Help! Wheel repair

[Lordjimimac]

Hi all,
I may have learned a hard lesson today, but as a last effort to salvage the situation I thought to reach out here. Here's the story:

- Ive been waiting to change my wheels for some while as part of my 997.1 C4S build
- I spotted some used GT3 rep wheels for sale
- I bought them just pre covid
- I had 4x new tyres shipped to GT One two weeks ago
- When fitting the tyres they noted two appeared buckled - but managed to balance them
- on the drive home it was clear there were lots of vibration issues
- GT One sent them to their trade wheel refurb team
- Sadly they have reported that two of the wheels are unrepairable - the reasons being they have been machined before, and they are non oem (and they have bad experiences repairing non oem)

Ive reached out to the vendor but to cut a long story short, no joy.

So, very sad times that ive spent a considerable sum on some wheels i cant use : (

My question is - do any of you have experience in getting non oem wheels repaired? any points of view welcomed.

My cautionary advice is.. dont buy non oem wheels, and be very very careful when buying used.

1st world problems and there are far greater ones out there in these challenging times. This stings quite a bit though, these looked good on the car : (

 

[apollokre1d]

Sorry to hear this.
As for getting them repaired, I would ask Chris at Exel wheels, he will tell you pretty quickly if they can be fixed or not I imagine. Perhaps he can get hold of something else for you too.

https://www.exelwheels.co.uk/Wheel-Refurb.html

 

[Lordjimimac]

Thanks for the reply.

Sadly I spoke to Craig tat GT-One (thanks as ever Craig) and he confirmed that the wheel hubs themselves had been machined, as well as the buckling, advising that all four wheels are junk.

Topic closed. Weirdly I now like my sport designs a lot more and at least i have 4 new tyres so can enjoy that new grip feeling.

You live and you learn guys - be very careful when buying used (even from folk on this forum I might add..)

Sorry to hear this.
As for getting them repaired, I would ask Chris at Exel wheels, he will tell you pretty quickly if they can be fixed or not I imagine. Perhaps he can get hold of something else for you too.

https://www.exelwheels.co.uk/Wheel-Refurb.html

 

[Pip1968]

I am really sorry to hear this. The are some real scumbags out there selling stuff. Most sales involve an amount of trust.I would like to think if it had happened to me there would be a meeting halfway hed there been something wrong with the item/s. Thankfully I have not had too many bad deals and certainly nothing when it comes to stuff being sold on here.

I bought a set of OEM GT3 wheels from PH and stuff on here is usually a safe bet too. I think if you do a face to face you can generally see by the cut of their gib whether its a scam. My seller had a GT3 and a GT2 in his garage along with his Ducati so there were no bad indications and I still have them.

Similarly I sold a set of Alpinas that used to be on my BMW M5 (I see you had the 540i - lovely motors) and the two lads that came to pick them up were surprised that they were as good as the pictures and true to the description which I thought was odd.

Obviously you learn from your mistakes and move on.

Best of luck with the end result.

Pip

 

[TonyC911]

Sport Design wheels are my personal fav on the 997! :thumb:

Why not get Chris @Exel Wheels to refurb and change the colour of them for you... will look better than factory finish! :worship:

 

[Lordjimimac]

I actually had a brilliant chat with him before I bought these duff ones. Had a design with platinum finish with silver lip. The price of these reps tempted me away from that option at the last minute - bad decision.

Sadly i've spanked so much on the duff wheels and getting new tyres/wheels on/off looked at etc that the wheel budget is well and truly spent.
You live and you learn.

Chris struck me as a brilliant guy though - he sent loads of pictures and ha so much experience. I really should have gone with him!

Sport Design wheels are my personal fav on the 997! :thumb:

Why not get Chris @Exel Wheels to refurb and change the colour of them for you... will look better than factory finish! :worship:

 

[TonyC911]

I actually had a brilliant chat with him before I bought these duff ones. Had a design with platinum finish with silver lip. The price of these reps tempted me away from that option at the last minute - bad decision.

Sadly i've spanked so much on the duff wheels and getting new tyres/wheels on/off looked at etc that the wheel budget is well and truly spent.
You live and you learn.

Chris struck me as a brilliant guy though - he sent loads of pictures and ha so much experience. I really should have gone with him!

Sport Design wheels are my personal fav on the 997! :thumb:

Why not get Chris @Exel Wheels to refurb and change the colour of them for you... will look better than factory finish! :worship:

Oh well... at least you have a good plan once you've saved some more of your pocket money! Chris has done fantastic work for me on 2 sets of wheels :worship:

I'm sure you won't make the same mistake twice! :wack:

 

[Lordjimimac]

Thanks Tony - your comments and the fact i can air this here on the forum do help soothe the situation a fair bit

I actually had a brilliant chat with him before I bought these duff ones. Had a design with platinum finish with silver lip. The price of these reps tempted me away from that option at the last minute - bad decision.

Sadly i've spanked so much on the duff wheels and getting new tyres/wheels on/off looked at etc that the wheel budget is well and truly spent.
You live and you learn.

Chris struck me as a brilliant guy though - he sent loads of pictures and ha so much experience. I really should have gone with him!

Sport Design wheels are my personal fav on the 997! :thumb:

Why not get Chris @Exel Wheels to refurb and change the colour of them for you... will look better than factory finish! :worship:

Oh well... at least you have a good plan once you've saved some more of your pocket money! Chris has done fantastic work for me on 2 sets of wheels :worship:

I'm sure you won't make the same mistake twice! :wack:

:thumb:

 

[MaxA]

I'm sorry as it seems you got truly stiffed on those rims... Your only option might be to name and shame but there are forum members and there are forum members.

I've learned a couple of lessons on some used parts, so now I only buy face-to-face (or from someone I already know) and preferably from someone's home address: so you know where to go if the parts don't meet the description. It's never a good sign if someone wants to meet in a MacDonalds car park.

I own a 997 so I don't mind a little drive from time to time... wheels however are a bit awkward in a 911. Maybe you can make these into a pair of coffee tables or something for the man cave?

 

[Lordjimimac]

Yeah maybe theres some furniture to go in the man cave to be made - also considering using them as planters for the garden!

I wont name and shame - my aim is fair resolution not conflict.
That said, theres a fair chance the vendor is reading this, and their last response to me was that they didn't believe the situation, suggesting I was trying to get more money from them (they provided a token £60 on first diagnosis, which was 1x wheel refurb).

Craig as GT One was kind enough to allow me to use his reputation and name as proof of the situation - so, vendor, if you are reading and you do have a conscience, any form of compensation no matter how small would mean a great deal....

I'm sorry as it seems you got truly stiffed on those rims... Your only option might be to name and shame but there are forum members and there are forum members.

I've learned a couple of lessons on some used parts, so now I only buy face-to-face (or from someone I already know) and preferably from someone's home address: so you know where to go if the parts don't meet the description. It's never a good sign if someone wants to meet in a MacDonalds car park.

I own a 997 so I don't mind a little drive from time to time... wheels however are a bit awkward in a 911. Maybe you can make these into a pair of coffee tables or something for the man cave?

 

[Pip1968]

That is even worse . I did pick up on the mention of "even if it is someone from here" but just assumed you were being all encompassing. I do think the moderators should perhaps get involved here.

I think the seller should give you a refund less an administration cost and you return the wheels but maybe that is just me.

Pip :cop: