Scratched Wheels.... Advice Pls?

J

Justinitus

Member
 Northern Ireland
I bought the BMW 3-piece wheel brush set last week and used it for the first time on Sunday. I left the 3 brushes to soak in the bucket of water with my mitts while I let the wheel cleaner do its stuff on the 2 drivers side wheels and then went to work. I did the first wheel and then moved onto the second one, using a new bucket of shampoo to do the washing.

About halfway through the second wheel I heard a scraping noise and took the brush out, only then noticing that the little red rubber tip was missing off the end of the brush, leaving a really sharp metal end that has put 2 lovely deep scratches (right down to metal) on one of the spokes. Rinsed both wheels off and noticed 2 deep scratches on the front wheel also. I then found the missing rubber tip in the bottom of the bucket of water with the mitts in, so must have come off while they were soaking. The rubber tip has a long split in it and won't stay on the brush.

Called the dealer on Tuesday, sent him some pics and he is currently consulting with his manager as they have not come across this before. Now, I am asuming that they will agree its a manufacturing fault with the brush but am wondering what you all think should happen to sort my wheels out? What should I ask them to do about it? Should I ask for the 2 wheels to be repaired at BMW's expense, insist on 2 new wheels (originals covered 11k miles and immaculate) or what?

I don't want to appear unreasonable with the dealer but as I'm sure you can understand, I'm not best pleased! Just feeling for ideas so I can be prepared when the dealer calls back.... thanks!

SmallConicalBrush.jpg

OffsideRearScratch.jpg
 
What a terribly poor quality of brush that is so vulnerable to a failure and inevitable loss of the tip and almost certain scratches until you realise the failure.

I'd start by a simple request of the dealer to refund the cost of the brushes due to them not being fit for purpose and request refurbishment of the damaged rims. They'll say 'no' so a letter the BMW UK Customer Service would be the next step.

You are after all talking about a new BMW brush and using what they recommend.

As an aside my wheel brushes have plastic spines that while less rigid than twisted wire cannot damage
 
They can afford to replace two wheels (I guess here you would not have a single problem getting both replaced but that's America). I personally wouldn't be happy with repaired wheels. But I am pretty picky (and seeing that you bought special brushes to clean your wheels you probably are as well!)
 
Almost looks like a substandard brush to start with and an attempt to further it's useful life with a rubber cap. My thought would be to press for Hawkeye's stiffer upper lip position, implying that the brush shouldn't have been sold to start with, that it was an inferior product. Negotiating down should go no further than than cj10jeeper's position. Bottom line: A dealer sold accessory, when used as directed, should never cause damage to the dealer's product. Dealer/manufacturer should be liable for resulting damage. Please let us know your outcome. Good luck!
 
Thanks guys for the advice am usually ok in situations like this but in this case didn't really know what to ask for!

Will keep you posted, am still waiting for a call back from the dealer though....
 
Just an update... After phoning the dealer (Bavarian, Belfast) 7 yes SEVEN times without so much as a call back, I called BMW CS and explained the situation to them, sent them an email containing pics and they promised to call back tomorrow.

Bottom line is I'm not really gonna be satisfied with repaired wheels. They were ok before and I want them that way again. Sods law it had to be the 2 wheels without marks on.... :lol:
 
I thought Bavarian would be the cream when it came to dealers over here. Not that I would buy of them as they are too pricey being based in Belfast. Did you try any others?
 
Hi Dogman

Finally yesterday, after THIRTEEN calls to Bavarian I finally got a call back to say that its not covered under my car's warranty. :roll:

I know that, I'm not trying to claim on my warranty, I'm trying to claim on BMW! He said he would pass it on to the CS Manager who would call me. No call came, so I called him, he didn't know anything about it. I told him, he said he'd look into it and true enough he came back to say BMW had asked me to take it to my local dealer for inspection - luckily enough I'm in Prentice Omagh tomorrow having my rear spring replaced.

Wish me luck!!! :D
 
Ok more advice needed guys and gals!

My wheels were inspected by the local dealer 10 days ago and I got a call back from BMW CS today. They are not querying that the brush is faulty and has caused damage. They agreed to replace one wheel free of charge, the other I have to pay for at £400.

