removing tire balancing adhesive tape

[Patalohas]

Has anyone heard about removing taped weight adhesive by scrubbing it off with a brillo pad and or steel brush using brake clean as a solvent? Apparently this is "common" practice according to my state's local BMW dealership. What i thought would be a routine wheel rotation and balance on staggered 4.8i 20's turned into a huge Pain in the butt. The dealer scratched off all the clearcoat and paint where the old weights used to be leaving bare primer and even scratched parts of the outside face fo the rims during the rebalancing. The Brakeclean mixed with the rubber in the valvestem to leave brown dribbles down the front of 2 rims that have somehow altered the chemical makeup of the clearcoat and are now a permanent stain. To top it all off, the Unidirectional and staggered tires were never swapped L to R (as reqested and acknowledged by 2 Service Advisors) they were just balaced and rotated FRONT to BACK! Can you imagine 20 x 10.5 rims on the front! Need I say more? Well there is more. Per the SA's suggestion, he wanted to see if my warranty would cover changing out the front rt. turn signal bulb (I know bout 1hr. in labor) I said sure do it if it's covered. It wasn't covered and they did it anyways....you owe us $150 now! No way, i say, so they were nice enough to charge me only for the parts- $37 for bulb and burnt out "connector" B.S.! I'm feeling really POed about the whole thing so i inspect the work done (researched it here the night before taking the X in) It turns out that the highly trained tech overtightended the mounting bolts to the light housing and cracked both top moounting brackets! Gee could have guessed that! They were in perfect shape the night before when i looked at em. Well I don't think that anyone could have messed up a tire rotation and bulb replacement as well as this dealer so I thought that I would share. Going to have the car looked at by the Shop Manager tomorrow. Ugh! How can I post pics. of this? Thanks guys and girls.

[SuperGreg]

Use bug & tar remover

[asawadude]

:xoutpost: Aloha!

Wow - sad story. That's completely lame. Your dealer obviously sucks.

Before going in to talk to the manager, spend the time to write everything down that transpired to ensure that you cover every detail in your discussion with him/her.

Take more notes (seriously) during your discussion - you might need them later. Bring up every job that was done wrong, plus point out every item that was damaged. The dealer is obligated to return your vehicle to you with stated repairs performed and in an undamaged state. Tire weights can be removed without stripping the clearcoat down to the bare metal. I'd insist on having the wheels refinished. Your tires cannot be rotated - the wheels are staggered and the tires (if Diamaris) are unidirectional. The broken lamp must be replaced at their cost. If they claim it was already damaged, then they should have been calling you prior to making any attempt to repair to note any prior damage.

If that discussion doesn't prove to be fruitful, take it to the next level and seek out the General Manager.

Best of luck to you.

[King]

I would get the dealer to either replace your wheels or at the very least pay to have them re-finished. Not sure how it's done there, but I have had one of my winter wheels re-finished and it looks brand new. Don't take any crap! Tell them it is absolutely not acceptable and you are leaving your truck there until it's resolved.

The proper way to get the double-sided tape and weights off is by using a heat gun to soften the adhesive. Then use a product like 'Goo-gone' to remove the sticky residue left behind. I would never scratch it or try to pry it off! Good luck!

[ekaz]

:xoutpost:
That just sucks. What year is your X? The bulb, connector should be covered under the warranty. As for the whoel tire fiasco, the wheels cannot be rotated, for the fact that they didn't tell you this raises a red flag. I agree with the previous posts, make notes of everything and have them re-finish/replace the damaged wheels.

[Patalohas]

Thanks for the tips, the tires are aftermarket toyos so wanted to do a side to side swap. Will keep you informed on Manager discussion today.

[Patalohas]

Update on wheels, dealer is going to have them refinnished, and thew in their "SPA" treatment detail (not that great). They didn't even want to touch the headlight assembly citing that other cars my year have hairline cracks in the same place, though I'm sure that those were visible with a microscope, not from 10 feet away like mine. They said that it won't affect the headlight safety, but it was still deffinitely damaged by the tech. The customer srvc guy went on and on about $1300 for a replacement...blah, blah, blah....well, I hope that the rims look brand new when the expert wheel refinnisher is done with them. The dealership also said that they never rotate tires side to side. That kinda makes me wonder how they rotate tires on any vehicle that has a staggered set up. Found a great shop that handles high end wheels and tires and got mine "flipped" today (left to right) hid all the wieghts behind the bars on the rims, drives smooth and looks nice too. Well thanks for the help, P.

[Thunder22]

just an aside and my humble opinion, but NEVER use bug and tar remover on any part of your car. The b&t remover makes no distinction between bugs, tar, clearcoat and/or basecoat paint, it is exremely harmful to your paint regardless of what the manufacturer says.

Clay and isopropyl alcohol are the only products that you should use to remove stubborn stains/sap/etc from your vehicle.