Star Rated Tyres...
 

Hello,

Just had a call from my local main dealer. The car is in for new alloys. It's third set! It's the 20 inchers which are suffering from corrosion near the centre caps.

The service lady has told me that the front tyres I have are not star rated and the vibrations will cause issues with the transfer box if I don't change them. I have no idea on this one so looking for opinions.

She also told me that two of the wheel bolts are sheared and they can not put any new nut on them as there is no thread left. Looks like this may have happened when the tyres got changed at a local garage. I doubt if I can ever prove that now so I'll have to replace the hubs. £600 is what they are quoting for two hubs.

Is replacing the hubs something a normal garage / specialist could do?

You are getting ROYALLY screwed.

You do not need to 'replace the hubs'. Paradoxically 600 GBP is way too cheap for replacing hubs.... They can just drill the bolt and easy out....which is what I suspect they are doing, just charging you 6 times the rate.

They clearly think you have $$ and no clue about cars, so they are just making up fairy tales... 100gbp to get the bolts out (one hour) a few $ for a new bolt. Star tires are just "sold by bmw"...it is ABSOLUTELY fine to have other tires on there, they will cause NO issues. the comment that it will cause 'transfer box issues" is a abject lie. A lie.

if the car is still there, Id walk in and demand to see this "impossible to remove" bolts.

Oh, and when you DO call them on all this, she will either claim (1) you were mistaken or (2) she was mistaken...a thin veneer over a vile practice.

Welcome to the forum. time to protect yourself. They are stealing from you.

^^^...+1
Not living in UK or familiar with your country's version of 'dealer dancing', but they are blowing smoke at you as if you were clueless, and 'just want stuff fixed'.

"The car is in for new alloys. It's third set!"

Hopefully, that 2nd and 3rd set of alloys is on the house. BMW oe rims hold up quite well in my experience.
GL, mD

Thanks for the comments, I had a feeling most of it was crap!

Yes, 3rd set and the previous ones are of course all on the house.

I'll speak to my local specialist re the bolts.

Can;t tust the monkeys
 

[QUOTE=simpic;1037670]Hello,



She also told me that two of the wheel bolts are sheared and they can not put any new nut on them as there is no thread left. Looks like this may have happened when the tyres got changed at a local garage. I doubt if I can ever prove that now so I'll have to replace the hubs. £600 is what they are quoting for two hubs.
[QUOTE]

Crap ... something more to worry about when you get new tires!
Breaking hub studs!
FYI I had a nice E36 M3 and take it to Costco in California for a set of tires. The monkey that removed and installed tires tore off tons of alumimium on the rims. They were perfect til then, I couldn't prove it, but they did it. Take pictures of things before you give it to the monkeys and tell them you have them to prove damage.

I would get confrontation about having pictures. Show up, make sure you have the exif data enabled for the photos and take the pictures in their lot where you can easily prove that they were taken there; i.e. get something in the background.. After they are done with replacing the tires if there is damage, ask them to take care of it. If they say no, then you get nasty but not with them. Go to corporate and let corporate say they found no wrongdoing and then provide the pictures. it is much more fun to watch them squirm there and chances are, things will change at the store for future customers.

Wonder what happened in the week since the OP posted...

Working a second job to pay the bill?

[QUOTE=Ron07x5;1038425]Really? Costco for tire installation?

Think professional is expensive? Try amateur!!!

I will gladly continue to bring my wheels to Classic BMW for tire swaps/road force balance. They use a machine that mounts the wheel face down (clamps on the inner bead area of the wheel FACE!), this allows the removal/install to be done on the back face of the wheel.

$120 a pair is a steal, knowing my wheels aren't getting jacked up.

Hard to insure against abuse.
 

I just didn't think that Costco would screw the wheels up.
Another here reports, a "tire change shop" broke his lugs on hubs ... yikes.
Truth short of taking you car to a very expensive "high end" shop you just can't know. I got it ....take it to BMW service they can install the tires .... just pay double!

So what I now know is take pictures and talk to the management about your fears. If they seem to not understand then do not give it to them!
Truth it the labor that gets little often just doesn't care about their handling of you expensive machine. Even worse perhaps they want to hurt you machine?

OMG.

Any given shop can ruin your wheels and damage lug nuts. Do people honestly think paying BMW is a guarantee? or a "high end shop" PLEASE!

Just do it yourself or stand there and watch

PS The 'report' in this thread was that the SA **TOLD** him the bolts were broken. We still dont know if they were.

OMG right back ard!

It's probability vs possibility.

While it's true ANY shop can screw up wheels, it comes down to, does the shop have the BEST equipment for the job (Costco, NO), do they exclusively work on "high end" cars (again, NO), do the customers accept damage to the wheels (Costco, most owners don't even look at the condition of their wheels).

Each time I've been to Classic there have been Z8s, I8s, CSLs, 2002s, Alpina (the tech are more aware).

I've brought 3 sets of wheels to Classic for mounting/balancing, each time the same SA and tech (one of the TWO that mount/balance light alloys) have done the work.

At Costco, you can have a "first day" tech working on your car.

I choose not to leave the condition of my BMW wheels to a "roll of the dice". Firestone mounts/balances the tires on my beater Accord, the wheels are scraped up by them and I'm OK with it (cheap install).

Anyone can buy the best equipment...I could buy the best equipment. So, the guy changing the tires at a BMW is the BEST tech? The fact is, at any dealer or service place, you have seasoned techs and new guys. Guess who gets to do oil changes and tires?

I just wish I had a proper wheel and tire shop around me. I have one that I mostly trust to do the OE wheels although they haven't worked on any 20" wheels of mine, only 18". When I brought my M5 with its three-piece Fikse wheels the managers all got this horrified look on their faces and they refused to do the work. Can't even get an alignment.

You can start by finding a shop with a touchless/leverless tire machine & a Hunter GSP-9700 or better road force balancer.

Tire Changer - Leverless - Touchless Tire Machine - Ranger Products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efhgM2TcQpI