Need insight from tire technicians ASAP!!

[UnEEk4DR]

instead of posting this all over again i am just going to copy and paste the post I made on another site. basically what i want to know is, did the marks on my rims come from a tire mounting machine. i have had 3 confirmations so far but it would be GREAT if i could get a letter written on a company letterhead saying "yes this damage can occur while mounting tires onto a wheel." I am searching locally for places but its kind of hard. I am going to try a few more places and see what they say. Thanks in advance for any help or info!!

So I go today to have my tires mounted on my rims. I let them know all the specific details about how to jack it up since its slammed and bla bla bla. Well I get the car back, pull into my drive way and check out the wheels.

These jackasses messed up my rims!!! I will post pics of what they did but here is a description for now.
They said they had to flip my rims upside down in order to mount the tires (i dont know why). I was like ok, well look what it did. The the denial starts. "there is no way that our machine did that to your wheels, its impossible. The machine has a plastic protector on it in order to prevent that from happening." Well it happened!! There are 5-6 sets of PERFECT dimples in my wheels in the shape of a RECTANGULAR CLAMP!! Not only that but they nicked one of the spokes and chipped some paint of as well. They also said that is impossible because the clamps hold the wheel from moving around. BS!!!!!!!!!! And this is the General Manager I am dealing with. WTF can I/should I do???? He is offering me a free oil change to make up for it. That doesnt change the fact that they just messed up a set of discontinued wheels that I have only seen once, on my car. I know there are other sets out there but I havent seen any. Granted they arent the most liked wheels but damnit they are MINE and were in great shape until they got ahold of them. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do??

the marks:
(****ty pic)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/93ludensi/HPIM1451.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/93ludensi/HPIM1449.jpg

and there are 5-6 sets of these on ALL four wheels and they are all identical:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/93ludensi/HPIM1448.jpg

WTFD!? now tell me that doesnt look like a clamp mark. Sad thing is a lawyer would probably cost more than gettin the rims fixed. I want to go back and tell them to unmount the tires and remount them free of charge and take notice of any marks before and after. I doubt they will do it though, probably make them realize (well admit) they are at fault.

ok, so i go back and this is what happens:
me: "is there anyway that you can show me the machine you used to mount and balance my rims"

Them: "so we are back at this again huh? What do you want?"

Me: "I just want to be compensated for the cost of having the lips refinished from the gouges you put in them"

them: "So even after telling you there is NO WAY POSSIBLE your wheels were damaged by our machine you are still persuing this?"

Me: "Yes because I have on good word that due to the way you mounted my tires that the damage was caused by a tire mounting machine and that you are 100% liable for damages caused."

them: "Didnt you tell me that you were refinishing them anyways and that you had started to sand them?"

Me: "Yes i said that but i only did one and stopped before contacting other places to do the work, which now that you have damaged the wheels is going to almost double the price."

Then out of nowhere a guy sittin at the computer says

"This is as far as we are taking this matter, if you feel that its worth your time, money and effort to replace those cheap wheels, which it will cost more to go to court over then to just refinish them, then we will see you in court."

So I ask

I know there is someone higher than you since you are only a GM who is the store owner, and from the guy at the computer comes

"im the owner, Sean Boyle."

I said

Ok sir well I guess i will see you in court since this is the second time i have tried to settle this with you in a reasonable manar.

I proceeded to leave and that was that.

What is worse is they offered me ANOTHER free oil change and i laughed and said "So you want to give me a $30 oil change for a $800 set of wheels, no thanks"

this is REDICULOUS@ I also mentioned to them that I had done some research online and that I found brand new the rims cost $200 a piece. The guy just laughed at me and said "for those rims??"
i wanna punch him in the face, but the wallet will hurt worse, plus i think i will blow up a picture after the court thing that says

"Thank you Auto Serv and Mr. Boyle for ruining my rims and making me take you to court, how do my new wheels look "

[HiPSI]

that last picture is definitely from the rim clamp on the tire machine, seen it many times. same goes for the lip damage assuming you have 4 marks like that 90* from each other. the inner wheel clamps have those teeth on them but most good tire shops have plastic covers for them. when they have to clamp the wheel from the front the clamps move inward on the lip which can easily flatten the soft aluminum. basically your wheels are "rear mount" and they probably clamped it in normal way first before figuring out they coudln't get the tires off that way then flipped it over (unless all 4 have both sets of blemishes, then i dunno wtf they were doing). as for the paint chips, those would be kinda hard to prove unless you had before/after pics showing the wheels to be flawless.

[BTEC]

that last picture is definitely from the rim clamp on the tire machine, seen it many times. same goes for the lip damage assuming you have 4 marks like that 90* from each other. the inner wheel clamps have those teeth on them but most good tire shops have plastic covers for them. when they have to clamp the wheel from the front the clamps move inward on the lip which can easily flatten the soft aluminum. basically your wheels are "rear mount" and they probably clamped it in normal way first before figuring out they coudln't get the tires off that way then flipped it over (unless all 4 have both sets of blemishes, then i dunno wtf they were doing). as for the paint chips, those would be kinda hard to prove unless you had before/after pics showing the wheels to be flawless.
for shizzle. i found out when i got my 1st set of wheels and was determined to mount my own 205/40/17's.

[Cliff]

why would you not check before even leaving...once you leave a place it is near impossible to get them to cover anything....all they have to say is after you left there you went and had someone else mess with your tires and they damaged it....as soon as you have any work done to your car (ecspecially knowing it is customized) you should do a thorough check of everything and make sure nothing is damaged

[UnEEk4DR]

i did check like 2 min after they did it. i live right up the street and called them soon as i pulled in and noticed it. i didnt wait an hour or two, literally as soon as i pulled in i called themand went straight back. i know i should of looked then but i just forgot after sittin there waiting almost 2 hrs to mount and balance 2 tires. the picture of the "paint chip" is actually a dent they put into the rim.

[Georgia_boy]

next time i would definatlly go somewhere that you know is good w/ tires and custom rims

i worked for firestone and i started out as a tire tech, and they made sure that anyone working as a tire tech has the training to prevent this sorta thing from happening
i had to drive an hour from work just to sit in a class for 3 hours to learn how to do it the right way
but anyways good luck man!!

[raven97990]

I am ASE Master Certified, Toyota Expert certified.. That damage is caused by using a older style tire machine, with metal locking claws. They use it because the "nice" plastic covered machine will still slip when being used improperly, i.e. your handylube technician.

At anyrate, they damaged it, they need to suck it up. If all the tires show it, and the center of each mark is "shiny" its fresh, and considering they just isntalled rims, they did it.

[David88vert]

Where was this place? I need a set of tires mounted, and I definately want to aviod wherever you went.

[smokinblackneon]

That is a clamp mark they need to clamp it from the lip

[b18hb]

keep us updated

[UnEEk4DR]

filed the paperwork, had a sherrif deliver the subpeona (sp?) just to rubit in a little more. The extra $15 was worth it :) They said it will take 4-6 weeks possibly to set a court date. I went and had an estimate done, $190 PER WHEEL to repair them......biatches!!