucher from them for a new tyre or towards one in future perhaps?

edit: typos'
 
Can see it from both sides. You can understand the first place saying the loss of pressure was caused by the crack. Your explanation also sounds plausible.

If you had the wheel off the car and had done a full inspection before you took it to the first tyre place, you could be more certain about what happened. It sounds like the wheel was still on the car when you went first time?

Certainly wouldn't spend another £200 on the matter as you're unlikely to get it back. Sounds like one to be forgotten about unfortunately.
 
Thanks guys. They did take the tyre off to inspect it and saw no damage but take your points that its six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Thanks for the swift replies guys.
 
Yeah this is a tricky call.

I know 108's are a real pita to fit new tyres too due to the shape.. the mobile fitter who fitted mine made a mess of them :x

What style wheels do you have?

A new one second hand will def cost lest then £200, maybe see if they are willing to chip in as a compromise?
 
Mine are MV2's (sorry a newbie who hasn't posted pictures yet..but will when the weather gets a bit better!)

I already paid over the odds and bought a new wheel for £200 from a tyre shop via ebay but as it was brand new, I didnt mind paying the extra versus a second hand refurb.
 
They are at least partly responsible. If there were a pre-existing hairline crack, it may have been repairable. (? I don't really know if this is possible. If not disregard my idea here) Now that they have gone and destroyed the wheel, there is no chance of that. Since he knew these wheels to be weak, he was taking responsibility to do a proper job and represented that they knew how to do a proper job by accepting the work in the first place. The fact they botched the work anyway despite this knowledge shows they did not use due diligence in performing the work.

I would attempt partial compensation, and not shop credit, for I wouldn't ever want to return to that shop again. Good luck.
 
I'm going to the first tyre shop tomorrow to pick up the original wheel (I had left it there for the Manager to inspect). I'll keep you posted as to how I get on but thank you all for your comments and very fair views.


Zahid
 
Morning All,

I popped into the tyre shop on Saturday and go nowhere really.

Although the big crack in the wheel was caused by them, the argumnet that it could only have been caused as the wheel was originally weak/had a hairlline crack in the first instance was repeated.

I think an apology on their part rather than blame deflection would have been good practice but looks like this story ends here.

Thanks once again for your learnered advice and help guys, really apprecaited.

Zahid
 
Maybe name and shame them too in the dealer feedback section.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I dont really want to name and shame them as they do have a point which is just different to mine (grrr!). Its not really fair to tarnish them with the same brush as other dodgy types..

What I would say is that it pays to watch over tyre fitters when they take the wheel off given how hard runflats are to remove as any damage then can be spotted straight away and an easier case to argue against!
 
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