[WarReady]

My brother took his brand new 550 m-sport to habberstad bmw over here in Huntington New York Monday! He hit a pothole and got a bubble in his run flat..! He has wheel protection plan so dealer swapped tire! He picked his car up at night Monday and yesterday when he woke up he noticed the rim was all scratched up had touch up paint on it and not only that it had a lot of brake dust inside the barrel of the rim! He cleans his wheels every other rim is super clean! He has pics of his car and in all pics u can see a small chip on the wheel but this wheel does tnot have it!!! THEY GAVE HIM SOMEONE ELSES RIM!!! He went down there and told them and they said they would have it refinished but he wants a brand new one as his was new car only has 6k miles and the manger called him and left him a voicemail Monday stating they were only going to change tire and as the rim was straight and as brand new as possible!!! I told him to call a lawyer or his buddy that is pretty high up over at the local news channel!! Any advice??? They know they messed up but do not want to admit !! He also has pictures on the messed up tire from that morning and there is no scratches or touch up paint the rim was mint!!!! Please help!! ??

[Grover432]

"I told him to call a lawyer or his buddy that is pretty high up over at the local news channel!!"

You sound like you are 16. Oh the injustices of the world. Find out what the tire and rim package contract says. Maybe all he is entitled to is a refinished wheel as long as it rolls straight without vibration??

[NickRac]

Originally Posted by STACKZ89

I told him to call a lawyer or his buddy that is pretty high up over at the local news channel!!

Seriously stop being such a little woman. If it rolls and it doesn't vibrate he's good to go.

[WarReady]

There was nothing wrong with his rim..! It was straight no scratches mint..!!

[Super6]

It not that serious, its a rim. It will be lightly scratched in about 2 weeks of driving anyway. As long as its nothing crazy you are wasting your time and the dealer isn't going to do anything about it anyway.

[Gugs]

Habberstad in hungtinton is one of if not the best dealer on this island.

They have a special way of treating yuppie clients which appears to be what they handed you or your brother.
Pls contact your lawyer and the news so they can both laugh like we are.

[PhilT3]

Check the fine print of the coverage contract and make sure they are providing the service per contract. Also, is it a lease? Is it a daily driver? If so, try not to let it get to you guys. Like the others said, it's just a rim. It's not an aftermarket, forged, etc... Rim costing thousands. If it's straight that's all that matters. Now if it's all nicked up, they should refinish it in my opinion.

Best of luck.

[ezmaass]

1. I've never understood why anyone would get upset about a scratch on a rim, first of all. It's GOING to get scratches if you drive the car.

2. If they said they'd refinish it, GREAT... take it. Again, see #1. It's a rim, and it sounds like they're doing the right thing here.

3. Mistakes do happen. Why do you assume they're "playing games" when they may have 10 cars in the shop with the same rims... and they could have given your brother the wrong rim by mistake, quite innocently. Do you expect that they can really track down what other car his rim got switched with?

4. As others have pointed out, talking to a lawyer or the news is ridiculous. Both should be reserved for major incidents where serious damage has been done, major injustice, scandal, or fraud - this qualifies for none. Could you imagine watching the 6pm news to hear about how some guy got the wrong RIM back at his BMW dealer?? Are you serious?

5. I've always found posts curious where the owner of the vehicle, himself/herself, isn't the one posting about the "problem." If your brother is so upset about this (as the owner of the car), why isn't he the one here posting and looking for guidance? Maybe there's a legitimate reason, but it just seems odd to me.

If it were me, I'd take the dealer up on the offer to refinish the wheel and call it a day. This is pretty straight forward and simple. My 550xi has 575 miles on it as of today, and honestly, I don't think I'd bat an eye if one of the wheels got scratched. Why? Because I know it's going to happen sooner or later, and you can't lose sleep over this crap. The first time I go to have the tires changed, some tech is probably going to scratch them pretty good, too... inevitable. It's a BMW sedan... nice car, but it's not as if this is a garage queen collector's car. If you told me some shop swapped a rim on your $300k Ferrari 458 Italia, maybe I'd be a little more concerned - still not calling a lawyer or the news over it, though! Please!

[NickRac]

Originally Posted by ezmaass

1. I've never understood why anyone would get upset about a scratch on a rim, first of all. It's GOING to get scratches if you drive the car.

2. If they said they'd refinish it, GREAT... take it. Again, see #1. It's a rim, and it sounds like they're doing the right thing here.

3. Mistakes do happen. Why do you assume they're "playing games" when they may have 10 cars in the shop with the same rims... and they could have given your brother the wrong rim by mistake, quite innocently. Do you expect that they can really track down what other car his rim got switched with?

4. As others have pointed out, talking to a lawyer or the news is ridiculous. Both should be reserved for major incidents where serious damage has been done, major injustice, scandal, or fraud - this qualifies for none. Could you imagine watching the 6pm news to hear about how some guy got the wrong RIM back at his BMW dealer?? Are you serious?

5. I've always found posts curious where the owner of the vehicle, himself/herself, isn't the one posting about the "problem." If your brother is so upset about this (as the owner of the car), why isn't he the one here posting and looking for guidance? Maybe there's a legitimate reason, but it just seems odd to me.

If it were me, I'd take the dealer up on the offer to refinish the wheel and call it a day. This is pretty straight forward and simple. My 550xi has 575 miles on it as of today, and honestly, I don't think I'd bat an eye if one of the wheels got scratched. Why? Because I know it's going to happen sooner or later, and you can't lose sleep over this crap. The first time I go to have the tires changed, some tech is probably going to scratch them pretty good, too... inevitable. It's a BMW sedan... nice car, but it's not as if this is a garage queen collector's car. If you told me some shop swapped a rim on your $300k Ferrari 458 Italia, maybe I'd be a little more concerned - still not calling a lawyer or the news over it, though! Please!