Their reasoning for this is two fold I was told. Firstly, the front wheel already had a 5mm chip on the rim edge and I could not be put into a better position that I was before the faulty brushes scratched them. This is fine with me, as I had already mentioned this to the dealer and said I was prepared to pay the equivlent of having the chip filled in (£50) towards the cost of a BMW replacing it with a brand new wheel.

Their second reason why they will not cover the second wheel is that they say that I should have noticed the damage the brush had done on the first wheel before I moved on to the second wheel. This is my sticking point.

If you have a wheel you are currently cleaning - as directed on the BMW Wheel Cleaner Gel bottle - soaking it with cleaner and then scrubbing with LOTS of soap and water how are you supposed to tell if the brush you are using has damaged the wheel when the wheel is wet and covered in soap? I stopped using the brush halfway through cleaning the second wheel as that is the time when I heard the scrape...not before.

Thats my point, I didn't know what was happening until I was halfway through the second wheel but BMW CS say I should have known and I must take part responsibilty for the cost as I didn't take enough care. WTF????

So should I have washed, scrubbed and then meticulously dried and inspected each wheel in turn and then got them wet again when I washed the bodywork... just in case the brush they sold me was faulty?

BMW CS have since come back with a "Final Offer" of a 50% contribution to the second wheel. But that still leaves me £200+vat to pay when all I really want to pay is what I would have paid to have the chip repaired.

Am I being unreasonable? Ideas and suggestions welcome guys and gals!
 
Ask for the £600 in service/vouchers instead and get the wheels refurbished instead, you'd never tell the difference TBH.
 
Wondermike said:
Ask for the £600 in service/vouchers instead and get the wheels refurbished instead, you'd never tell the difference TBH.
Click to expand...

would agree, this is best plan of attack, otherwise you will get new wheels, and then hit a kerb.
 
Thanks guys - I would really prefer the wheels replaced as there are very few (2 I can find) places that re-furb wheels here and they are 100 miles away from me, but this is certainly an option I hadn't considered.

BMW CS called again today. They have discovered that the wheels are in fact cheaper - £250 not £400 each - so my 50% contribution for one wheel would be £125. But they then went on to say that the cost to me would still be £200. I asked why and was told that it was because BMW would be picking up the cost of the fitting charge. So how can that be so if I'm now being asked to pay more than 50% of the wheel cost???

I queried the figured and was politely told that that was their final offer - take it or leave it. Actually - as I pointed out - it was exactly the same offer as the day before.

Does it really cost £75++ to remove a tyre, fit it to a new wheel and balance it? I have had 2 tyres fitted before in 20 mins or less. So are BMW CS telling me that their dealers charge the equivilent of £450 per hour?? :roll:
 
Hmmm at £200 that's more than the wholesale price they'll pay for the wheels, therefore they're not contributing anything at all :scratchhead:

Are you 100% that there are no wheel refurb places closer to you? I had an ellipsoid 18" done on my Z4 and when it was done it looked like a new wheel.
 
Hey Mike

I did find someone else who does mobile refurb work... called him and he won't come to Enniskillen as its not worth his time to do so. He did say I could go over to him in Belfast and he could do a spot-refurb on the back wheel in about 30mins for "well under £50"... actually he was really helpful and seemed to know what he was talking about.

Thing is, I still can't fathom why BMW CS are saying I must take part responsibilty and pay.... how am I supposed to see through soap?? :lol:

I know what you mean about the trade price... he said I was getting £800 of work done for free...

I might have a look again at the back wheel and see if I could accept a refurb here. I will definately get BMW to replace the front one as there are actually loads of scratches on it courtesy of the brush and ask them for a voucher as compensation for the rear one. What do you think?

The only other option I have is to write back and argue with them for the cost of the second wheel, or worst case scenario go to small claims court.
 
At last, settled with BMW and one wheel replaced last Friday free of charge.

It will cost me £30 to get the rear wheel done, but I'm fine with that.

Thanks for the help and advice guys..... case finally closed!!!!
 
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