Alloy wheel help!!!

[Booth11]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Yes I should have definitely asked the question on here before getting it done but you live and learn hey!!

So I called VW yesterday and took it down for one of the managers (who is a friend of mine) to have a look. He agreed it looked naff and has told me that they only use Smart World for body work repairs and not alloys. So I'm going to have a moan tomorrow to the service department who shouldn't have recommended them apparently.

I've sent an email to smart world so hopefully will hear back tomorrow but my friend from VW suggested if I get my money back to use pristine wheels who do a alloy exchange programme. Has anyone used them before?

What a balls up.

Ben

Haven't used them myself but I know a hardcore Audi RS4 enthusiast who swears by Pristine Wheels (in Milton Keynes) and uses them for all his alloy work.

[Brenbo]

Good to hear you may get the problem sorted.  VW Exeter suggested to me when my wheel was damaged that they would use a wheel exchange programme.  But if your dealer is VW Exeter then they must have changed their preferred method for repairing alloys. 

Very rare to be honest.  It's just good having a space saver as a back up to limp home and then change for a full size wheel until the tyre gets fixed.  It was just this guy was of the opinion he was right and everyone else is wrong.  As I say he has a rep for being a bit of a BS'er at work.

Can you imagine not even having a space saver, a can of tyre foam and a blow out in the middle of nowhere and no phone signal. Time for a long walk.

  I had a blown out rear tyre on a Type-R Civic once. Because the wheel was low profile I was unaware of the severity of the tyre situation and it still driveable as it felt like a slow puncture (did not feel like a flat) so managed to drive home a couple miles on the blown out tyre before I realised.  The wheel was fine but the tyre was shredded.  This is not advised and If I had more difficulty driving I would have stopped to check it.  This was a time when i only had a can of tyre weld, no space saver.

[Exonian]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Yes I should have definitely asked the question on here before getting it done but you live and learn hey!!

So I called VW yesterday and took it down for one of the managers (who is a friend of mine) to have a look. He agreed it looked naff and has told me that they only use Smart World for body work repairs and not alloys. So I'm going to have a moan tomorrow to the service department who shouldn't have recommended them apparently.

I've sent an email to smart world so hopefully will hear back tomorrow but my friend from VW suggested if I get my money back to use pristine wheels who do a alloy exchange programme. Has anyone used them before?

What a balls up.

Ben

I've used Pristine but it was quite a few years ago to refurb a Monza II on a mk5 I had.
I think that's who SWWR use for diamond cut wheels. 

[I wanted a GTi]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Yes I should have definitely asked the question on here before getting it done but you live and learn hey!!

So I called VW yesterday and took it down for one of the managers (who is a friend of mine) to have a look. He agreed it looked naff and has told me that they only use Smart World for body work repairs and not alloys. So I'm going to have a moan tomorrow to the service department who shouldn't have recommended them apparently.

I've sent an email to smart world so hopefully will hear back tomorrow but my friend from VW suggested if I get my money back to use pristine wheels who do a alloy exchange programme. Has anyone used them before?

What a balls up.

Ben

Do they mean pristine in Milton Keynes? If so stay well clear because they are crap.

At this stage I'd be demanding a new wheel, period.

[Talk-torque]

Very rare to be honest.  It's just good having a space saver as a back up to limp home and then change for a full size wheel until the tyre gets fixed.  It was just this guy was of the opinion he was right and everyone else is wrong.  As I say he has a rep for being a bit of a BS'er at work.

Can you imagine not even having a space saver, a can of tyre foam and a blow out in the middle of nowhere and no phone signal. Time for a long walk.

That was the situation with my TT, which had 19's. I got an 18" space-saver from a Golf GTI and managed to find enough space under the boot floor. It's a recognised solution with TT's and, as above, the 18 is fine as a spare with the 19's.

Modern tyres do seem to be pretty puncture resistant, though. (Touches wood!)