shumax

Guys-
About 2 months ago I took my car to Mueler Tire to have the install my new tires and have the car aligned. They installed them on my Borbet rims and did a good job; I thought! I recently drove to Chicago and noticed the car was 'wandering' on the road and was shaking at 70mph. I took the car back to them today and told them about it.
You see...on Sat., XMas eve, I rotated the tires to see if it would help...it didn't and when I backed out of the garage there was a wheel weight on the floor!!!! It had popped off while I was cleaning the rims, I guess???
I went to pick the car up about 15min ago at the shop and the guy said "We can't keep balancing those tires on that car. Your rims are junk and won't hold a weight!!" Mind you I have Borbet Type E's in 16x7.5. I had them balanced there once before and they used crappy stick on weights and they flew off. Then he rebalanced them with 'hammer-on' weights on the inside of the rim and it was fine. Then I got the new tires.....now I am back to where I was with one weight on the floor and it shaking like a vibrator!
The moron tells me it's the wheels fault b/c they are desigend poorly and won't hold 'hammer-on' weights or stick on one. Further more he said he can't do anything unless I bought the rims there. I think hes wrong. I mean...he did the mount/balance/alignment. If he couldn't do it and have it last more than 100o miles he shouldn't have charged me for it....wouldn't you all agree? He should have said...'No, sir...I can't work on those rims b/c they won't hold weight..I am sorry but you will have to take it somewhere else."
Personally I think he is full of $hit and is mad b/c he can't get it right on the car. What should I do? I feel like writing/calling/emailing Mueler headquarters and filling them in on the event! Worst of all, he is now going to balance them one more time and if it doesn't work...tuff he said!

SHUMAX

Any input here???

sleeper

this is how i do it. i have them balance the tire with the weights applied on the inside(towards the center of the rim). the stick on type. put a piece of duct tape over the weights, so they won't fly off. thats how the pros do it, when racing. don't use hammer on weights on your beautiful rims. have a good one.

CFster

A lot of aluminum rims don't have the "lip" required to hold on an wheel weight. Also, for the ones that do, there are about a dozen different shaped "lips" that require different style weights. I just had an AMG CLK-55 in my shop that there was no way of attaching clip on wheel weights. It had factory Mercedes stick on weights. There's nothing wrong with them if used correctly. Most importantly, the surface has to be clean and void of brake dust before you stick the weight on there. Duct tape like the racers use works, but is ugly unless the weights are mounted towards the inside of the wheel out of site.
Regardless, the guy at the shop shouldn't have spoken to you like that. You paid for the mounting and balancing right? Then they have to make right.

ereet

"You didn't buy the rims here so we can't fix it"?

That's when you tell em to shove off and that you'll take your car to some place that will. If they said that means it's pretty safe to assume that it CAN be fixed, and that they just won't do it.

Micah95GLE

I would never use clamp-on weights on aluminum wheels. Stick-on only.

sparkymax96

iTrader: (1)

I feel your pain shumax. I had my tire work done by Discount. I was happy at first but I too noticed that my ride was kind of shakey at 70 after awhile. I took my car back over and over to get the balance right. This did not help. What it finally came down to was the fact that one of my tires was "out of round". This problem requireds the tire to be shaved or "trued" I believe is the term. Just my .02 man.

shumax

See, what ticks me off is that I paid $100 to have them mount, balance, and align the stupid car and now I am at their mercy unless I want to pay someone else $30 to balance it!
The hammer on weights were fine b/c they were on the BACK of the rim and not noticable, not to mention that there is a healty sized 'lip' on the back too. I think that if the 'grease monkey' had some brains he would have used some simple green and cleaned the rim and THEN applied the stick on weight.
I just wish I made millions b/c I'd then have an alignment machine, a balancer and every other tool so I could do the work on my own and not have to worry about retards doing it for me!

Thanks for letting me vent!

SHUMAX