so i take my car to jackie cooper electronics since they're a smaller chain that do alarms/tires/wheels/etc to mount my vredestein tires on my oe 19's. so i pick it up right before closing and the service guy is like "let me show you something... we ran into a little problem." basically, when the mechanic set the rim on there the tire or rim must've moved one of the plastic caps loose to the prongs that hold the face of the wheel (there are 4 of them). so when it tightened, the plastic cap slipped, shot out, and a prong caught the face. the guy offered to either resurface the wheel or waive the mount/balance fee ($100). i just paid the mount/balance and told them i'll get it fixed. i called a resurfacing place and they quoted about $100+ and the wheel will be gone for 2-3 days at the very least. i'm thinking i can live with it and just have the shop cut me a check for like $125 to avoid the hassle of taking off work, getting a rental and risking another wheel catastrophe. FWIW, the rest of the wheel and other 3 are near excellent great shape. granted these are not Works or other super expensive wheels, but what would you guys do? fix it or get a check?

 

I'm not sure those wheels can be refinished to match the OEM finish. they can get it sorta close, but it will have a slightly darker shade. That finish is a two part process, hyper silver over black powder coat. The paint does not meet EPA guidelines, so a perfect OEM refinish isnt available here.. nor will touch up paint look the same as the 2 stage process. Lots of people have had their wheels touched up.. and some are happy with the results, but you should set your expectations accordingly.

 

I would just take the check, the damage doesn't look noticeable unless you're really looking for it. At least the shop had the ***** to man up to their mistakes that always gets a + in my book.

 

I am glad to hear that the shop is stand up about the damage - most of them would ignore it and hope you don't notice it or say it was like that already etc.. lots of shady bitches out there.

I would just take the check as well, it's not that noticeable.

 

i'm not familiar w/ the refinishing process for any type of rims for that matter. i asked the shop lady if they can fill in the gouges and how they do it. she said they have multiple processes and can get rid of it but wasn't sure w/o looking at it. she did mention those wheels have a certain type of powder coat/finish and said they would come out the same. maybe she is lying.

 

Thats cool of the shop, but most likely you'll get just as much or more damage in normal driving within 10k miles.

 

Leave it as is that is very minor damage!!.. I've personally had my 2 front wheels refinished at Wheels of America and they nver matched the rears again.. Looking closely you can tell they were refinshed i ended up just giving the wheels away got pissed off looking at them...

 

thanks for the input guys. i'll just get him a quote and see if he can cut me a check. the more i think about it, it's something i can live with. it's just unfortunate that a mechanic doesn't look to make sure all the clamps and plastic caps are fully seated before working a hydraulic or pneumatic machine. it's something that could've been easily prevented. chicks dig scars on wheels too, right?