It just wasn't my day today.

I almost always wash my own car... the first time I let someone wash it was at Performance Nissan, did not have any problems there.

This summer, I've been staying in Pasadena for a summer internship... so I don't have access to where I usually wash my car. There is no shade at all where I'm staying, plus, I don't have any of my car wash equipment here.

In any case, my car was getting filthy, so I decided to take it to a car wash finally (Pasadena Auto Wash on Del Mar). I was very apprehensive about it, knowing that car washes are likely to f*ck up Volks.

However, I made myself very clear when I talked to the manager guy, who spoke perfect english. I told him "You must only use SOAP and WATER on these wheels, if you use any kind of cleaner, it will f*ck them up." The manager understood me, and he told the car washer guy what to do. I confirmed with the car washer guy "OK so only soap and water, right?"

and he says "yes, the manager told me."

I got the car hand washed, and the guy was doing an OK job at it... I saw him wash the rims with soap and I was thinking he knows what he's doing.

Then, he started cleaning my windows with some random cleaner. No problem, it's just windows... and they're getting clean.

He started wiping down the water on the rims ... I did not notice any problems at this point, so I didn't say anything. Then, I went to go sit on a bench, thinking everything would be cool, and that's when I realized he started spraying **** on my rims.

I stopped him immediately, but it was obviously too late.

So, left front wheel had huge damage, and I believe he used the same window-rag on all 4 rims, so all 4 rims have oxidation / damage to the clearcoat on the lip.


I snapped some pix of the damage to use in court if it comes to that.









So in any case, the manager was a pretty stand up guy and he signed a written agreement that I wrote up on the spot, basically he agrees that (1) they caused the damage and (2) they would pay to repair all 4 wheels.



Now my only concern is WHAT to do to get them refinished.

I do not want to polish the aluminum and leave it bare. I want to either clearcoat it or chrome the barrels.

I have searched the forums EXTENSIVELY for results but I'm asking for all of your help to find a good shop for either re-chroming, or polish and clearcoating.

I would GREATLY prefer a shop that has dealt with volks before.

I know this has been done before, but I had a lot of trouble finding the contact info of the shops that people have used.

As mentioned I'm in the Socal area, I'm willing to drive up to about 50 miles from Pasadena if the place is good and they have dealt with refinishing Volks.



Same thing happened to this guy... check out this thread
https://my350z.com/forum/southern-california/203858-need-help-car-wash-damaged-wheel-course-of-action.html

if anyone knows where SOCAL350 got his rims chromed, let me know please.

I also know Triji got this done, but he lives in Arizona, so that's a bit far to drive.




THANKS VERY MUCH.........

I know my socal buds will stand up for me

-Mike

P.S. If any of you tells me to search, I really don't appreciate it and I'm in a ****-poor mood right now... so please, please, do not tell me to search... I cannot predict what would happen to you if you did

 

damn...well at least you tried and the guys cooperated. GL

 

ouchh sorry to hear about that....i know what you mean about not being able to wash the car, mine hasn't been washed in weeks cuz i've got no shade on my street.
good luck with finding a shop and getting the carwash to pay for the damages!

 

Sorry bout that.. the did phuc them up.. I had a bad day yesterday clipped my lip on a damn curb..

 

have you tried peanut butter?

 

damn bro sorry to hear. At least the manager agreed to pay to have them fixed.

 

 

Get some Alum polish and work on your wheels. They just stained your wheel on the polished part. It will come off. Seen it many times.

 

Mike I had some douche bag do the same to my wheels and I used Blue Majic metal polish on the wheels and it worked. I had some wierd white water stains on my car which I could not get off for the life of me. I would try it on a area that can't be seen to see if it works.............good luck bro

 

I never trust car washes, better to do it myself!

 

well you don't want to take the rest of the clear off and just polish. It will be very hard to keep clean, trust me(even though it will look new again). You want it to get it stripped from the old clear and get it recleared professionally. The clear will hold up way better than any rim manufacture. Too bad you can't take the lips off. Having it dipped in chrome is the best way to and the easiest maintenence.

 

Not trying to hijack a thread, but why do people insist on quoting someone's whole post? I don't see how a quote was needed at all in the above post (#8).

As for the wheels, don't try to clean them yourself with any polish. If you make it worse you have no ground to stand on for getting the car wash to pay for it. Just take them as is to a shop. I bet a phone call to Performance Nissan would be very informative on where to take your wheels.

 

telling a Mod to do a search...that sounds like a great idea. lol

 

Noooooo, not on these beautiful wheels, man, I hate car wash, GL man...

 

Wired, make sure you do what i stated above. Don't go polishing the rest of the clear off even though it will take forever. Literally. You messing with will make the job for the people fixing worse. Hopefully you get it worked out. Just make sure to get it recleared.

 

Sent a Pm.

If you need info on the courts and what not in Pasadena let me know. I did come away with a nice win.

 

bah bah bah another bites the dust....

j/k man that sucks, make sure they fix that ****

 

ouch sorry man

 

^^^^^No way man they are ruined Acid probably ate through the clearcoat.!!! So sorry to hear about your wheels man I had the same thing happen to my Maido GR5's and I tried to have them repaired but it just made it worse, I'm still trying to figure out where to get it done too so I feel your pain man I hope you get it all works out for you.

Please tell us more!!!

 

FYI, someone else thought that here as well, and all he did was take some polish and removed the stains. The clearcoat is most likely not damaged.