I Need Your Help-Wheel Wizard Atlanta Georgia

Never have asked for help, but am in much need now.

These are pics of F355 magnesium wheels which we did a long term test on. They were completely refinished by Wheel Wizard in Atlanta Georgia. Immediately upon completion they were placed back in the boxes and stored in a climate controlled storage area....tires were never mounted, and the wheels were never put on a car.

After being in a PERFECT controlled enviroment for 6 years this is the results. Remember this, IF these wheels were properly prepped and sealed they should have lasted 25+ years in a climate controlled enviroment.

I have called and emailed with NO RESPONSE. It is clearly evident that either they don't know what they are doing, or their materials and procedures for refurbishing magnesium wheels is majorly flawed.

This should be a wake-up call to all who have,or planning to have, magnesium parts refinished. There is a "Right" way and a "Wrong" way and if you don't know which is which you could wind up in the same boat as me. I found out about these people from a Ferrari dealer and just assumed that they were up to speed on magnesuim wheels......

It makes me soooooo angry when a company will not owe up to their mistakes......instead of trying to work something out they just ignore you as though you were nothing. I am tired of companies like this who take your money and then snub their nose at you like you when they are at fault.

If you can call and email that might get their attention.......if nothing more it will show that we are truly a community/brotherhood that cannot be ignored when one of us is wronged.

Thanks in advance to all.


email: [email protected] Jonathan Cazenave(Mgr) or Wendall Davidson(owner)

Phone: 1-770-451-6333

Toll Free Phone: 1-800-615-2203

Again, many thanks for your support
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So you want everybody on the board to flood them with emails and phone calls??

 

To be honest I am at my wits end.....I have tried in a very nice way to get them to resolve this problem and they refuse to return my emails or phone calls.

I don't know how to deal with companies like this.......in this day and age one voice is usually never heard by companies that don't care about customers or the quality of their work.

An email or phone call can't hurt.......I have done the same thing for many on this site before, who have a business that doesn't treat our community in a fair and professional way.......if you had an issue I would support you by any means available.

I called Kinesis(lexani) and expressed my displeasure over the way they handled Plugzits' wheel issue.....atleast they know there is one other person that is aware of the lack of concern with a product of thiers and poor customer service...

 

Send them to USA Wheels in Fairfield, New Jersey. A friend of mine had his 355 wheels done by them at least 5 or 6 year ago, and he runs them on his car, not kept in a climate controlled environment, and they still look like new. They have done wheels for several different cars for me, and they all look great, including a set of stock Z06 wheels that I use with my track tires, which take a real beating and still look great when I clean them up.

USA Wheels LLC
1275 Bloomfield Ave, Ste 14, Fairfield, NJ 07004
(973) 227-7977

NAYYY, just a very satisfied customer

 

You mentioned some kind of test...was it a test on how long the wheel finish would last in a controlled environment..and if so, did Wheel Wizzard agree to be a part of such as test? If not, IMHO it is you that is being unfair and unprofessional To complain about a wheel refinishing job after 6 years is unreasonable to say the least. As I recall from the last work I had done by Wheel Wizzard, the length of their warranty is provided on the receipt you get when you pay...and I doubt its anywhere close to 6 years...as I recall it is 90 days. FYI, they have made good on a wheel they refinished for me that had a run in it with no questions asked.

 

The ONLY place in Atlanta that i'd take my car or wheels to is Magnum paint and collision. It's way out in Marietta of off 41 just before the kennesaw town center mall.

 

For body and paint work, Bo Pirkle in Tucker is the best in the SE, if not the world ...

 

B.T.D.T.

This is corrosion of the untreated magnesium, bubbling beneath the finish.

Your guy did not first stabilize the bare magnesium, nor did they use a special mag primer paint. My guess would be that they stripped the wheel down to bare magnesuim, and then just used a conventional paint primer. Bad move.

Search the archives here - lots of info on what they "should have" done.

The fix now will not be easy, as the wheel will have to be stripped back to bare metal, and then all of the rough corrosion sanded down smooth. Be prepared for a lot of hard hand work.

DM

 

Hi Frank

Didn't know that a company had to agree...guess Ralph Nader and all the independent testing labs/groups need to get approval first.

Not unprofessional or unfair at all......tried via email and phone calls over the last week and a half to resolve in a fair and equitable way but NO RESPONSE.

Glad they fixed your run......mighty nice of them to fix an obvious, clearly visible defect,which was nothing more than cosmetic and in no way effected the underlying alloy, and posed no safety issues. Ford had a warranty on the Pinto and F150 but if I recall did the courts rule in their favor with the gas tank design??

Let me bring you up to speed concerning magnesium alloys(NOT aluminum althought if you like we can discuss). Corrosion is the silent killer of this alloy. IF, it is not properly prepped and sealed the top coats(paint or PC) conceals this damaging process.......when it gets bad enough it will begin to show signs as a bubble,blister, or even a speck like a grain of sand. This deteriorative process on improperly prepped/sealed magnesium begins almost at once after top coating and continues to progress.....it may take years for it to be visble enough to show the consumer that the underlying process to treat the base alloy is defective. Then, and only then can one try to seek a remedy....you should know this as an attorney.

So when does one normally find out that a companies process is defective......within 90days??? Forget it!!!!......that is not how magnesium corrosion works...it doesn't know it only has 90 days to let someone know it has been abused.

So if Wheel Wizzard wants to stand behind a 90day warranty and turn their backs so be it. This thread should be a warning about the pit falls that can be encountered when having magnesium recoated.

I am also now interested in investigating this wheel repair/refinish industry and have sent info to various groups. How can a new DOT approved/certified wheel be repaired when the repair procedures and methods are not approved? Remember this, when magnesium corrosion begins and is allowed to continue unchecked it most definitely deteroriates to a point of becoming unsafe.....atleast that is the opinion of NTS and DOD.

Want to take a guess at how long properly prepped and sealed magnesium(with a paint or PC top coat) should last under normal driving conditions, barring exposure to salt water and certain chemicals???? HINT: might want to look at some published papers by ASTM,MIL, and SAE......6 years with absolutely NO EXPOSURE to anything and stored in a climate controlled enviroment is a piece of cake...a no brainer in fact.

BTW, Wheel Wizzard is welcome to have these tested by an independent lab to prove what I already know(and so do they, but will not admit).

 

Yes Bo is good at what he does......as a matter of fact these wheels originally came from Bo.

What does your post have to do with this thread concerning Wheel Wizzard?? Bo does not PC wheels....

 

The reason I mentioned Bo was in response to the post by climb...FYI, Bo does paint wheels...he has painted several for me over the years when I didn't mind waiting a couple of weeks to get the job done

 

Any respectable company should handle all complaints on a case by case basis. Not all problems are the same and not all problems come from the way the business did the work. I would think the company at the least should have a look at the wheels to help determine what caused this problem. If they can 100% determine the damage incurred was not a result of them, then the consumer is on his own and should pay for the time they caused the company to look into the problem. BUT if it is obvious that the damge incurred was a result of the company not doing what they were paid to do---then they should make things correct.

Bottom line is the company was paid to do a job. If the negative results of a poor job show up 10 years later---they should stand by their work..Because it is obvious the job was NOT completed properly to begin with....


This kind of scares me a little now---I had a set of 355 wheels stripped and powdercoated a few months ago-not by this company---but, should I be concerned of future bubbling?? The company I used does not specialize in mag wheels at all...

 

I would say that they would need to agree to the study if you wanted them to offer a 6 year plus warranty . From a legal prospective the fair thing for them to do is to ignore your unreasonable request to redo a job they did 6 years ago ...by the way, did you find your receipt with the warranty info printed thereon...if so, what did it say? If you want a longer warranty, that must be negotiated in the beginning, not after you find a defect. My old 1982 Boxer had a alternator that failed a while back...do you think Ferrari should have warrantied that too? Your attempt at the Ford analogy is incredible as best...in those case the plaintiffs' were able to prove that Ford had studies that indicated the Pinto and truck were unsafe, but decided to sell them anyway as it would cost too much per vehicle to change the design...do you actually think that WW did a study on magnesium wheel repair and found their way was defective but decided to repair them that way anyway?...good luck on that.

 

+1 This happened to my C4 mags

 

Yes, there should be concern on your part, depending on how the wheel was prepped and subsequently sealed. If the Speedline OE primer/sealer was compromised in any way there is a good possibility that you may experience problems over a protracted period of time. Magnesium alloys do require alot more detail in prepping and sealing, and a great deal more technical expertise when handling/coating. Maserati(a Ford company) has had to outsource their prep and seal work on the new aluminum/magnesium door structures. Maserati and Ford have had ALOT of experience in coating aluminum, but were unable to come up with a satisfactory way of coating this alloy combination. I am working with the out-sourcing companys' engineers to accommodate the automotive aftermarket industry with the hopes it will benefit us.

When dealing with anyone concerning magnesium it is imperative that they are skilled professionals and know the correct procedues and materials to use.

If this thread does nothing more than to make our community aware of the "Wheel Refinishing/Refurbishing" industry pitfalls that will be OK with me. Atleast consumers will be better prepared when wanting/needing this work performed, instead of paying good money and winding up out of pocket again and again in the future.

 

I still want him to post a copy of the 6 year old receipt...

 

Frank,please read my post before hitting the "Submit Reply" button. Again I will restate: "Bo DOES NOT powdercoat wheels". There is a difference...

 

Frank, may I ask why you want to see the receipt, as though a company can ALWAYS be held to the BS they put on a piece of paper???? Being an attorney you should know that companies put stuff down that doesn't necessarly hold up when put before a "Tryer of Fact".

BTW, my profile has my name...him is "Bruce". Atleast I extend the courtesy of referring to you by name.

 

I don't have a lot to add to this debate but one potential problem is the use of chemical stripping rather than bead blasting. I understand that cast magnesium alloy is slightly porous and takes up some of the stripper. In time it leaches out and can cause the newly applied paint to lift or bubble.

As a point of interest. on this side of the pond many reputable alloy wheel refurbishers will not touch mags, as they are unable to determine the integrity of the castings. This is particularly so with older wheels, as I know to my cost.

The commercial situation is a bit subjective, but here a quality strip and repaint of an ordinary alloy wheel costs around $100. In the case of a Ferrari a mag wheel could have a replacement cost well in excess of $1500 and it is perhaps a bit unreasonable to expect any shop to offer unlimited guarantees on $40/50 profit! And of course any acceptance of liability on the part of the shop potentially leaves them open to enormous civil claims in a litigious society.

I agree with bcwawright that special skills are needed for magnesium but this sort of implies a much higher cost than the application of standard procedures to 'ordinary' wheels. Of course I know nothing of Wheelwizard and perhaps they do claim these skills and price accordingly. Definitely a case of caveat emptor though!

John

 

You are referring to releases and other attempts to limit liability in tort. In a warranty case, contract law applies and since you would be on notice of the warranty duration by the printed info on the receipt, you would be required to make your warranty claim within that time period. Since I do not know you personally, I have no idea what your name is...FYI, I rarely look at posters profiles...

 

My reference to Bo was in response to the 11:27am post of 'climb' which does not mention powder coating...FYI, since I am about to carry a curbed BMW wheel to WW for refinishing, I e-mailed Jonathan there about your complaint...while IMHO WW has no legal liability, they may just make it good for you out of good faith...who knows ?

 

Keep us posted.

 

What about refinishing of old 348/355 challenge wheels. They are magnesium as well. Mine had been in storage for 10 years. I had them refinished 2 years ago. I don't see any evidence of paint bubbling. What should I look for?

These challenge wheels all seem to be painted and repainted. Is there a concern? Will poor refinishing affect the performance?