Alloy wheels not fit for purpose

[Nastypsychoboy]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has had similar issues. in mid February 2010 i had to replace the two front wheels of my Red RS4, because of potholes, dont worry 6 months later and i had claimed it all back off the Council, so i went down the genuine parts route, and purchased 2 new alloys with Bridgestones from my local stealers, cost £1677

In early Decemeber found the front passenger seemed to have a puncture, took the wheel off and the less than 2 year old alloy has a crack in it, which would explain the air loss, took down the stealers and they reckon the outer rim has impact damage, which is laughable, it has a very minor superficial scrape in it about 2cm long which i wouldnt even consider kerb damage probably another road defect, and now they want £750 for a new alloy. I would definately consider the alloy not to be strong enough to use on the UK roads if its cracking within 2 years /5000 miles, im sure it isnt buckled, and there is no way i drove it into a kerb. I would have expected Audi genuine wheels to last longer and be better quality than that especially considering the price and their rally heritage. I make every effort to drive around as many road defects as possible so its hardly like ive been off roading, im definately going to fight them but anyone else had cracked alloys from the roads or any advice please.

Ta

[PhilT]

B5 RS4 wheels are the reason this site exists. Try a search and you will find the pain and the Audi lifetime goodwill.

[Nastypsychoboy]

Update, apparantly the 2 year warranty is void because the alloy shows signs of impact damage which is strange as i used it normally on a UK road, and havent been off roading or driving up kerbs, i've hit a few potholes and there is a mark on the inside rim but i would have thought the alloys could handle being used normally on a UK road, the alloy isnt buckled or have chunks missing and the back wheel is fine but Audi wants to play hard ball again

The other day while taking photos i noticed the date of manufacture, i purchased the wheel in Feb 2010, but in my opinion the serial number looks dodgey, Audi customer services technicial guy says it looks 'normal', but it looks weird to me, anyone else think it looks strange?

I'll go with what the majority thinks, but i would have thought the lettering would be clear and crisp all the way through the stamp, not smudged on the right hand side where the year is printed and considering i cant even scratch it with a nail as its pretty tough, i cant understand why it would be like that unless delibrately tampered with, any thoughts will be appreciated.

Date stamp 1

Date stamp 2

[PhilT]

It's a lifetime warranty....

[mikeyquattro]

It's a lifetime warranty....

Didn't think that was the case on hard rims?

[Nastypsychoboy]

Na Audi UK says 2 years parts warranty on the hard ones, they are hard ive checked the centre serial number. But my local Audi who sold me and fitted them says its 'impact damage' so therefore warranty is void? There are a couple of marks on the inside rim which would indicate an impact from a pothole but i think the alloy wasnt tough enough to br driven on UK road so therefore not fit for use. And ive hardly used the car from fear after the last £1600 wheel bill. Think the warranty only applies if you cover them in bubble wrap, leave them in your garage and play soothing music to them.

The serial number/manufacture date is definately bothering me tho, the left part is tough, i spent 15 minutes yesterday trying to scrape it and it wont come off at all or fade but the right bit can be scraped off easily and it just looks abnormal. Something is just not right. Shes been off the road for a month and a half, and riding the bus is becoming tedious.

[Dave_Hedgehog]

wish i had just swapped the rims on my B5

http://www.mtm-online.de/en/Audi/RS4/2- ... k95920512s

[Nastypsychoboy]

UPDATE:
Audi UK had a different opinion to the dealer and decided to replace the Alloy under warranty and informed the dealer that they would cover the cost of the replacement, and after a few days the local dealer had one in, they took the old cracked one and were going to fit a new tyre for me but they didnt have any in stock, so it turned out ok in the end (with a bit of nagging), seems that generally Audi UK's service is good but the dealers will take any opportunity to deny responsibility. New Alloy and back on the road, had to replace the tyre which was a bit of a bugger but oh well. At least I didnt have to spend £720.

[PhilT]

Great result. Need to get mine spun up soon.

[RS4ever]

Few questions:

1) Do they replace bent hard wheels?

2) If not, can I just find a bent soft wheel and get that replaced? Will it be a hard wheel replacement?

[Nastypsychoboy]

@RS4ever dunno if they will replace hard wheels unless you exchange large sums of cash, the dealers probably wont Audi UK might do depending on the age of them, my one was less than 2 years old so it was still under warranty. I would have thought if you had a bent soft one they would replace for a hard one due to all the problems with the soft ones but dont know if theres many out there, and you might have to negotiate with Audi UK. If it was recent damage done by a road defect you could look at claiming off the council, but it will probably take 6 months and you might have to be prepared to be persistent.

Good luck