Scratches on Wheels from Tire Removal?

[ZimmLR]

Ok everyone. Looking for a sanity check here. I purchased a set of Fifteen52 wheels about three months ago and had Costco install some Michelin AS4’s. Wheels were flawless. I also had alloy gators installed to prevent against curb damage.

I sourced a set of 19 black prets, which is what I really wanted all along. So I take the wheels to a local tire shop and ask them to peel the rubber off the Fifteen52’s and install on the prets.

Upon inspecting the Fifteen52’s, there’s scrapes and scratches all over the lip of the wheels. I know that removing tires will create SOME markings - but does this seem really exesssive?

 

[the]

Yes, this is excessive. A local tire shop should have taken far more car with your wheels.

 

[SRGTD]

IMHO the large mark on the lip of the wheel in the first picture was probably caused by the tyre fitter. The smaller scratches could be the result of the AlloyGator installation process (don’t they have to be hammered on?) or grit getting between the AlloyGator and the wheel.

 

[kevinkar]

For brand new wheels, that looks bad. I don't recall either my OEM wheels or my Enkei wheels looking that bad after installation/removal ever. Certainly not as a result of tire installation. That first picture looks horrible. I don't know how that could have happened. It looks ground down and not in a curb rash sort of way.

Those scratches are all on the outside and don't they install/remove from the inside on alloy wheels? I know my Enkei wheels (3-piece aluminum) needed to be done from the inside likely for this reason - they were softer than steel, painted and tire work could scratch them up. So Enkei recommended tires be installed (or the blade that pops the tire on be run) from the inside.

If they did run them on/off from the inside, the tray they set on might have grit in it that scratched them up. You should bring one back to the shop and show them and see what they say.

 

[PowerDemon]

Yes that is excessive. It can and should be done with no marks whatsoever.

 

[aroundomaha]

I had Costco out tires on my Alltrack with stock wheels and they scratched them as they did yours. Lesson learned on my part. Never again Costco.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Everyone should point out that their wheels don't have any scratches before the tire place does the job and if they're scratched afterwards they will be liable.

 

[StockblockGLI]

My local shop did the same thing to the wheels on my E90 when I had the tires installed.

 

[ElectricEye]

There's a VW/Porsche/Audi shop that I use in Point Pleasant NJ.
They've got a "no scratch" guarantee for tire installation.
That's where I went when I got my Conti's installed on my Neuspeed's.

 

[RisingFallens]

Most places don’t clean the heads on the tire machines. It just collects excess lube and dirt which will scratch your wheels when you spun the bead! I’ve been doing tires for 5-6 years, and have seen those tiny scratches from install, but that Knick and 1-inch scratch isn’t from an install. The tire machine would bind before causing that type of damage!

 

[ZimmLR]

Most places don’t clean the heads on the tire machines. It just collects excess lube and dirt which will scratch your wheels when you spun the bead! I’ve been doing tires for 5-6 years, and have seen those tiny scratches from install, but that Knick and 1-inch scratch isn’t from an install. The tire machine would bind before causing that type of damage!

I literally dropped the tires off without a single blemish larger than a quarter inch anywhere on the wheels - and with zero damage to the lip, so I struggle to understand how the items you described as not being from an install were caused. Pour handling pre or post-install?

 

[RisingFallens]

Im not sure! Unless the curbed your wheels when driving it in/out? The only piece of equipment on a tire machine that could do that knick, would be the shovel that people sometimes uses to pop the bead, but even then you’d just have to be a turd to not stop before you did that.

 

[Unreal1]

Only go to shops with touchless mounting, if they have both make sure to request it.

 

[Desslok]

Ok everyone. Looking for a sanity check here. I purchased a set of Fifteen52 wheels about three months ago and had Costco install some Michelin AS4’s. Wheels were flawless. I also had alloy gators installed to prevent against curb damage.

I sourced a set of 19 black prets, which is what I really wanted all along. So I take the wheels to a local tire shop and ask them to peel the rubber off the Fifteen52’s and install on the prets.

Upon inspecting the Fifteen52’s, there’s scrapes and scratches all over the lip of the wheels. I know that removing tires will create SOME markings - but does this seem really exesssive?

View attachment 213658
View attachment 213659

Yikes. I hit a curb for the first time ever* (with aluminum wheels) a week ago and it looks better than that gash.

* It wasn't my fault. I was distracted by a lovely lass. It was like a re-enactment of that scene from Desperado, with Salma Hayek crossing the street. It was actually my customer that I was coming to work for.