RX469

iTrader: (1)

Hi, a pothole swallowed my wheel. Can anyone direct me to a good wheel repair shop as close as possible to the Washington DC Metro area.

Will post pic of wheel tomorrow.

Thanks,

Sheldon.

RX469

iTrader: (1)

Today I took my wheels to this wheel shop in Elkridge MD. When I actually got to the wheel shop only then did I notice that the rear wheel was bent also, on the same side.

When I went to that shop which is approx. 1 hr away from me, I first noticed that this shop repairs allot of wheels. There were wheels from most manufacturers and aftermarket manufacturers as well. The shop is a bit old but looks like good work. I've only had one problem, the customer service really stinks!! The owner has the personality of a piece of cardboard. It's like, " do you want your wheel reapired or not. " However, I managed to establish a fairly good relationship with one of the employees so we'll see how it goes.

The repair time is 2-2.5 weeks as they are really busy and there are hundreds of wheels to be repaired & picked up.

Will post pics when the wheels are back.


Sheldon.

PHML

iTrader: (33)

Ouch!! That must have been a huge @$$ pothole. Did you have proper inflation prior to hitting it? Low psi will probably do that....but if the pothole is huge....it won't matter.

My neighbor hit a pothole recently....cracked the wheel, and popped the 60 series tires.

Good luck...hope it works out.

Pete

RX469

iTrader: (1)

Yup! Just the day before I checked the pressure on all 4 tires. BTW, those are brand new wheels, just about 1.5 months old.

This was a pretty big pothole since it bent the front wheel on both the outer & inner lip and the rear wheel on the outer lip.

Can't wait to get the wheels back! Will post more pics.



Sheldon.

tonytony

OMG! That must have been a bone shuddering "bump" My first reaction was holy ***** when I saw it.
Good luck with the repair.

D-MAN63

Good luck with the repair. Hmm the turnaround time for your wheel seems to be too long.... Usually they can finish it in 2-4 days even if they are busy.... at least around my area.

RX469

iTrader: (1)

The wheel shop is a bit small and there's only like a 6 man team working there. Their finished results appears to be good. [ and I have a very sharp eye for imperfections ] So i'll know the difference between the two wheels when I get them back.

When I was there, there were MB SL600, MB E 430 & Lexus GS 430 etc. getting their LARGE wheels repaired.

Thus far, I still have confidence in their work sans the customer service.

Will keep everyone posted.

Carpe Diem

Hey Sheldon,

I'm over in Alexandria and I've actually hear of that place. Supposed to be very good. I'm anxious to find out how they do for you and at what price. Maybe you could post up or PM me the name, address and phone #.

Is your front wheel cracked or just bent? I guess in any event they'll do a magnaflux to find any other hidden damage?

George

gs400998

Sorry to hear about the damaged wheels. You pictures show your are running 215/40/18, they are almost an inch smaller than the recommended 245/40/18 for the GS430 (24.8 vs 25.7). Are you running 215/40/18 front and rear? There must be lots of nasty pot holes in the East Coast areas.

RX469

iTrader: (1)

Ok guys. Went today to pick up my wheels, we all know it's over due by about 1.5 weeks.

Today was overcast and i'm just glad the weather held up so this is the best photos I could get.

The shop is located in Elkridge, MD. Initially the customer service, well stunk! The feeling I got was, if you want it fixed, pay half now, and call us in 2 weeks! We don't have time to chit-chat with you on what you want accomplished. Well 3.5 weeks later this is it. I called yesterday to confirm that the wheels were ready to go, and first I was asked for my ticket number, which I provided. Then I was asked, are they chrome? what size wheels? when did I drop them off? with or without tires? what brand are they? I then said to myself, hmmm?

Here's the shop


Inside the shop: Pic 1


Inside the shop: Pic 2


Inside the shop: Pic 3


Technicans polishing wheels



Here's the pics of the repaired wheels:

Welded Wheel


Welded Wheel~ Close up


Welded Wheel!Even Closer



The wheels~ ready to bolt on to the car



Everytime my camera flashed all the workers looked at me funny, as to what I was doing!!??

The wheel weights were mounted on the outside of the of the wheel, so I asked them to rebalance, and mount the weights on the inside. Phew! Shouldn't they know to do this?

To sum up this experience, their service was lousy. Their work was lousy and dare I say sub-standard and I would NOT recommend this shop to anyone! The english communication was a problem, heck, this darn shop is a problem! There's wheels wall-to-wall in this facility, frankly I think quality takes a back seat to quantity.

I was about to have my 17 Supra wheels polished, but now, I would much rather ship the wheels to a good shop to have a good job done!

Would love to here everyone's comments.


Cheers,

Sheldon.