ctlane Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 I have owned my 2012 GT500 for one exactly one year today. Owned the brand new Alcoa Super Snake wheels for six month. Unfortunately the car has spent and enormous amount of time at my local Ford Service Department. The service department has worked on the TPMS and a squeaking noise off and on since I took delivery. A month ago they mentioned they would have to remove a tire from one of my Alcoa wheels in order to troubleshoot the TPMS sensor in the wheel. The next day the service rep called me and said the car was ready for pick up. A a smart-junction box was on order for the TPMS. When I picked the car up I walked around to inspect for damage, but didn't look closely at the wheels. I took the car home and parked it in the garage since they still can't figure out the embarrassing loud squeak coming from the rear of the car. Two weeks later I get a call telling me the smart junction box was in and I could bring the car in for the repair. I pulled my car out of the garage to give it a wash before heading to the dealership. While washing the right front wheel i find two large gouges on the outer bead of the wheel. Sickening feeling!!! I took the car to the service department and showed them the damage and explained that it look like the tire guy used a crow bar on my tire. The service manger said "yes, they should have used a plastic bar and not a steel one". He told me not to worry and that he would look into it. I was a dumb ass for falling for that! The dealer had my car over night while working the TPMS. The next morning I got a call from the service rep who told me the technician had documented the damage on the wheel during the previous visit. They have time and date stamped photos of the damage wheel. He went on to explain how the technician followed company policy to perform a walk around inspection prior to performing maintenance on the car. I was in complete disbelief. I went immediately to the dealer. They showed me photos that had no such time and date stamp. The photos were of the specific wheel in question. Funny how they missed a huge white scrape on my race red paint....no picture of that. I look over the car and low and behold I find damage now on the left front wheel. Almost the exact same type of mark. No pictures of this damage. I later spoke to the owner. He asked why I would ever put aftermarket wheels on the car. He said it does more damage and said the wheels were cheap. Probably made in China! Mind you he is talking about the Alcoa Super Snake wheels that carry the Shelby stamp. Please take a look at the wheel. They say I curbed it. I assure you the car has never been curbed. All maintenance has been performed by this dealership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-man Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sickening feeling to say the least! I'm not going to get into any theorizing on how it happened, but did want to tell you it can be fixed. Find a good wheel repair company (Google is your friend) and they will have no problem making them good as new. I bent two rims on my BMW. They are 19" true 3-piece modular custom rims with a high polish finish on the outer wheel lips. Both were bent badly in the inside, and the rear was slightly bent on the outside as well. The shop who works on my car also builds BMW and Porsche race cars. They sent my rims to a wheel-smith they use to fix their race rims, and he did a great job. You can't tell they were ever damamged, and I'm a pretty picky guy when it comes to my cars. Fixing them will cost less than buying new rims, and in your case, buying nreplacement Alcoa's isn't really an option. Good luck with your ensuing battle with the Dealership, but in the end, the wheels can be saved. Z-man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangcrazy Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 can be fixed, mine is curbed rashed, from your pics their machine did that damage, i owned a tire shop before and you must use the plastic on these kinds of wheels. The steel tire remover per say will tear rims up all day long. amazing you have that kind of smash and NO damage or scuff on either tire at all, I just turn into your insurance and file a bbb on em after talking to the manager nice again and ask him for their insurance once and be done. let the insurance fight it out. you'll win hands down, Those are tire machine marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL SHELBY Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 If you had curbed its likely you would see corresponding scraps on the tire sidewall. Yes, the wheel could be prepared but I would worry that the durabrite finish would be lost in the process. I suggest calling Alcoa to see if they could repair the wheel. As for the dealer, I'm afraid you are SOL unless you have documentation showing the wheel was not damaged prior to the dealership visit. However, I would make it clear that you will never return to that dealership and will direct as many people as you can to stay away from that dealership. When my SGT was at the dealership for warranty work I ended up having a long sit down with the service manager discussing how unhappy I was with the process. The dealerships will tell you they are experts with all of the cars they service when in actuality all they are are experts at reading the service manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingram4868 Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 I'm sorry to hear this happened. I agree with others that a BBB complaint may help. Automotive technicians sometimes look at cars just as another job to get done quickly. I did learn from this thread that there are plastic bars that can be used on rims, so I will be asking for there use in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2010KonaBlueGT Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Small Claims court is a good option. I'm not sure about your state but I filed a claim in CA when they had a $5,000 cap on small claims. The loser also pays court costs ($20 per side when I made my claim). That would cover your loss but you would have to actually LOSE the money before recovering. Buy a set of Alcoa's for the current inflated prices, explain the situation to the judge (that they are not available as singles or sets of 2) and there's your *actual* loss. The good part about small claims is that they can't sent a lawyer in for their defense. It's you against him and with your documentation, I don't see how a judge would side against you. Get a 'tire guy' as a witness stating that the damage is from a tire machine and not a curb (curb rash is VERY distinctive) and now it's two against one. In my case, the company settled with a cash agreement before going into the courtroom and I got 4 times what my actual damages were. But I also had a real good case in point (a warrant denial). Phill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctlane Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Thanks you to all you for the tips thus far. I took the wheels to a couple of tire/wheel specialists today. Without explaining the situation, every single person said the same thing; a metal tire bar did the damage...go figure! Interesting thing to point out...I even stopped at a competing Ford Dealership. They went as far as showing me the type of bar and machine that was probably used. The service manager there even took the time to hold the tire bar up next to my wheel to prove that it was the same width. it was quite funny. I thought this was an episode of CSI. At that point you know I had to snap photos. El Shelby, You could be right, but my argument in this case Is that I did an adequate walk around inspection before departing the service department. The damage here would not be noticeable unless I had known the specific wheel was broken down in order to pay that close of attention to it. At first glance you don't really notice the damage. You are right I can definitely steer a lot of people away from that dealership. I'm in a position in the military where I interact with 100s of military members as they arrive at the installation every month. Typical questions are usually centered around recommendations on where to take their vehicles for maintenance. People tend to listen to a guy drives a bad ass Shelby GT500 I have contacted Ford Corporation. A case has been opened. They sent a message to the dealership in question and are waiting to see how they handle this complaint before acting on it. I can't imagine Ford Corp allowing their reputation to be compromise even on one customer where it is obviously not something a typical customer would try in their home garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL SHELBY Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 I don't doudt you at all, all I'm getting at is that without photos of your own it could be tough. If you don't get anywhere with Ford Corp I would do as Phill suggest. It sounds like you have plenty of experts who back you if needed. Keep us posted on how this works out. We all wish you good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Rodgers Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Small Claims Court is something they will Not want to do, the Judge almost always asks the Corporation to do the right thing regardless of fault. In your case it is a no brainer. See what FMC says first. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy49 Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 If the damage had been done by striking a curb, the scratches would be against the direction of rotation. The markings on your rim are at right angles to the tire rotation. The wheel was not turning when those marks were made. Here is a picture of a wheel that has been curbed. Metal flows in the opposite direction of rotation. A wheel with tire iron damage. The marks are more like impressions rather than scratches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickshelby Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 It's a shame to see so-called professionals working on such cars with no knowledge and no care! And then LIE! If you have the wheels "repaired" you will lose the Durabright treatment...no matter how good the repair is done. It's some kind of anodizing over polished aluminium and you can't grind or polish the surface without taking it off. I remember reading in a thread that Alcoa does not offer the re-treatment of their wheels. So, be VERY careful when accepting a repair for these damages. Unless you powder coat the whole set in black after repair you won't get something acceptable IMO. And then, you might not want black Alcoas on your car!!! They are a bunch of ass....., hope you advertise them as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aonebadbone Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Did you talk to the service manager. Usually there will be some tire damage if you curb youre wheels. Tool marks leave a different mark. Have you talked to the service manager? I would never take my car back to them for service even if you have to drive 100 miles to get good service. We have a Ford dealer here in town but I am not sure of there service guys so I take my car 30 miles away for service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 You're not going to get anything from the dealer. You've already tried talking with the service manager and owner and all you're trying to do now is teach a pig to sing. Go to the Ford district manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy49 Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Whatever happened with the wheel problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCLAman Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Find a new dealership!!! Last year I took my car to a dealership for an oil change. Picked up the car and drove it home. When washing it later that day I notice TWO scratches on my carbon fiber splitter!! I nearly crapped myself! I immediately called the service manager and asked that I send in pics. The scratches/damage was on both the left and right side at approximately the same spot equi-distance from the center of the car. Any guesses on what caused the damage?? Yup when putting the car up on the lift and/or taking it off the lift the splitter hit the tire ramps!!! The head service manager knew my car was lowered and they had serviced it before twice. I had told them to be extra careful and that only he should drive it. Well, they took responsibility and replaced the carbon fiber splitter. They gave me ZERO problems!!! They knew they were in the wrong and owned up to the damage. I appreciated that. Plus I think the guys liked seeing my car in their service bay or something. Every time I took my car in all the workers would drool all over it!!! I guess they wanted to see it some more!!! I obliged as I had to take it to them for the replacement splitter to be installed. They funniest thing was that when I picked it up, the service manager actually said, your car is over there, you can drive it out of the service bay yourself, we don't want to touch it anymore! Have not been back since that incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Harman Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 UCLAman, where do you go for service now? Looking for new service department, had a bad expirence too.!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS730HP Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 Call me about your super snake wheels ,I have queastions 215-677-4477 My name is Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdrawkit Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 Hi UCLAMAN...I drive the same colour as you do...I noticed and really LIKE the RED STRIPE you added...Can you direct me to more pictures of your ride??..Would like to see the full shots of your sHELBY??? Thxs Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCLAman Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 UCLAman, where do you go for service now? Looking for new service department, had a bad expirence too.!!! Yorba, sorry i never noticed your question. I take my car to Advantage Ford in Duarte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 I never take my car to the dealer for service, just in the past ten years I have owned seven new cars and I have learned to stay away from the dealers service shops. If you ever have that problem again take it to a good tire center and they will take care of it. I have had too many problems with many dealer service shops in the past such as BMW, Mer Benz, Caddy, Hummer, Lincoln. I can tell you a story about everyone of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
03 DSG Snake Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 can be fixed, mine is curbed rashed, from your pics their machine did that damage, i owned a tire shop before and you must use the plastic on these kinds of wheels. The steel tire remover per say will tear rims up all day long. amazing you have that kind of smash and NO damage or scuff on either tire at all, I just turn into your insurance and file a bbb on em after talking to the manager nice again and ask him for their insurance once and be done. let the insurance fight it out. you'll win hands down, Those are tire machine marks. I had the same damage recently on all 4 of my HRE wheels. Cost is $1,000 to repair through HRE not counting shipping. Should I do small claims or kick it to insurance? With a deductible I'm still out of pocket for their bonehead mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svt13 Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Your insurance company is covering damage on an aftermarket wheel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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