997rs4.0

I understand your frustration with customer service. But agree with previous poster about the difficulty to prove that the wheel was damaged at delivery. So easy to damage a wheel.

993GT

Let's view it another way,
You buy a new control arm from Porsche, you follow the correct install procedures/torques and drive it 'normally' on the street for a few months and the ball joint pin shears. Do you request a warranty from Porsche or do you just buy a new part? Yes the failure was unique to you, and thousands of other cars never experience that issue. Are you the cause of the failure, or is Porsche/manufacturer due to a incorrectly manufactured/bad metallurgy/heat-treating of the pin?....
Just because it is a wheel, doesn't mean the driver/owner is assumed at fault or should be left just to suck it up.
You think Porsche would let BBS off the hook if all our factory wheels were coming back-in ruined during the car's warranty period...
-Rob

James88

Gee Rob, they're not a very compassionate lot on here are they. I bet they'd feel differently if the tables were turned and it happened to them.
ps; I sent TR another email.

mooty

there is not conclusive proof of flaw wheel or not. but TR is huge. if i ran TR, i would just send rob a free new wheel and call it a day. that few hundred dollars would have rob post a shout out thread thats worth 10's thousands of marketing budget. just saying.....

LVDell

This ^

993GT

Appreciate it Jim!
I an understand questioning the wheel strength/usage etc, but hope its clear it was treated extremely well and failed.
Cheers,
Rob

It was actually a few fellow RL'ers who suggested I post about/fight for it. The wheel having an issue is the 'small' issue, the lack of fair customer service is what has most of us up in arms about; I hope I'm not coming across as a whiner/complainer, but I believe you should always try to take care of your customers. I am sad Tirerack has let me down, having been a loyal customer for a long time, and being a young guy, I have hopefully MANY years to continue to buy tires/wheels/product....

Burger

The only thing I can add is that my wife worked at a local tire chain. It was a regular occurrence for people to come back in with a flat or damaged wheel and say that since it was new, it should be replaced for free. Customers would come in with four bent wheels and swear they didn't hit anything. Different levels of complaining would yield different levels of compensation, but it was never offered on the first declaration. They would ask to speak to a supervisor, regional manager, etc. Eventually, they would get somewhere.

My point is, whether your claim is valid or not, you have to go through all the same BS that someone lying about a failure has to before you will get results. They have no way to determine whether you're being honest with them, or not. Their first instinct is to refute the claim, as I'm sure that prevents them from having to address the issue in the majority of the cases.

Keep at it. Good luck!

Rob S

Your hypothetical is exactly analogous to your wheel. And the path to achieve satisfaction is also the same: you examine the part and go from there. Whether the ball joint failed from a manufacturing defect or from abusive overload will likely be obvious to the naked eye, or at most, from a look under magnification. You don't "suck it up" if it's not your fault, but you first have to determine whose fault it is. A wheel may be a bit more difficult to diagnose than a failed ball joint, but it still possible to find a defect if one exists.

I like Burger's suggestion: keep trying. But I'd also suggest you first boost your technical arsenal so the seller doesn't have to rely entirely on your word.

On the very set of OZ wheels I bought shod with Hoosiers five years ago from TR, I ended up with a defective rear tire. It went egg-shaped after two track days. I complained and sent it back, but first I did a bunch of diagnostics on it and its brother, including road force numbers and runouts. TR sent it to Hoosier. Hoosier called me and gave me the inquisition in a rather unpleasant exchange. But they ended up replacing the tire and TR gave me a $100 credit for my next purchase (which I still haven't used!). So you may still get satisfaction if you keep trying.

pranqster

Just this morning I sent an e-mail directly to Oz, to try to get them replaced. Purchased at Tire rack with mounted tires. According to my mechanic, all 4 of my black Allegerita's have spider cracks. I am glad he caught it before I went out on the track with them. These wheels have mostly track time on them. Maybe 600 to 1,000 track miles.

Rob S

Those look like cracks in just the paint, not in the aluminum. Is that original paint?

996FLT6

Looks like someone had their way with the impact wrench "Wayne's World" style. Mike

993GT

Understand/have experience this point fully, I have worked in similar format.
I guess that's also a point I am trying to make in this thread, those with legitimate issues are automatically given a cold shoulder to warranty because of the nature of the product; there are lots of poor drivers, cheap/poor quality wheels/tires, and poor roads...
I'm going to email my rep. @ TR, likely tomorrow, and see if I can get any updates...
I want that 2 year structural warranty to mean something and will keep at it!
Thanks,
Rob

Guess the only thing I can realistically do is measure it in various planes and chart the run-out, twist, etc. I'm not going to do a metallurgical analysis or similar, not worth my time, money, effort...nor should I have to. The average consumer would have long given up and would laugh at the idea of doing so to get the warranty they should be entitled to...but it does give proof to go directly against the retailer/manufacturer...
I'll keep at it, I truly believe I have done no wrong in my care of the wheel, I've had countless wheels/tires and never tried/needed for a warranty before...
Cheers,
Rob


If that is indeed surface/stress fractures, it is extremely scary! Hopefully as said below it is just paint cracking, although is pretty sad in its own regard...it may also be signs of a bad wheel, I'd have them spun-up and checked for run-out and other anomalies...
GOOD LUCK!

993GT

I have just gotten off the phone with my Tirerack representative and we have reached a resolution I think both of us are happy enough with.

A few points we talked about and I would like to clarify if not already widely understood:
1) Tirerack has always been very prompt and courteous with their customer service, this has never been an issue to this day. Despite our dispute over this OZ wheel, they are still a great company to deal and I have no hesitation continuing to purchase from them.
2) The issue was strongly related to me having a wholesale account, vs a standard retail account; there is some greater leniency for retail customers.
3) Due to the volume of sales, Tirerack has set protocols for dealing with each individual product/company instead of sending the product to manufacturer; warranty validation is done on-site using these manufacturer protocols.
4) Tirerack still maintains I am at fault, I still maintain my position it was a faulty wheel. We are leaving it at that.
5) I will be keeping a close eye on the new and remaining OZ wheels which now reside on my dad’s 6TT.

Thank-you all for your support, inquiries, and continued interest.
Best Regards,
Rob

brad@tirerack.com

It's hopefully just the paint that is cracked. The hub area of your wheel gets hot in a track environment and the wheels are painted not anodized. It's hard for paint to hold up to the temperature extremes over time. Check the back of the wheels along the spokes to see if they exhibit the same cracks. The wheels need a very thorough inspection. You can read up on track use for wheels here.

It is important to note that track use and/or participation in racing voids the manufacturers' warranties of all street wheels - OZ included.

996FLT6

^what about de events? Any distinction or all the same if taken out for trackdays? Mike