[jeru95]

Ehh...I agree with the guy...owned my Acura for 8 years and the car and the rims did not have a scratch. If people expect rims to get scratched from driving, they can't drive very well...I go out of my way to take care of my stuff...if someone gave me a beat up rim, I would be pretty heated...We aren't talking about a $10,000 dollar car with steelies...price those M sport rims out new and that is some cash...he shouldn't be so quick to escalate it before talking with these guys...thats the only deal...a calm demeanor goes a long way to getting stuff corrected...

[pillpusher84]

Originally Posted by jeru95

Ehh...I agree with the guy...owned my Acura for 8 years and the car and the rims did not have a scratch. If people expect rims to get scratched from driving, they can't drive very well...I go out of my way to take care of my stuff...if someone gave me a beat up rim, I would be pretty heated...We aren't talking about a $10,000 dollar car with steelies...price those M sport rims out new and that is some cash...he shouldn't be so quick to escalate it before talking with these guys...thats the only deal...a calm demeanor goes a long way to getting stuff corrected...

+1 ... I don't know about you guys ... but I take as good of care of my rims as I do my paint .... they are flawless ... so if they F'd up my rims ... I'd make them replace with a NEW rim ... not refinish

[RED99HT]

I agree with the OP as well. Maybe he's going a little nuts but I would want what was entitled to me as well, an undamaged rim. If you brought in your car for service and got it back with a scratch on the door, would that be okay with you? Would your attitude be "well its just a scratch, it would have gotten scratched eventually since I drive the car"? Ya, I didn't think so.

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

+1 ... I don't know about you guys ... but I take as good of care of my rims as I do my paint .... they are flawless ... so if they F'd up my rims ... I'd make them replace with a NEW rim ... not refinish

Guys, I'm not sure if I misread the OP's post, but as it reads, the rim already HAD damage - in fact, the LACK of a particular "chip" in the rim is what lead the OP to suggest that's how they knew it wasn't the original. Sounds like this rim just had DIFFERENT damage than the damage the OP's rim had... the OP's rim was clean (with a chip) and this rim is dirty with a touched-up area? So, we traded one non-flawless rim for another non-flawless rim.

I take care of my cars, too, but rims have a funny way of getting scratches on them no matter how hard you try. It's similar to getting small paint dings on the lower front fascia from rocks kicking up on the highway when you're driving 80mph. Or for that matter, the thread regarding people opening their doors into you at parking lots. Honestly, the only way to have a car that looks showroom perfect is literally never to drive it.

In this case, I think the dealer is being reasonable and offered to refinish the wheel. The fact is, the OP's original wheel wasn't flawless - it had damage. Refinishing this wheel (the right way) will likely make it BETTER than the wheel the OP already had. I've had the wheels on my e90 335 restored (mainly due to bends causing vibration) about 3 years into ownership. It's not cheap, and if done correctly, the wheels will look nearly new. The dealer could have otherwise said, "I don't know what you're talking about - that's your wheel." Instead, they're offering to send this guy home with a wheel that's better than the one he came into the shop with... and instead of taking that reasonable offer, this guy is talking about law suits and the 6 o'clock news!

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by RED99HT

I agree with the OP as well. Maybe he's going a little nuts but I would want what was entitled to me as well, an undamaged rim. If you brought in your car for service and got it back with a scratch on the door, would that be okay with you? Would your attitude be "well its just a scratch, it would have gotten scratched eventually since I drive the car"? Ya, I didn't think so.

I think some of you missed where the OP said:

"He has pics of his car and in all pics u can see a small chip on the wheel but this wheel does tnot have it!!!"

The OP's brother didn't go into the shop with a flawless rim. He went into the shop with a damaged rim, as admitted by the OP in the above sentence. The dealer is offering to give the OP's brother a completely refinished wheel. If done correctly, a refinished wheel will look pretty much new. I'm failing to see why the OP is entitled to a NEW wheel to replace his admittedly damaged one simply because the shop mixed up his damaged wheel with ANOTHER damaged wheel?

[535i///M]

I had a rim refinished on my e60 and even though it looked better, it never really looked new. It was missing that smooth shinny finish and after a few years the finish looked worse. I ended up scrapping another curb anyway so it was a total waste of money. When someone else damages your car it feels 100 times worse. If you hire a lawyer you are better off just buying a brand new rim, it will be cheaper. The media could care less about your scratched rim. The dealer does not want a bad reputation, talk to the service manager I am sure they will correct the issue.

[NickRac]

Originally Posted by jeru95

Ehh...I agree with the guy...owned my Acura for 8 years and the car and the rims did not have a scratch. If people expect rims to get scratched from driving, they can't drive very well...I go out of my way to take care of my stuff...if someone gave me a beat up rim, I would be pretty heated...We aren't talking about a $10,000 dollar car with steelies...price those M sport rims out new and that is some cash...he shouldn't be so quick to escalate it before talking with these guys...thats the only deal...a calm demeanor goes a long way to getting stuff corrected...

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

+1 ... I don't know about you guys ... but I take as good of care of my rims as I do my paint .... they are flawless ... so if they F'd up my rims ... I'd make them replace with a NEW rim ... not refinish

Originally Posted by RED99HT

I agree with the OP as well. Maybe he's going a little nuts but I would want what was entitled to me as well, an undamaged rim. If you brought in your car for service and got it back with a scratch on the door, would that be okay with you? Would your attitude be "well its just a scratch, it would have gotten scratched eventually since I drive the car"? Ya, I didn't think so.

Is this really what you guys have time to spend on in your lives?

[PhilT3]

There are bigger fish to fry...