355 F355 Wheel Dispute

In late 2020 I bought a 1999 Ferrari F355 from a dealer in Florida. It had a salvage title as it had apparently been in a frontend collision and repaired. I'm guessing that wheels were damaged in the accident, as when I bought it, it had terrible steel faux modular wheels that weighed a ton and were the wrong size. The fronts required spacers and all four rubbed when the suspension was compressed.


I sold some spare parts to a man in Canada through eBay, and asked in my correspondence with him if he knew a source for some stock magnesium wheels for the car. He said that he had four in "really nice condition" that he would be willing to sell to me for $3,000, shipping included. Although this seemed high for used wheels, I was desperate to restore the car to its original condition and performance. Here is a picture he sent me to show one of the wheels. It looked perfect, so I sent the money off via wire transfer. He came back and said that the exchange rate had changed, and would I mind sending a little more to compensate? I eventually sent him $3,068 American for the deal, $3,600 Canadian.


After many delays and procrastinations, due, he said, to travel and the necessity of having the existing tires dismounted, he mailed me the wheels. When they came, I was concerned that they had been repainted with paint from spray cans, were still wet, and the shipping material had stuck to the wheels. Further, it appeared as though two had body putty or some like material applied under the paint. I took them to the local alloy wheel repair shop in Colorado Springs and asked their opinion. They put two on the their balance machine and this revealed that they were bent, and not only bent, but irreparable. I contacted the seller and said I was not happy with the condition of the wheels, and wanted a refund. Please send a shipping label, etc.


There was no reply for the longest time, and eventually I received an abusive email saying that he was not responsible for the condition of the wheels, that they were as described, and that I was wrong to complain. He would not be returning my money; they were mine. I then offered to pay for shipping, both his and mine to return them. Refund me the balance, please. No reply. In desperation I had the alloy wheel people dip them and see if they were reparable. Here's what they discovered. One wheel had been welded, unsuccessfully, and the bad weld covered with fiberglass. The rim had been machined to the point that it was too thin to support a tire. Another had been cracked, and unsuccessfully welded as well. The other two were also bent and out of round, one being "center bent" where the entire rim is out of true with the bolt pattern. They had been covered with strange paint that would not come off entirely by dipping.


One of the shop employees said that he had seen many ****ty wheels in his day, but these were the worst. I paid the shop $150 for the privilege of having the truth about the wheels, and pondered what to do. Because my car is wonderful and I don't want to endanger my passengers or myself, I elected to do the only thing that was right, and I threw them away in the trash. The trash company charged me $15 extra for the added load. So here I stand having paid $3,233 for garbage wheels. I then ordered, for about $2,600 some Ferrari wheels from Eurospares, which I adore. Should have done that first. The fellow who sold me the first set is named Steven Eisener, and he lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He says he does business on Ferrari Chat. He claims to have an F355, and was very communicative in our early correspondence. He goes by accordguy96 on eBay. I am not conducting an ad hominem argument against him, as much as urging all of you to always use a financial intermediary when doing business on the internet. Do not leave the confines of eBay or a bank credit card, so you will have recourse should things not be the way they should be. Nor should you assume that because somebody has the same car, that he can be trusted in financial matters. Oh, I almost forgot. Steven did give me center caps, which fit the new wheels. So I have nice center caps, which only cost $808.25 each.

 

The pictures are very important to the story, and I don't know how to include them. I tried pasting a Word document, and you see what I got. I you can tell me how to do it, I would very much appreciate it. BMWguy

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

So here are the photos in no particular order. The nice wheel is the photo the seller sent me. The chrome wheel is one of the ones that came on the car. Note the modular bolts are fake and the whole thing is solid iron. The other photos are of the wheels he sent me after stripping was attempted. Note the "welds," the fiberglass, the body putty, the milling, and the bends. I'll try to import a movie I have of one of the wheels spinning on a balance machine, showing the incredible distortion.

 

New wheels with center caps. A bargain! Image Unavailable, Please Login