As posted in another thread, I've done 21.5k miles from new without a mark. Then a few weeks ago I went to visit a relative in hospital & the car park entrance was unbelievable..... at least 10 inch kerbs at both sides on a bend & so tight. A queue of cars following meant I couldn't reverse out of the car park, so was committed to going in. Ended up with 3 people watching & the car simply wouldn't make the turn despite shunting back & forth (about 10 attempts). Did manage it in the end but managed to graze both front 172's in the process- gutted. In the great scheme of things the damage was only minor - 1 wheel had about a 5 inch 'scuff', and the other about a 1 inch 'chip'.

Anyway, I dropped both the front wheels off on Friday to be repaired at my local dealers and was told they would be repaired 'as new'. Went to pick them up later and 'OH MY GOD' they are terrible. Both had only minor grazes but somehow there are rubbing down marks all over & it looks like a bucket of sand was mixed with the paint before spraying. They touched up the damaged areas only, not the entire wheels - which is fine if the finish was good enough. To be honest the colour match is perfect, just not the finish! Ended up going ape with them & refused to accept them - so they are going to have another go.....I cannot believe the mess they have made - and a BMW approved bodyshop at that. Even overspray all over the tyres! Apparently they broke the tyre bead but didn't cover the tyres.....!

So waiting to pick them up tomorrow evening.....must admit to being really peed off with this as the damage was really only minor, but me being me wanted it putting right. They certainly look worse now than they did when I dropped them off! If they are no better finished when I go to collect tomorrow what do people reckon my rights are? Do you think I am reasonable to insist on a new pair of wheels? Apart from the 'minor damage' they were both unmarked. I even took the wheels off the car and dropped them off to make the job easier (and to ensure no damage to my car, as has previously been the case on past visits to the dealership). I also cleaned the wheels perfectly prior to dropping them off (note I didn't use any polishes etc) to ensure they had the best chance of coming out with a good finish. They are charging ?65+ VAT each which totals ?152.75 all in, so IMHO not cheap, certainly not for this level of finish. What do people think? Wish I had tried one of the local 'mobile guys' now but thought I had a better guarantee of finish using the approved bodyshop!

Sorry to hear about that. Did you take picture documentation of the scrapes before you handed them over initially? If you did, will definitely help if the work they do isn't as expected.

Good Luck!

No I didn't - kicking myself now. Never crossed my mind there would be an issue when using an approved BMW Main Dealer Bodyshop! There's loads of posts on here where people have simply used local mobile wheel repairers and have had great results. I simply thought using my main dealer would guarantee an 'as new' finish (as promised) and was willing to pay a little extra for the peace of mind - I take a pride in keeping my car prestine at all times (as many on here do).

Guess I will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings when I collect them around 16:00 tomorrow - just pre-empting the worst I guess!

I curbed my 172,s on my last car and they were repaired faultlessly for $125. The guy who repaired your wheels must have been a rookie, this type of repair is very simple.

Good luck !

This is what I mean - I've never read of anyone else having problems - just people with similar comments to yours!

My dealers bodyshop is not a 'small, back street garage' but a big concern! I can't believe their Quality of Worksmanship (or lack of) if this is anything to go on. Thank God I'm not having any major body repair work done there. When I complained and spoke to the manager, he didn't really acknowledge the problem at first - it was as if he thought the job was OK. Only when I really pushed did he accept that what I was saying was correct. When I suggested the job had been rushed he point blank rejected this, but when I asked what other explanation there was he was unable to answer!

I am so annoyed..... Hope this gets resolved because no way can the wheels go back on the car in the state they were in on Friday and I certainly can't afford a pair of new ones at the moment.

Out of interest, anyone got any idea what these retail at in the UK?

some times the repair workers forget how much we cherish our cars and how much importance it is needed to do a job like this , I am sure it will be fine when you pick them up this time around. Those are some nice wheels you got there......good luck!

Hope so! It shouldn't matter so much but somehow it does.....

sorry to hear about that man. hope its better when you go to pick them up again.

RealOEM lists the 172's at $560 for pair of fronts and $640 for a pair of rears. At best they'd retail in the UK for ?600+VAT.

Thanks! Is that ?600 + vat for the pair of fronts? If so not as bad as I thought!

No, that was all 4 hubs but naively expecting $2 to ?1 + tax... It would probably be more...

Hi Palmo

I've totalled one Rear this evening along with one of my new rear tyres and a front tyre, I'll be looking into the cost of a new rear rim at the very least if it cant be repaired, I'll post more tomorrow.

On the subject of repairs, I had my front wheel refurbed at the BMW dealer and it came back with an ok match but the surface was rougher than the new rim finish, I did not realise this till weeks later when grime was more difficult to remove from that one wheel, it was as if the paint was left to dry in the middle of the workshop and dust had settled before the laquer coat had been applied. I paid ?75 and wont be doing that again, their is no excuse for shoddy workmanship.

I can imagine the painshop manager saying ... ' oh it's only a couple of alloys, give them to Johnny it will be good experience for him, lets face it he has yet to paint anything and he's been here for 2 weeks fresh from school '

Dealerships make me angry, next time the local mobile man is being tried, at ?35 a wheel I'm thinking he must be a good alternative.

Edit: Just checked the Price List I have here, It's telling me ?780/set for the 172's including space saver and tools, I believe this price is for when you buy the car and have 172's as an extra so not sure of individual prices.

Well.....finally managed to get my wheel problem sorted out - but not without further hassle!

The Bodyshop Manager called me to say that they could not achieve a better finish than what they had already done - TBH this is absolutely ridiculous from a main dealer, but........... Anyway, just as I was about to go 'ape' with him (well I'd probably already started TBH) he offered that he would be willing to exchange my wheels for a pair taken from a nearly new demonstrator (of which they have many). I agreed to this as long as they were 'mint' which was agreed.

I now have a pair of front wheels taken from a 12 day old car that had covered 600 miles. My tyres have covered 20k+ miles and so are just over half worn, I offered to contribute to keeping the 'new tyres' on the replacement rims but they would not allow that, and so my tyres were swapped onto these rims. Only problem was that they marked the rims in several places changing them (as I had feared). There is a slight 'chip' near the centre cap on one which I saw immediately (I reckon this was done on the balancing machine by the technician been too heavy handed). He agreed to supply a touch-up with perfectly matching paint which I accepted - after all it is very minor.

However, what I did not realise when leaving (as the wheels were dirty and it was pouring with rain) was that there were fine scratches almost all the way around each wheel where I think the tyre changing machine must have been set too close to the rim and was catching! This really infuriates me TBH.

The good new is that I worked on the wheels over the weekend with cutting compound and polish and have managed to get rid of 99.99% of the marks, in other words they are now virtually mint. The best part is that I was not charged for the wheel refurb and so these wheels were provided FOC - too right as well with the mess they made changing the tyres.

Anyway, I'm now happy they look excellent again.....all's well that ends well as they say....!

Glad to hear you got things resolved....