QUA77R0

Warning LARGE photos...

December 24th I drove my family down to Newport Beach to visit relatives for Christmas. After the long drive, I checked my wife and son into the hotel and went to have the car washed. The local detail shop that I have used in the past (Steve's Detailing) was closed and so I used the Beacon Bay Auto Wash that shares the same driveway. It is a hand wash but still has the track for the wheels.

This was my early Christmas present:








I brought the damage to the managers attention and was told that while they would make a report, they were not responsible and I must have brought them in damaged. These are the wheels that Audi just replaced less than 3,000 miles ago after the cracking issue. Since he claimed that I must have "curbed" my wheels, I asked him to show me ANY curbage or damage of ANY kind on any of the other wheels. There is none. I had just looked at the wheels when my wife and I arrived at the hotel. Dirty yes, damaged no.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to resolve this with their regional management and am still waiting to here back from them. The manager at the car wash boldly stated that while he would file a report, nothing would come of it. We'll see...

I guess this is a warning about the car wash. It's bad enough that they damaged the wheel but that they won't take responsibility for damage caused by their equipment or employees is pathetic.

Anyone have any ideas how to avoid a repeat of this in the future? I was thinking that in the future, should I ever use a car wash while travelling, that I should have the manager walk the car with me before they wash it. Maybe even go so far as to video tape us walking it prior to washing. Any ideas or suggestions?

keithandstef

Pics not posting. And I have never (24 years running, dating back to pretty inexpensive cars) taken my car to any car wash. They seem so damn harsh.

a4-bob

sorry to hear about that. unfortunately I have no advice to offer but this does solidify my resolve to wash my own. your pics didn't make it through - was one wheel scraped going along the car wash tracks or what do you suspect?

Good luck fighting them! I hope you get something out of it.

QUA77R0

Just discovered that the album was marked private. Changed to public. Hopefully now the photos will post properly. I am in total agreement on car washes...this was a "hand wash" (part of the problem). I watched them wash it but it still has tracks that guide the car through the rinse etc. I usually have a detailer come to the house when I'm too tired to do it myself but I was 450 miles from home on Christmas Eve so my options were a bit limited and being almost OCD about keeping our cars clean, I had to find a way to clean the avant before the "gathering".

Thanks. I think being tired from the drive contributed to my not being more thoughtful... Hopefully the photos are visible now.

As to the damaged drivers front wheel, I can only describe what I think happened. Watching the car being washed, two guys washed the car body while another guy cleaned the wheels. He used a wood wheel brush on a 5-6 foot pole that he kept swinging at the wheels. I figured that the long bristles were all that were hitting the wheel but it seems the brush head was coming loose as at one point, he stopped cleaning and pressed the brush head against the floor and began vigorously twisting the pole. He didn't continue cleaning the wheels and walked away. He turned out to be the guy who hand waxed the avant. I approached the car and noticed that the rear wheel rim was covered in what appeared to be black rubber. I asked him to clean it off and then looked at the front wheel rim which was also coated in a black rubbery substance. It was at that time that I saw the scrape damage and then the impact dents. I took photos inside the wash area and found one spot on the track where the plastic guide had a deep wear mark and right beneath it slightly protruding is a rough weld. The low profile 255/35/19 tires let the rim edge slide below the plastic protector making contact with that steel weld very possible. I think that the black rubbery gunk is the rubber/grime scraped off of other tires onto the plastic guide and that it then transferred to my wheel. Initially I though that the impact dents were also caused on the track as the black grime was smeared into them as well as the scrape. In hindsight, I am almost positive that the impacts were from the careless employee and/or faulty wheel brush handle and the the scrape is a result of the weld I previously mentioned.

Please let me know if the photos are still missing.

Thanks

Morale of the story...if you care about your car don't risk a place like this.

audi40

Had a very similar story with the driver side front rim/wheel on my A6 not once, but twice @ a car wash that is part of a large regional chain.

First time I took my A6 to this wash (which I had used frequently with my '09 A4 and other previous cars, with never a problem), I felt a bang and the wheel jerked when I pulled into the car wash track. I knew immediately that I had dinged the rim and, sure enough, when I came out of the wash I inspected the tire to find a ding in the rim (similar to the pics shown previously, and smaller than the size of a finger nail), but the tire itself (a 245/40-18) had a split down the side-wall 1-2" long. The tire was still holding air, but a trip to the dealer confirmed my fear....tire was a goner and with less than 700 miles on my car, I had to shell out $260 to replace the tire. Never having had problems @ this wash before, I chalked it up to a freak, stupid accident (my fault). Over the next few months, I took my A6 there another half-dozen times, always driving VERY slowly into the tire guide.

