Topic: Help! Refinishing mags a good Idea?

[Hodge]

I just took my new to me Fx45 into the tire shop  and had them put on snow tires. Well they damaged all 4 rims. Circular marks all 2- 3 spokes on all the wheels.  They told me they would send it out to wheel worx and have them refinished. They had a grey factory finish. Do you guys think I should tell them I want new rims or accept their offer to refinish them. I'm thinking that the new finish will never be as good as the factory. Anyone had refinishing done to their wheels.  Boy, really makes me made because they tried to tell me they were there before I took them in.  But I told them I just bought the car 3 days ago and inspected everything with a fine tooth comb. Also had Infiniti do a 152 point inspection and it stated everything was OK. They admitted  they scratched them when I confronted them this morning. Any advice would be appreciated.
Ken

[Ex-airbalancer]

Bmw dealer  had the wheel refinished on the 323 CI when we bought it.
They look great,
 It does cost about 125 / wheel to refinish

[morty]

You should not be concerned...you wont even notice any difference. In many cases the refinished wheels have better paint quality than original.

[inco]

I agree 100% with Morty and wheel worx I believe is a good company. And kudos to the dealer for stepping up and offering to do it.

Next time take it to the same place because you know they will be a lot more careful.

[kavatski]

Just as with anything else it depends on who's doing the work. I had the wheels refinished on a Mazda under warranty back in 2003 and when they came back the finish was not as good as new and they weren't even painted the same colour (similar, but not the same). Based on the posts above this sounds like the exception rather than the rule but that's my experience with wheel refinishing.

[wing]

Nice car

[Hodge]

Thanx, everyone for the advice. I'm going to take the wheels in today for an estimate. It makes feel a little better knowing that they will be almost as good as new.

[robarakira]

Yes, great car.

Did this happen at an Infiniti Dealership?  Or just a random tire shop?  I would be shocked if the Infiniti dealer scratched it and cared not to tell you. 

Anyway, only thing I can think might happen is you may notice a very slight vibration.  (Probably not if balanced)   Demand new ones if this happens though.

[Hodge]

I went to a  Fountain Tire shop that just  did a great job on my mdx. Thats why I was shocked to see what they did to the Infiniti.  I went to wheel works today and they told me they can't match the gun metal color of the infiniti mags. I asked the manager of Fountain Tire what he was going to do now. I said I wanted new Infiniti rims. He asked me what kind of deductable I wanted to pay since the rims weren't new (2004). I wanted to say nothing since it wasn't my fault they got damaged. Instead I said I would think about the situation and get back to him. What do you folks think?

[Wetson]

This is a tough one.  My first inclination is to request new rims no deductable BUT.... to be honest and fair, depreciation must be taken into consideration.  What kind of shape were the rims in before this happened?  I would think 'almost new'.  Perhaps if you contact Infinity they'll be able to give you a price on new and used.  This may provide a guideline for you to follow.

[wing]

Tell them they get to keep your old rims and they can sell them.

[JD]

Exactly... Tell him you want brand new rims, nothing less.  If he gets sticky, tell him small claims court is his other alternative...

[Hodge]

I sure hate confrontations but I guess one has to stick up for their rights. I really don't feel its right for him to ask me for a deductable since I really didn't cause the problem. I've given it some thought and I have come up with 3 solutions.
1. ask for new Infinity rims and let him keep the damaged ones  like you suggested.
2. compromise somewhat and keep the damaged rims and use them  as permanent snow tires and ask him to buy me a new aftermarket rims and tires that should cost him about 1/2 the amount of new Infinity rims (they cost about $7000 Cdn according to the Infinity dealer including taxes) . That way I get new summer rims and tires and he only shells out 1/2 and I retain the damaged ones for winter.
3. Can always go thru the legal system but this is not really what I want to do.
What do you guys think of option 2? Do you think thats fair for both of us?
I'm going to talk to him tomorrow.

[inco]

Get wheel worx to do all of the rims and that way there is no matching problems.  If the spare rim is the same, get that one done as well.

If not, cut your losses and have them fixed to your satisfaction and move on. The dealer will be happy because this is the least expensive solution and if the rims are all the same you get the best of both worlds, matching and newly painted. 

[morty]

I think Inco has a good suggestion. There is no possible way they could match the original paint exactly and they are just making sure you understand that before the work is done. Last thing they want now, is you to be complaining about the colour after they have had the work complete. They have done the right thing and told you ahead of time. With wheels it can be difficult to match paint exactly because of the types they use. You will pobably even find that from FX45 to FX45 the wheels dont match exactly. Small differences will occur from production run to production run and this is normal with wheels.

Accidents happen...it seems they are trying their best to fix the problem with a reasonable solution. If they scratched your car during service, would you demand a total replacement? Hopefully everything works out and good luck