I have an 09 GL that is 5 months old. The dealership put locking lugs on with an impact wrench prior to delivery despite the key having a sticker on it that tells you not to. I just had the tires rotated at 5000 miles and the locking lugs were on so tight that the teeth on the key stripped out when attempting to remove the lugs. The dealership had to drill out the three remaining locking lugs because they didn't have the key (obviously) and the dealership did not give me the pouch that comes with the locking lugs with the key code on it at delivery. When they drilled out the lugs, they damaged the face of the wheels around the lug sockets by bumping them with the drill. They are offering to refinish the wheels.

My question is: what luck have people had with having their alloy rims refinished? They are telling me they will look good as new. Since my GL is only 5 months old, I will not accept anything less. Will the epoxy/paint that they put on the wheels hold up like the original paint or will it flake off over time? Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

They are going to send your wheels out to a local firm that refinishes wheels. That firm may have some before/after examples you can go look at.

 

only accept it if the wheel refinisher warranties their own work against peeling.

 

Can peeling be a problem?

 

When I exchanged my AMG wheels for chromed ones from my MB dealer they were warranted for four years against peeling.

 

actually going through the same thing now with my dealer. my 550 was only 2 months old with 1300 miles when i got my car back with damage on my rims after the dealer rebalanced the wheels since i was having vibration issues.

they of course denied the damage, and insisted the damage was cause by me brushing against a curb or taking it to a tire shop who damaged the wheels. all which makes no sense, as the damage is consistent the type of work performed. i posted pictures below, and most of the scratches are deep enough for your finger to catch it, and are near where their were factory wheel weights.

sorry to tell you, but even the best of shops won't be able to get the same factory fit and finish back on the wheel. depending on how detailed/**** you are, you will always see it being a close match, but not exact since it will either be more brighter or more dull in finish.

another possible problem you are also going to have to deal with is dirt, and other surface containment which will get on the wheel during the painting process. most will be able to be wet sanded down, but their are some which won't and at that point you are going to have to decide to either live with the containment on the paint or have them repaint the wheel again.

if i were you, i'd get in writing first the dealer acknowledging fault, and then push the dealer to replace the wheel with a new factory wheel. your last resort should be to send the wheel out for refinishing. also, before sending it out, you should have in writing what the dealer will do should the wheel come back and it is noticeably different than the others. i'd ask to have the wheel replaced with a new one, or some $$$ to compensate.

post pictures of the damage if you can. i'd be interested in seeing how bad it is.

 

thats because chrome has a higher chance of peeling as it is a plating which can flake off easier once there is a piece chipped off.

wheels which are painted and clear coated don't have peeling issues.

 

You have received bad treatment at the hands of the dealer and it is their responsibility to replace the wheel. The onus is not on you to accept a lesser quality repair. Any wheel refinishing is a lower standard than new regardless of the quality of work, because you are still burdened by the risk of less than perfect work and the durability and long term quality. This dealer needs a rocket up his ***. Talk to the owner of the business and if you do not get the wheels replaced then complain to MB head office and make a real stink about it. Where are you?
Remember that as soon as you back down and accept this, you set a precedent for all future crappy work done on your car. What happens next time?

Also as a general note I always walk around the car with the service person when I drop my vehicle off and ask them to note any damage. Then when you get it back with a door ding or scratch you can say it wasn't there before and they checked it! I am pretty **** about my vehicles and they are always immaculate... I make sure they know this very well every time!
These people are bad to deal with at the best of times and if you don't stand up for yourself you just make it harder for yourself in future and for all their other customers as well. Tell them that you posted this on the MB World website and print out this response and take it to them. If you are in the US you can find plenty of websites where you can post negative feedback about them.... remind them of this!

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Now I don't feel like I'm being unreasonable.

After I posted, I got a call from the dealership and was told that if I didn't like the job, I wouldn't have to pay. Last night I picked my GL up.

1. The wheels were still dirty and it was apparent that they only sprayed the spokes and lug holes that were damaged. I'm not an expert on painting but I do know that your surface needs to be completely cleaned and uniformity usually is a good thing.

2. There are still some minor scratches that were not touched up and some more significant ones that it looks like they didn't do a good job of sanding down prior to painting and they just painted over them. I don't know how some of the scratches even got to where they were. They must have hit the spokes with the serrated handles of their wrenches or something... who knows.

3. And this is probably my biggest concern and was mentioned in a post above, the wheels now have a matte finish as oppossed to a glossy finish in some areas. The wheels have been pretty easy to clean but I can't see that being the case anymore.

So, due to some of the feedback I recieved here, I called my SM back and told him that I wanted three new wheels. And yes, I am ****. This is my third trip in and I actually told the SM on my first appt. that I was **** and I would notice if I didn't get the car back the way I left. I don't even want them washing my car.

My wife's last car was an Audi A6. After taking it through the car wash, the Audi dealership's "detail" guy, decided to take steel wool to the car to remove about 25 spots on the paint that were residue from trees in our yard....

Maybe I'm wrong to feel this way, but if I wanted a GL that had repaired wheels, a few door dings etc., I would have bought used. To me, $70,000 is worth as much now as it was when I made $28,000 a year. I don't understand why the people at the dealerships can't respect that they are working on expensive vehicles. Can't they just hire people that like cars?

I'll out the dealerships (I purchased at one and the service work is being done at another) if I can't get resolution. Stay tuned.


BTW, the selling dealership (out of state) agreed prior to the work starting to pay to have the lugs drilled out. I don't think they expected my servicing dealership to damage the wheels.