As luck would have it, 4-5 months after the first incident, I was @ the wash again and felt a small bang and the wheel jerked as I pulled in. Upon exiting the car wash, it was deja vu...there was another small nick in the rim (within one inch of the first one), but this time there was a j-shaped gash in the meaty-part of the sidewall where it meets the rim - fortunately, the tire was deemed (by the dealer) to be safe to drive on, other than the cosmetic scarring. This time I called BS and contacted the car wash chain, sending them a full description of the incidents and pictures of the tire/rim damage.

I figured I'd get nowhere with my complaint, but wanted to at least let the car wash company (which has over 30 locations) know of my issues @ this particular location. 2-3 days after lodging my complaint, I was contacted by the company's VP of operations who invited me to meet with him @ the car wash and offered to pay for the tire I had to replace.

I ended up spending over a half-hour with the VP-ops who had been with the company over 30 years. We reviewed video tape of my car entering the wash, and he took me inside the wash as cars were going thru it - I learned more about the inner workings of car wash than I ever expected to! After walking the track with him and inspecting all the safeguards they have in place, we could not figure out what caused the damage to my rim/tires - regardless, he said that cutomer satisfaction is the core of their business and paid me $260 for the tire (I did not worry about the nicks in the rim as the marks were relatively minor and I figured eventually they would catch some road rash one way or another).

The VP-ops did mention his wife was also an Audi-driver and pointed out that there are ridges in the sidewall of newer low-profile tires which are designed to prevent rim damage - apparently, they served their purpose by limiting damage to my rims, but also caught on something in the car-wash track which caused damage to the tires themselves.

So now, other than hand-washing during the warmer weather, I only take my car to a TOUCHLESS wash with no track.

Following pic shows larger nick in rim (where the sidewall on my original tire was split and had to be replaced), and the smaller nick right above it (with the curved sidewall gash) from the 2nd incident:

JD15

Unfortunately, the wheels on my car incurred similar damage when new tires were mounted and I received no compensation from the incompetent tire shop.

Since I live in an area where it is below freezing for 3-4 months per year and I don't have the necessary space to wash my car, I am forced to bring it to a car wash. The car wash has a track, but my wheels have never been damaged; the larger sidewall on the 18" wheels may reduce the likelihood of damage.

NickZag

That sucks man, so sorry to see that happen Usually car washes have a "Enter at your own risk" sign of some kind somewhere. If not, I would say the burden of proof is on them that the damage DIDN'T occur in they're wash.

When I was going through school I had a job at a gas station and our car wash did all kind of damage to cars. Our manager always pointed to the sign and I never saw a customer get any kind of damage reimbursed. Thats not to say it can't happen, I mean they carry insurance for instances like yours.

JBDinTX

Ok I am dealing with an issue now on my s5. I was in a parking lot durning a rain storm and hit a storm drain grate it damaged my wheel and tire. I am trying to get the property management company do pay for it. But I talked to a company in Dallas and the will fix the wheels for $125. And I think discount tire will pro rate the tire. Cross yours and my fingers.

gunsmoker

That's why I had the Contis DWS installed at my Audi dealership. I bought them from Tirerack for $200/set less than the dealership price and had them delivered to my house because the dealership wouldn't take a Tirerack delivery for Audi customers (only for Porsche's - what a discrimination). I bought a mattress bag from U-Haul, washed the car real nice, folded the rear seats, put the bag in the back of the car and the tires in it and off I went to the dealership. They did the work for $120, put the P7s in the mattress bag for me and didn't leave a scratch. This price is well worth the piece of mind that someone qualified to install tires on $100k cars would do the job.

By the way, I had called the dealership upfront to find out their price and make an appointment. When the guy said "$120" I asked "Um, per wheel or ... maybe the four of them ...?" $120 is definitely a good price from a dealership for an installation of 4 tires. I have some recollection that I paid between 45 and 80 bucks for a single tire at a Toyota dealership years back. That had the disposal fee in though.

I have had such problems with independent tire shops in Massachusetts in the past. I have used TownFairTire, DirectTire, and Costco. My next choice would have been TownFairTire if the dealership had quoted more than $200. I'd never go to DirectTire again even though they take Tirerack deliveries.

About contact car washes or touchless ones with tracks, the people who are using those are really pushing their luck, or washing company cars, or just don't care.

Also, if you care, don't use brushes at DIY car washes - I don't recommend any contact! Imagine a dirty truck or a dirt bike being washed with that brush before your car and the scratches the sand and dirt in the brush would do to your car.

QUA77R0

Oh I care all right. Ask anyone that has seen my cars in person. But after 9 hours of driving/crawling in traffic, I was exhausted. I hadn't used a car wash in years. I'm not worried about some swirl marks as I can polish that out easy enough but certainly never thought my Audi wheels would get hammered and scraped.

I wouldn't use one of those car wash brushes on anything but wheels and gently. The key is to blast the brush with wheel cleaner and high pressure rinse before use. It's not so much the guy with the dirty truck as it is the self-absorbed ***** that thinks the brush is for scrubbing down his engine bay.