Pete_UK99

Got a flat tyre a couple of Saturdays ago which obviously pi**ed me off, also considering I'd just had my year service costing £170. I wanted it fixed as soon as possible because I really don't find the space saving wheel to flattering in fact it looks like I'd just nicked a wheel off Noddy's car. Unfortunately it was to late and all the garages were shut so it meant finding one open on a Sunday. I've always said that I'd never use Kwik Fit but on a Sunday I didn't have an option as these seemed to be the only garage open in my area. So anyway they said they could fill the hole and they'd try not to chip the alloy. Got the wheel back and the mechanic was proud to tell me that he'd managed not to scrape the wheel at all. Anyway cleaning my wheels the other day I discover that not only did he actually manage to chip the paint around the rim but also he'd replaced my nice metal valve cap with a cheep plastic one.
Is there a way of replacing tyres without scratching the wheels? I'm just so annoyed because I've had the car a year now and the alloys were spotless. Even though it's not a massive chip it just really stands out because I've got gold wheels (please no crap jokes about gold wheels). Does anyone know roughly how much it will cost to fix?

Cheers

Peter

Somerset Yokel

I would be interested in knowing where tyres can be changed without damaging alloys. On my last car it wasn't the tyre changing that did the damage (this can be done from the inside) but the kit they hung on the wheels to do the tracking.

Any recommendations around Hampshire would be worth knowing!

SDUKES

I've used RSR Tyres & Wheels in Redhill - not a mark on mine, and they do any valve and cheapest for Yokohama I could find locally.

Blues

Sorry to hear about the alloy mate. As always it probably doesn't look bad to anyone but yourself but it still grates as it wasn't you that did the damage! I had a slow puncture repaired last tues whilst away on business and my wheel was also 'scratched' around the rim in 3 places. I never looked at the time as it was covered in about a ton of grease and crap but when I cleaned it on wed I noticed the scratches. Yesterday I ran the center (ATS) and their manager there was top class. He couldn't apologise enough and has arranged for a company called, ahem, Wicked Wheels to come out and refurbish my rim for free. Not too sure how good these mobile refurbishers are but the level of aftermarket care from ATS has been second to none. They believed me straight off even though I couldn't return to them as they are over 140 miles from me. I'll post the outcome when it's been done.

Maybe you should ring the centre back and just ask for it to be sorted ... you may get an unexpected result like I have.

Good luck with it.

Blues.

Pete_UK99

Wow that is good, I was thinking of ringing them back but like you say I really don't think they'd get a company to fix it for free this is Kwik fit we're talking about. Worth a go though I suppose.

Cheer for the help.

Pete_UK99

Redhill is pretty near me I think I'll try out RSR next time. edited to say hopefully next time won't be for a while if at all.

[Edited by Pete_UK99 - 7/19/2002 5:01:36 PM]

Jerry B

I've been using RSR a while now. I get a quote from Micheldever then ask them to quote and they always get close enough to make little difference.
They're pretty good service wise too.