Let me just start by saying that I'm super **** about my wheels getting scratched up unnecessarily, or any part of my car getting damaged at all unnecessarily(who isn't, right?)... and it seems like everyone who tries to do any work on our cars that involves taking the rims off, usually scratches the hell out of the in the process. I generally do all my own work, but certain things require machines such as for wheel balancing and allignments.

When I had my tires put on about a year ago, I actually went to all the hassle of taking the rims off 2 at a time and bringing them to a tire shop separately in the bed of my truck to have them mount and balance the tires on my rims while they were off the vehicle, in hopes that they wouldn't scratch them up. Low and behold, my rims still got a lot of goddamn marks and scratches on them, by the shop even though they didn't even take the rims off the car. This was at National Tire and Battery, by the way.... and they wouldn't do crap about it... so I told them I would never go back there for anything again.... WTF!

Now, a year later, my car is vibrating badly on the highway because a few weights apparently fell off the wheels and I need to get them rebalanced.

Whenever I take the rims off, I use my own deep-set socket so it doesn't mess the paint up around the Journals of where the lug nuts go..... Has anyone had any luck getting other mechanics/rim-shop techs to actually do an allignment or balancing on these cars(or any other work requiring removal of the wheels), without actually damaging the paint on the rims in the process?

Do you think I'd have better luck going to a specialty-tire/rim shop to have them done, rather than just some chain-type tire place?

 

in the past i have had a performance shop do all that for me... the price is comparable to what i'd pay at a chain-type of 'service center'... and well, for the most part the staff (including the mechanics) are car enthusiasts who take MUCH MUCH better care of vehicles... good luck with that...

 

I take my work wheels off myself, and bring them to America's Tire Company (aka Discount Tire Company in some parts of the country).

I found them to treat my wheels really well, unlike Les Schwab. They installed rubber feets on their mounting machine, flipped my rims upside down, so they install the tires from the back nstead of the front.

I also watched as they used two hands to gently put the wheel on the machines...

It could be because they know they are expensive aftermarket rims. As when they were done, they gently set them against a wall. I watched others with OEM wheels, just let them wobble on the ground...

I thought maybe it was just a few employees, but then I watched as every employee that touched my wheels, treated my wheels the same way, with lots of care.

Three different people installed tires on my 4 rims (I did 2 one day and two another), and all three used the same technique of rubber feet and installing from back. So I figure they were trained to do it that way with aftermarket rims.

When they were helping me load my rims in the backseat of my other car, they even showed me how to put the wheels/tires back there without letting the rims touch each other, so they were trying their best to not damage the wheels.