BigBlue124

Car had vibration issues. Brought it to a dealership with a service that has a rep that has treated me well in the past. Had a few other things to be done, so I dropped of my car, picked up the loaner and waited to hear back the next day.

Was told the rims were all bent, one much worse than the rest. Sent the worst out for repair/straightening.
Rim was bent in the center, not repairable. Needs to be replaced (~$750)
Replaced that rim. Doesn't fix the problem, send the other 3 for repairs (~$150 per).
One is repaired, other two are not repairable.
I picked the car up and am driving it again.

Vibration was bad from 35-50mph before.
Vibration is less, but at 0-50mph now.

I'll have to get the other 2 rims replaced.

Obviously I'm not happy about it. I've never heard of damaging rims that badly without popping a tire.

Anyone ever heard of damaged rims beyond repair, with no tire damage?

2intense

BigBlue124

Thanks. It seemed odd, curious if the rims are designed to be lighter and therefore not as strong and prone to bending?

Car is scuba blue. Does the crowd think gray or black looks better?




Current rim status. Wasn't looking to drop another grand, but it would be cheaper than 2 new rims from the dealer. Are you in NJ?

Any ideas (from anyone) what it would cost to get the tires onto new rims? Assume mounting includes balancing, should I also expect to check alignment with new rims and what should that run?

2intense

Sorry, I am on west coast (Cali), any tire place will swap over to new rims and balance for @$10-15 per tire and they do recomend alignment which can run $89-$149 but it really depends on how long ago you had one. If your rims are bent it's probably worth getting the alignment once you replace the wheels.

BigBlue124

In the big picture... $200 more for mounting and alignment seems reasonable. What do you suppose shipping runs?

lmariorod

Get another opinion. That seems fishy that all four rims have issues. If you're anywhere near Mahwah N.J. go see the guys at www.eurotechms.com
They'll give you their honest opinion on the condition of the rims.

2intense

not sure, when I have ordered on Ebay it was @$300

BigBlue124

Thanks. I'm in Central Jersey. Mahwah isn't exactly around the corner, but I am thinking about a couple other places to check them out. First thought was to let another shop check vibration, see if they independently discover bent rims. Some concern that I'll find a shop that will repair an irreparable rim, leaving me with either vibrations or a safety issue. I can't imagine the dealership not wanting to repair the rims, hoping for more new rim sales.

BigBlue124

That's what I was afraid of. $1500 for a new set of rims (shipped and mounted) would be great... if I knew I had to replace 3 and didn't already replace 1 and repair another.

Don't save them for me, see if you can move them locally. Maybe something closer to home will pop up... maybe a pair of OEM rims to match existing

Thanks.

Glisse

Wow! I agree with lmariorod and your original statement, bending four wheels yet no tyre damage seems impossible to me. Depends how well you know the history of the car, and whether this vibration issue was around for a while, or all of sudden.

I would also be very unhappy with the dealer. You have forked out $750 for a single wheel, at the very inflated spare parts price. Thinking you only needed one, and you logically wanted to keep your OEM set intact. Now this dealer is saying "we were wrong, you now need another two new ones for a total of $2250", which still leaves you with a set of 3 new wheels and one "repaired" one, for another $150. Total now at $2400. And a repaired wheel only has to look at a pothole to bend again. They should have picked up there was a problem with all the wheels, rather than locking you in by doing one or two wheels at a time. They are either incompetent or crooked, and I'd demand my money and old wheel back and get out of there.

Audi sell OEM accessory wheel sets at much lower prices, although I don't know what range is available in the US, maybe not much. And you can get also get 18" BBS SX wheels from TireRack for $270 each. BBS are one of Audi's OEM wheel suppliers, and the quality is excellent. Plus, if you bend one (seems like the NJ roads are pretty bad), you will be out $270 plus fitting. Not $750.

And you don't want to go to 19" wheels (and the tyres to fit them) if you are bending 18" wheels. The B8 cab gets quite harsh in the move from 18 to 19 inch wheels. Good luck, hope you get out of this situation with some decent wheels and a not completely empty wallet.