I picked up a box cutter blade with the right rear tire the other day. Nobody had one in stock so I ordered one through Tire Rack and had it drop shipped to the new NTB store right down the road. Tire was delivered really fast, so I went in this morning to get it mounted. The knucklehead on the tire machine put a nice gouge in the rim. NTB is refusing to replace the rim, they will only pay to have it repaired. I mentioned to the manager that it might be more cost effective to replace the wheel than to have his store's reputation trashed on every forum known to man, but he seemed willing to accept the risk.

Then as I am leaving the store in an already pissed off state, I got a tire pressure warning. I'm fairly certain that the moron who gouged the rim also forgot to inflate the tire. He proceeded to check the pressure in all four tires. After I heard him add air to the tire he worked on, I told him not to touch the other three.

I am now seated firmly in the run-around trying to get the repair scheduled. Seems like all these guys take really long lunches and forget how to use the phone while they are out. They better &*^$%^& fix this rim right.

Bottom line: don't use the NTB in Frisco TX if you want to keep your rims intact.

So am I being a pinhead for expecting them to replace the rim instead of fixing it?

At least they offered to repair it, which is better than refusing all together. I dont think your a pin-head....you paid alot of money for your car, and the rims are very expensive, so if I were in your situation I would also be very pissed off. Good luck in remedying the situation.

Most tire mounting shops will offer to repair and not replace. A local repair shop here charges around $75 to repair minor damage as you have. The real issue is the car will be laid up till you get your wheel back and the mounting shop will have to unmount and remount your tire. From the sounds of it they do not seem too professional. The other option is a new wheel, which by the way they are not that expensive in general scheme of some after market wheels.


http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=9485

I stand corrected :)

ebay has them really cheap...

I hope that the shop put in the tire pressure sensor band. Otherwise you will get a tire pressure fault because your wheel is absent of the band.

There was a band with a little blue box attached to it. I thought sure they had managed to damage it too when the tire pressure alarm went off, but it cleared on its own within about a mile. I guess it's normal for the sensor to throw a single error when the tire has been removed? This would make sense since the pressure did drop during the process, but this is the first car I've had with TPMS, so I wasn't sure what normal is.

Finally got my window sticker in the mail today. MSRP was $47,955. Sure glad I didn't pay that much. ;-)

I also had a bad experience with NTB here in Baytown Tx.
Will never go back.
Don

Most tire mounting shops will offer to repair and not replace. A local repair shop here charges around $75 to repair minor damage as you have. The real issue is the car will be laid up till you get your wheel back and the mounting shop will have to unmount and remount your tire. From the sounds of it they do not seem too professional. The other option is a new wheel, which by the way they are not that expensive in general scheme of some after market wheels.


http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=9485

I would get a spare wheel before sending mine off for repair. One of our other members mentioned that it took a couple of weeks to get his wheel back. :silly:

The only company I've seen that will replace a rim if damaged is Discount Tire. If they repair the rim you won't notice it at all. They have mobile repair vans that can do it in short order. Look for a company Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists. They do good work. Discount Tire also resets the TPMS or replaces the entire unit for free. I've had nothing but good from them. They use rim protectors when changing tires.

Yup,
Discount tire now has all my buisness.----Untill they screw up.
Don

the general rule (i was an insurance adjuster), at least in Florida, is that if something can be repaired, then that is considered 'indemnification'... fancy word for 'like it was before'... if not, then replace it.. a good example is the unpainted, textured, lower portion of the rear bumper cover; cannot be repaired to 'like it was before' so the smallest scratch = replace.

2 cents.

yeah i've heard enough bad stuff from NTB to stay away. everyone seems to recommend discount tire above ntb around here anyway.

man, that would sure tick me off. the problem is that all these tire shops hire 17 year old kids who get paid crap and don't give a rats ass about your car.

i bought my DRs from discount and 2 rims. great price and great service.

Dropped the wheel and tire off to NTB today and the repair shop picked it up. Should get it back tomorrow afternoon. I sent an email to the corporate office, expressing a concern that the repair shop could go out of business in a week, so a lifetime warranty would be worthless. They never responded to me directly, but the store manager called me to reassure me that if they do go under, NTB will honor the warranty on the repair. Obviously, corporate talked to the store manager. The store put in writing that they would do this.

If the repair is truly indistinguishable from new, I'll be satisfied, for now. They still should have replaced the wheel, but I guess they don't mind missing out on all the future sales of very expensive tires for my car.