My New Wheels Broke!
 

Guys...

I had a new set of 19" AC Schnitzer Type 3 Alloys (Split Rims) for my car...

Was so excited and did not want to trust just any tyre shop to fit the tyres and balance the wheels i made a trip to Elite to have them fitted.

The rears got done without any issues...however the front Valves seemed to be leaking..instead of taking out the Alloy valves to see if they are ok, they further tried to tighten them and snapped it in the Wheel itself...

Noone is able to repair it and i am unable to get the new Valve i i bought to fit into the Wheel..and all Elite could offer is a Free tyre change for when i get it fixed!!! :o

They charge £80 to fit and balance 4 wheels...!!! So really i did not expect to be sent home being told the Valve was no good!


New wheel is £800 + VAT :cry:

Does anyone here know anyone who has one maybe sitting in a Alloy shop window?
I only need the outer part of the wheel, however AC themselves do not sell them seperatly...

Or is it possible for some shop to drill a new hole in the wheel for a Valve and weld the old one shut maybe?

Any help appriciated....

Sam
Ps: for my M5

So, you take your alloys to be fitted with tyres to a company, who then F??K up one of the alloys.
Something tells me Elite are totally respnsible for this.

elite are at fault you paid for them the put the tyres on they dropped a ball-ache they can sort it! if that means a new wheel then they must cough up the £800! especially charging £80 to fit 4 tyres :eek2:

dont let em get away with it mate if you put ya scooby in a garage to have work done an they scratched it they wood have to sort it , its the same thing aint it put pressure on them looosers :freak3:

It would be possible for the wheel to be welded and drilled but then i would personally question the integrity of said wheel due to the heat process involved with the welding. It would need to be heat treated after to ensure that all the alloy is the same.
In any case, i would hold Elite responsible for any repair/replacement as they were working on it/caused it to/when it failed, they will be insured against such issues so i don't see that there should be a problem?

Could you not get it removed with spark erosion? But as said above I would be laying the at Elites door...80 quid to fit 4 tyers!!!

. spark erosion and helicoiling on site Pear Tree Engineering

Appriciate all the replies...

Well they only charged me £40 for the rears that they did ok....fronts they did not charge....as i did go back with the tyres an hour later to have them fitted...

Did call them but they did not want to know...I have used Elite many times before and they are very professional...and for the money they charge i would have expected nothing less...

After this i tried to use a reverse thread tool to try to get the thread out...and that snapped inside aswell....so not sure what i can do....

Had no joy with Elite over te phone...they blamed the valve when i was there....what else could i do?


I will try to call and speak to the manager tommorow to see what there policy is relating to accidental damadges for when they are on a job?....

Stuff ringing them, go down there and kick up a right stink in the store in front of their other customers. The showroom is always busy on a Saturday.

I agree with Fozzalot, go there in person and talk to them. They should take full responsibility as their employee over-torqued the valve and snapped it.

You should also change the thread title to 'Elite made a schoolboy error and screwed one of my £800 + VAT wheels'.

Hope you get it sorted mate.

Only issue being that i have snaped the reversed thresed bit in there...which is a hard metal and does not want to budge....

surely a garage will have a tool that can remove it, I remember them having some tool that was able to remove the locking wheel nuts after I`d broken the key on my old mondeo so there must be something

Just been looking at this site...and i only wish i had seen this before...

Though i will call them tommorow..to see what they can offer...but if i recall right spark erosion is required to remove the hard metal in there...that has so far broken every drill bit that i have tried on it...

Then i think a Helicoil to re thread...

Its called a reverse thread....which you screw into the hole and it reveses what bits in the hole that is broken....that is what i used...but it snapped in there...:confused: :confused: bit stupid...but it did :mad: so i should really go back to machine Mart to get my money back for the sh1t they sold me too....


My day just gets worse...my brother left a Oil bottle behind the driver seat.....:freak3: so no i have near 2L of oil soaked into my carpet! :cry:

:eek2:

SO...how can i clean a carpet full of oil...



