Acidic wheel cleaner on a painted rim?

is this from a body shop?

there is a high likihood that they are outsourcing their clean up work...their "post-op detailing". most of the time, if it is a production type shop, they will find whomever is barely acceptable based on cost BUT not to the point where they are a liability for the sending shop. i find it incredibly hard to believe they would be so careless though! someone somewhere made a huge mistake.

best of luck finding out how this happened. you might want to make some complaints to the BBB and possibly take them to small claims court. we aren't talking about some rotas here, volk wheels are incredibly expensive and having them reconditioned to pre-damage condition will be hard and expensive. doable, don't get me wrong, but a professional will have to handle it - someone who reconditions wheels as a full time job.

also, a tip on finding a legitmate body shop - find a reliable exotics dealer and get some referrals. for instance, in my area, i reached out to the ferrari dealership and also a place that specializes in air cooled porsche sales. between the two of them i had 3 shops for reference. also, find a reputable performance shop that deals with high quality stuff and ask them who they use. after a few of these sorts of hunts, you should be able to find a common denominator or two.

i did this when my normal shop contact was in-between places and i absolutely don't trust anyone else.
 
builthatch said:
is this from a body shop?

there is a high likihood that they are outsourcing their clean up work...their "post-op detailing". most of the time, if it is a production type shop, they will find whomever is barely acceptable based on cost. i find it incredibly hard to believe they would be so careless though! someone somewhere made a huge mistake.

also, a tip on finding a legitmate body shop - find a reliable exotics dealer and get some referrals. for instance, in my area, i reached out to the ferrari dealership and also a place that specializes in air cooled porsche sales. between the two of them i had 3 shops for reference. also, find a reputable performance shop that deals with high quality stuff and ask them who they use. after a few of these sorts of hunts, you should be able to find a common denominator or two.

i did this when my normal shop contact was in-between places and i absolutely don't trust anyone else.
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that does not always work lol

i tried that first.

had my supra at a bmw, landrover, jaguar dealership for repairs when someone backed into me. i had to take it back literally 4 times.. parts were hanging off the car, things werent bolted in place, i had lights unplugged. paint peeled off a week after..... it was simply horrible.

after the 4th time i just said F it and didnt go back again. it was useless, and they probably thought i was messing with them with all the stuff i kept finding wrong with the car upon further driving/inspection


and i know they do not outsource their "detailing", they do it all in house, and even say on their website they do it in house. if they did outsource it, it would either appear on the bill, and it would be false advertisement to state that they did it on their site, but then outsourced it
 
TurboToys said:
that does not always work lol

i tried that first.

had my supra at a bmw, landrover, jaguar dealership for repairs when someone backed into me. i had to take it back literally 4 times.. parts were hanging off the car, things werent bolted in place, i had lights unplugged. paint peeled off a week after..... it was simply horrible.

after the 4th time i just said F it and didnt go back again. it was useless, and they probably thought i was messing with them with all the stuff i kept finding wrong with the car upon further driving/inspection


and i know they do not outsource their "detailing", they do it all in house, and even say on their website they do it in house. if they did outsource it, it would either appear on the bill, and it would be false advertisement to state that they did it on their site, but then outsourced it
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those aren't exotics my friend. i'm talking about asking, moving forward, for referrals from a dealership that deals with only discerning customers - porsche and ferrari, mainly. you don't have many clueless moms or college girls driving porsche or ferrari - practically everyone who spends the money on those cars is concerned about condition to a pretty high degree. most of the time ferrari dealerships, if stand alone, are too small to have in house body works and send them to a shop that is primo. and like i said a private used sales business dedicated to such cars, if available, like this - Holt Motorsports - used porsche 911 dealer, certified pre owned, porsche 911,porsche 993,porsche 996.

also, outsourced detailing wouldn't have to show up on a bill. it would be a line item for clean up just like it would if they did it there. many production shops have contracts with a local volume detailer because it makes financial sense, depending on the size of the operation. they can sub-contract all they want and say they do it themselves. i'm not saying this is the case with your experience because i don't know anything about them, but i'm just saying i know several shops who don't "detail" on site and don't tell anyone otherwise.

best of luck in your quest.
 
builthatch said:
those aren't exotics my friend. i'm talking about asking, moving forward, for referrals from a dealership that deals with only discerning customers - porsche and ferrari, mainly. you don't have many clueless moms or college girls driving porsche or ferrari - practically everyone who spends the money on those cars is concerned about condition to a pretty high degree. most of the time ferrari dealerships, if stand alone, are too small to have in house body works and send them to a shop that is primo. and like i said a private used sales business dedicated to such cars, if available, like this - Holt Motorsports - used porsche 911 dealer, certified pre owned, porsche 911,porsche 993,porsche 996.

