[V8] Bent Wheel saga... LONG but entertaining

[s4qtro at bellsouth.net]

Long time no speakie!!

Well guys i have been dealing with a bit of an ordeal these past few weeks...

About two weeks ago i hit a hidden pot hole that was under a bit of water inside of a banked turn.  I was doing about 40MPH and right away i could feel that the wheel was bent.  Pulled over ant a gas station about 1 1/2 miles down the road and changed the tire in about 7 min (i'm getting really good at that).

Sourced a wheel from the previous owner of my car, who was actually looking into getting another Borbet Type E for the full size spare.  He emailed me the email correspondance that he had with the guy.  I emailed Eric directly to see if he still had the wheels available since he was selling 3 (one bent). 

He told me that he did still have them available and he would let them go at a pretty good price.  I offered $125 for two (i only needed one but heck go for two if i could), since one Brand new is $183 shipped from Tire Rack.  He agreed to the $125 but said that he would just throw in the bent one for free if i just paid the added $12 for shipping.  I'm like Heck 3 wheels for $165 shipped why not.

Well i got the wheels today and opened them one by one.  First wheel out was pretty baddly curb rashed and i noticed right away that there was a flat spot on the lip of the wheel.  Second wheel out, same thing but less curb rash.  I marked both flat spots with a dry erase marker.  At this point i'm like well i still have the "pristine" one to go.  At least that is what Eric told me.

Now for the climax, i opened the third and final box and there it was.  A very shiny what apeared to be round 17 X 8 Borbet Type E.  I think you guys are picking up on what i'm getting at.  

Needless to say, i took them directly to the dealershp to se Jorge (the Keith of orlando Mechanics # 3 technician in North America).  I have known Jorge for about 5 years now, and dad has known him even longer.  He is a loyal member of the Audi Club of Florida (formerly the Quattro Club of Orlando that Dad and Christian started) and a fabulous mechanic who loves every bit of what he does.  

Anyhoo, we took all three wheels over to the wheel balancer to check the measurements to see if they are acutally wheels (round)!  Needless to say, they WEREN'T!!!! 

Even the "pristine" wheel was so far out of spec the recommendation that the balancer gave was "Wheel Replacement"!

Upon returning home i promptly emailed Eric pictures of the results (included in the following hyperlink) and requested my money back.  I was a litte perturbed in the post on Audiworld Florida Forum and in the email i sent to him.  He prompty emailed me emphatically appoligizing and truly tried to right his wrong.

http://forums.audiworld.com/qclubflorida/msgs/38881.phtml 
<a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/qclubflorida/msgs/38881.phtml"></a>


The result.  He decided to go ahead and buy the new wheel for me from Tire Rack for $183 and eat the original $35 shipping charge for the 3 wheels, and eat the tire rack's $18 over the $165 i sent him because he felt so bad and really wanted to make it up to me.

So now i have a new Borbet on the way.  And i realized an hour after the emails started that we never spoke about what was going to happen with the three wheels i already have.  He told me just to keep them or throw them out, he didnt really care because he didn't need them anymore and just really felt bad.

So for $165 i got a brand new wheel and 3 wheels that i could possibly get fixed for $70-$100 each.   Either sell them or keep them as AutoX or track wheels...or i could just switch them out and have a pristine set on my beautiful A4...

Sincerely,
Shawn Head