disappointed in my recent acquisitions - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

SGG · 04-21-2002, 09:19 AM

I'm sad. I bought these used rims from a guy on the other end of the US and he said he had never curbed them or nothing and they were in good condition. After a long ordeal of him trying to find the lugnuts at the dealership where he left the rims, he sent them to me. I guess he also left the rims on his old car for a week after he sold it to a friend and sold the rims to me. Apparently, his friend drove like a bastard because what I'm left with now is this:

http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tirenail.jpg
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire1sidewall.jpg
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire2asidewall.jpg
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire2bbumps.jpg
What is this warped bump? there are lots more on other tires.
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire3asidewall.jpg
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire3bsidewall.jpg
http://home.cwru.edu/~jtk5/images/wheel/tire3cbent.jpg

I'm talking with him to see what we can do. I also gotta take it to a shop tomorrow and see what they think. don't reply and make me feel bad! :sad: But if you do have an opinion on the condition let me know.

[ This Message was edited by: SGG on 2002-04-21 10:20 ]

***Phi*** · 04-21-2002, 09:36 AM

Sorry to hear :sad: Did you buy on ebay? Isn't there some sort of protection offered through Visa, paypal etc...?

SGG · 04-21-2002, 10:26 AM

no, my bro met the guy through maxima.org. i spoke with him on the phone and he said he would take them back if i didn't like them. i think that's the last resort. unfortunately, the buyer protection in paypal was up yesterday :sad: he took his sweet time sending them to me.

***Phi*** · 04-21-2002, 11:21 AM

good luck! Let us now how things turn out.

rayray · 04-21-2002, 11:42 PM

i'd flame this guy on that forum to show how much of a dick he is. post the pics too for proof. try and return them to him and get your money back.

good luck.

-rayray

F1 Chris · 04-22-2002, 01:52 AM

what a lying bastard. send them back!

***Phi*** · 04-22-2002, 09:31 AM

Quote:

i'd flame this guy on that forum to show how much of a dick he is. post the pics too for proof. try and return them to him and get your money back.

Excellent idea!

However, I've seen this happen before. The other party usually just makes up more excuses then just disappears.

[ This Message was edited by: Phi on 2002-04-22 10:31 ]

Keyser Soze · 04-22-2002, 10:24 AM

Dude- that really sucks. I'm sorry to see that this guy screwed you. I had a similar thing happen to me a couple years ago when I was trying to get rims for my Civic. One guy flat out lied about having rims for sale. Luckily I used Paypal and a CC so I got my $400 back from that jerk. Another guy said that his rims were perfect, sent pics and they looked good, so I bought them. But when they arrived one rim was bent like the one in your last pic. He denied that it was bent when he shipped it. I ended up getting a new rim 'cause I didn't wanna bother w/getting it fixed. Just goes to show you that there's alot of dishonest people out there.

SGG · 04-22-2002, 05:32 PM

ya, well...i had a good auto body guy give me his opinion and he referred me to a good tire shop that has the ecsta supra 712s in stock. i left them there and they're going to look it over for me tomorrow. I think overall, they're still driveable, but i might need to replace the tires since the sidewall is bubbling on a couple of them. The rims aren't bent too badly (they're going to try and lightly hammer them out) and the cosmetic damage is the least of my concerns.

I emailed the guy and asked him to reimburse me 150 for one tire and the lugnuts he lost. we've been emailing a lot b/c he was a bastard and took a month to send me the junk. i was ready to get the buyer complaint process started on paypal, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. unfortunately, they came just as the 1 month window for complaints was closing...i wonder if he was being a jerk and timed it purposely.

what i should do is take up a collection...$1 from each tn.com member to help out poor old me :smile: heck, i would do that for anyone else! i saw a while back on eclipseforums that they took up a collection for some peeps that were getting married, i think...

SpectraBlueCam · 04-22-2002, 07:04 PM

Hey Jon, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The best advice I have is send them back to the guy, unless you got an insanely good deal. Don't settle for second best, especially given the circumstances.

If you do hang on to them, I wouldn't worry so much about the side wall being shredded a little bit like what you have. That's more cosmetic than anything. There's plenty of rubber left on the sidewall. As for the bubbling, check if Kuhmo has a warranty against that. They may give you a new tire at pro-rated cost.

SpectraBlueCam · 04-22-2002, 07:05 PM

Yes, you should also flame him on Maxima.org and draw some public attention.

So how many of the rims/tires were damaged?

F1 Chris · 04-22-2002, 09:47 PM

Rims and tires should not look like that. Let's go pay him a visit and shred his face :smile:

SGG · 04-23-2002, 05:52 PM

Quote:

On 2002-04-22 22:47, F1 Chris wrote:
Rims and tires should not look like that. Let's go pay him a visit and shred his face :smile:

I hope I caught you before you stepped out the door...he emailed me back and said his friend who bought his max said he would've bought the wheels for near full price AFTER I bought them. So it's actually pretty good of him to keep in communication with me.

18" imagines w/ kumhos from Discount Tire Direct: $1432
my used sale price: $880 shipped

now I have a few options. The tire place I brought them to yesterday said I need two new tires and he already ordered them (:-? I thought they were gonna let me know first) at $139 a piece. ok. So here are my options with how much i'll lose/save over having bought them brand new in the first place:

1) I can send them back to his friend and lose the shipping price, buy 4 new wheels + 2 tires, buy those 2 tires from the shop and get them to mount them on the 2 extra wheels from DTD. i also lose the shipping money from having had him send me the used rims in the first place
~$325 over retail

2) keep the used ones and mount those new tires, have the shop bang out the bends like they said they could, and roll out with the shop's blessing.
~$200 under retail

so is saving $220 worth the devaluation due to cosmetic and history of mechanical damage? Or is paying an extra $545 worth escaping the old rims with new ones? That could've gone towards the body kit mods or digital camera i wanted...:sad: I guess there are places selling for more than Discount Tire Direct, so I could consider going through them for new rims to be saving money too.

let me know what you guys think! thanks for your support. Hey, aren't you a lawyer or something, Jeff?

[ This Message was edited by: SGG on 2002-04-23 18:54 ]

SpectraBlueCam · 04-23-2002, 06:10 PM

I will be in a few months. But in any case, I can't sue for you in New Jersey.

My suggestion is to send them back and have HIM cover the shipping costs. $800 is a good deal, but not good enough for you to bend over backwards to fix the rim and go through all that hassle. Bottom line is that he either willfully or negligently misrepresented the condition of the rims. Either way, you shouldn't be left holding the bag.

Keyser Soze · 04-24-2002, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Bottom line is that he either willfully or negligently misrepresented the condition of the rims. Either way, you shouldn't be left holding the bag.

I totally agree. Send 'em back and make him pay for the shipping charges. Then I'd complain about him to paypal and get his account banned.

[ This Message was edited by: Keyser Soze on 2002-04-24 14:21 ]