also, outsourced detailing wouldn't have to show up on a bill. it would be a line item for clean up just like it would if they did it there. many production shops have contracts with a local volume detailer because it makes financial sense, depending on the size of the operation. they can sub-contract all they want and say they do it themselves. i'm not saying this is the case with your experience because i don't know anything about them, but i'm just saying i know several shops who don't "detail" on site and don't tell anyone otherwise.

best of luck in your quest.
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true, but if they did not do their detailing in house, then they would just be backing themselves in a corner for false advertisement by stating they do it in house to all the public.

and i will look into finding out which shops the higher end dealers like to use.. hopefully able to avoid these headaches if something happens in the future.
 
TurboToys said:
true, but if they did not do their detailing in house, then they would just be backing themselves in a corner for false advertisement by stating they do it in house to all the public.

and i will look into finding out which shops the higher end dealers like to use.. hopefully able to avoid these headaches if something happens in the future.
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i think you should put the name of this shop out so if someone searches on google they will find it. also, make sure you leave poor reviews for them on citysearch, google, etc.
 
builthatch said:
i think you should put the name of this shop out so if someone searches on google they will find it. also, make sure you leave poor reviews for them on citysearch, google, etc.
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i will if they refuse to help or acknowledge that somebody used a product they shouldnt have on the wheel. i do know that dealers in the area like to use products from hi-temp. a company that makes cleaning products in bulk for the omaha area, and their acid based wheel cleaner is labeled 709. their non acid is 710... not exactly far off and hard ot grab the wrong one
 
I understand .They messed up your wheels and should fix them! But Im not sure you would even want them to try to fix what they did considering you have had so much trouble with them already .

If you have them done somewhere else your still out a vehicle and time spent getting there and back . Not to mention added stress of knowing if they are doing a good job for you.

Thats just how I think anyway . I would rather do a job myself if I can and have the time.

Someone else on another forum did the same exact thing to his clearcoated wheels with wheel acid and color sanding them with 2000 and polishing worked for him.
 
buddhadog said:
I understand .They messed up your wheels and should fix them! But Im not sure you would even want them to try to fix what they did considering you have had so much trouble with them already .

If you have them done somewhere else your still out a vehicle and time spent getting there and back . Not to mention added stress of knowing if they are doing a good job for you.

Thats just how I think anyway . I would rather do a job myself if I can and have the time.

Someone else on another forum did the same exact thing to his clearcoated wheels with wheel acid and color sanding them with 2000 and polishing worked for him.
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i can take the damage out, ive tried buffing it with a heavy cut dimishing abrasive (meguiars #4) and an orange LC pad on my makita. but the issue is that in order to get it all out i will need to take the rim apart, and taking a volk apart is not very nice, volk does not offer torque specs to the public. so you are guessing when reassembling a rim... not a good idea when the car its on can do better than 190.

and i would prefer the shop pay a rim refurbisher to do the work anyway. i doubt their shop is capable or has the torque specs required since the only ones who do, are authorized distributors and remanufcaturers for rims like these.
 
ok news update.


turns out the shop uses a non-acidic wheel cleaner :(


still waiting on the call back from the manager, because he is "researching" their product. and i already did researching of my own on the manufacturers site for the product manual, and found this.

it says this, specifically on the instructions and use for their product

"NOTE: Not recommended for certain aftermarket wheel finishes such as non-coated, polished, anodized, or polished billet aluminum".

also says

"SPECIAL NOTES: Always consult wheel manufacturer for care of delicate, aftermarket wheels before using this product as staining may occur"



lets see if he says no to paying for repairing my wheels now.. sounds like it would be easy to win a court case since this is the "only wheel cleaner we use" as said by them.

edit: volks are a clear anodized finish on the lip.
 
last update. shop manager calls me back with funny confirmation.

and i did notify him that i checked the product descriptions and it says (the above noted). and he said that he wasn't sure if it was their product or not that did it... he asked how old the wheels were, and what condition the wheels were in... i had to explain that they were about 6 years old but the wheels were near perfect because i do detail on the side and am capable of keeping everything immaculate.

he ended up explaining that they were going to end up taking care of the damage and figure something out.... but he wasn't sure if it was the product and said something along the lines of tossing it out..

even said their supplier for it came in and he asked him if it would damage a wheel like that... the guy said maybe??

and i had to explain to him again that it specifically said that staining can occur if used on the wrong finish.



all in all.. he had better take care of it or i will have a pretty clear cut case in court. :)
 
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