On a good note...im off to Haywood and Scott tommrow to get my exhaust sorted...i managed to blow a hole in it when i was at the ring two weeks back...

Elite will be insured for such things. Don't be fobbed off.


Mark.

i rang up elite askin about sumthing all i got was a cocky answer and the guy said no we not goin to help u then put phone down.sound like a bunch of arseholes to me if that was me id go bk down there and kik up a massive fuss in front of everybody or even better park you car in the way of there doors and say u not moving it till they do sumthing about it then they will be stuffed lol

you need to get in touch with your local scooby club. ask if any members have had dealings with elite or a member have a contact working there. you could go down there in convoy that might make them do something. or you could say you will say how crap thy are on scooby net which you have sort of dun already.

mark

The ESC have had a lot of dealings with Elite in the past. All pretty good from memory too.

They in fact had an open day just for Scoobs with deals on tyres, suspension and laser alignment/geometry.

As a club the bill went in to the thousands on that day alone!! :eek:

I will try and find out the contact the club normally deal with. :thumb:

ok, Barry Eldrige is the guy the ESC deal with at Elite. Worth a shot :thumb:

When you talk to Barry, be firm but stay polite - don't lose your rag. A quiet discussion will support your argument for Elite to fix the problem they caused far better than a row where they will simply back off and probably tell you to eff off!

I have been there a number of times with my Scooby and once part of a groupby hrom here in the past...It was Lee who delt with me this time around..

Had a chat with the manager...who just was not willing to listen...and said that we will not cover it as the wheels were not provided by us...after i mentioned scoobynet...his tone did change..and he said...if you bring it down he will have a go at tring to fix it but can not garantee anything.....but really that is not good enough..

I just ended it there...i will call them again, and this time record the conversation and post it up....As they claim that all wheels npt purchased through them are not covered under the insurance...(which is really a hole load of b0locks!)

Get a solicitor to write them a letter explaining you are intending to sue for the damage they caused. Don't mess around you will win this one hands down.

kinda true, but the dodgy workmanship of their employees is covered under insurance..... steeerike one:lol1:

shouldnt be hard to prove this either fella. good luck:thumb:

ewwwwwww

we did a zafira once with a few litres if engine oil in the carpets, and we couldnt ge it all out :(

we made it better, but after 3 hours of trying, we just give up :freak3:

Legally you need to tell him you're recording !!

Or just say we would like to inform our customers that some calls get monitored for training :norty:

not true, if its a business yes, as a private person, you are under no obligation to inform the person your ringing that you are recording the conversation or that maybe its a open call on speaker.

you need to talk to the top man not the manager. you mite get a different response, the manager could be tying to cover this up so the top man dus not find out.

Anyone with a phone is technically bound by the T&C of 1984 telecommunication act, in which a licence is required to use or run a telec' system. This include residental users!

Thus recordin a conversation without telling him is a breech of the licence and technically OFTEL could launch a civil action against you :thumb:

or at least thats where I'm up to ... :)

They are responsible for the damage to the wheel. Don`t let them fob you off with "We`ll try to fix it". Threaten them with the local/national papers.

Simply not good enough. :razz:

Remember the customer is always right. :thumb:

I can understand that many people have had work carried out by this company. So you would like to think that they would correct their error.

For the sake of a few hundred quid, against possibly thousands in revenue. I know which avenue I`d take.

Ant

Hope you resolve this asap.

ask to see there customer terms and conditions papers most company's have them.

AC Schnitzer now trade in the UK independantly as the contract with BMW has now ceased, you can buy just the valves from Schnitzer direct. I know, I've ordered them for cars at our dealership.

AC Schnitzer UK Ltd
Manor Road
Dersingham
King's Lynn
PE31 6LD

Tel: +44 (0) 1485 542000

AC Schnitzer UK