Kinesis F110 wheels cracked! A must see!
#16
03-20-2011, 01:04 PM
the wheel break looks familiar. Check this thread out and pics:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...hre-wheel.html
and another relevant thread:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-question.html
here is the important part:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...hre-wheel.html
and another relevant thread:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-question.html
here is the important part:
Dirty Mac,
First, I cannot understate how sorry I am to see you are having a problem with your HRE wheels. While I should probably wait to get the whole story again on Monday morning, I know a little background and I know how HRE would and should be approaching this. Let me clarify our intention so you don't misunderstand what we're trying to do.
1. Our warranty when these wheels were sold was indeed 5 years, but at the end of the day, if this were due to HRE we would stand behind them 100% no matter how long it was and our wheels sold today today carry a lifetime structural warranty because we realized that is what we were doing anyway so we might as well make it official.
2. We do not guarantee any warranty without first inspecting the wheels. Upon inspection it was clear these wheels were taken apart and powdercoated by a 3rd party as they did not leave the HRE factory that color. We track all of our wheels using serial numbers so we know the original order and any modification by a 3rd party voids the warranty because we cannot control their process.
3. Repainting seems innocent enough but it doesn't take much to overheat and damage a forged center. We see people claiming they do it all the time without issues but I can assure you that it is only a matter of time and miles before the centers start to crack once they've been overheated. A difference of 50 degrees F is the difference between safely powdercoating and severe degradation of the parts. The vendor doesn't know because fatigue failures take time. Once it finally cracks, the customer is LONG gone (in this case the car was already sold). And you are correct, the thickness has nothing to do with the degradation. It just stood out to us as different than HRE's quality and why we checked to see if we did the finish.
4. We asked for your other 3 wheels so we could see if we could replace just the centers and determine the full price of the quote as rims may or may not need to be replaced (bent or other reasons). This is not BS and was intended to get you down the road as inexpensively as possible. We were never intending to sell you 4 new wheels and I had authorized a significant discount on the entire order understanding you basically bought someone else's ruined wheels which are now junk. All of this is tentative on sending the wheels to HRE which I'm sure you understand is not unreasonable as we're trying to actually save you money.
5. I also ask that you try to understand our position as this is something I have personally been warning people about on 6Speed and elsewhere time and time again. You should NEVER modify an HRE wheel. Send it to us. You will be taken care of properly and safely. I know you bought these used and didn't do the mods, but you are basically stuck with the aftermath. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we've seen this and we've recently had another incident where an authorized dealer did unauthorized painting after it left our factory with the same end result. We cannot restate enough how important this is but unfortunately even some of our partners don't listen and we have cut off one dealer just for this reason.
6. At the end of the day, HRE's name is on those wheels and you're unhappy. Our intention is and will always be to take care of you as best possible even though the warranty was voided due to damage by a 3rd party. I hope you realize that this level of service is not common in this industry or any industry for that matter. You have HREs and that means there is a promise that goes along with that and I hope you can see we're trying to always uphold that promise. I hope and assume we will work this out to your satisfaction and I hope I have clarified our intentions regarding this issue.
Please be careful out there.
First, I cannot understate how sorry I am to see you are having a problem with your HRE wheels. While I should probably wait to get the whole story again on Monday morning, I know a little background and I know how HRE would and should be approaching this. Let me clarify our intention so you don't misunderstand what we're trying to do.
1. Our warranty when these wheels were sold was indeed 5 years, but at the end of the day, if this were due to HRE we would stand behind them 100% no matter how long it was and our wheels sold today today carry a lifetime structural warranty because we realized that is what we were doing anyway so we might as well make it official.
2. We do not guarantee any warranty without first inspecting the wheels. Upon inspection it was clear these wheels were taken apart and powdercoated by a 3rd party as they did not leave the HRE factory that color. We track all of our wheels using serial numbers so we know the original order and any modification by a 3rd party voids the warranty because we cannot control their process.
3. Repainting seems innocent enough but it doesn't take much to overheat and damage a forged center. We see people claiming they do it all the time without issues but I can assure you that it is only a matter of time and miles before the centers start to crack once they've been overheated. A difference of 50 degrees F is the difference between safely powdercoating and severe degradation of the parts. The vendor doesn't know because fatigue failures take time. Once it finally cracks, the customer is LONG gone (in this case the car was already sold). And you are correct, the thickness has nothing to do with the degradation. It just stood out to us as different than HRE's quality and why we checked to see if we did the finish.
4. We asked for your other 3 wheels so we could see if we could replace just the centers and determine the full price of the quote as rims may or may not need to be replaced (bent or other reasons). This is not BS and was intended to get you down the road as inexpensively as possible. We were never intending to sell you 4 new wheels and I had authorized a significant discount on the entire order understanding you basically bought someone else's ruined wheels which are now junk. All of this is tentative on sending the wheels to HRE which I'm sure you understand is not unreasonable as we're trying to actually save you money.
5. I also ask that you try to understand our position as this is something I have personally been warning people about on 6Speed and elsewhere time and time again. You should NEVER modify an HRE wheel. Send it to us. You will be taken care of properly and safely. I know you bought these used and didn't do the mods, but you are basically stuck with the aftermath. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we've seen this and we've recently had another incident where an authorized dealer did unauthorized painting after it left our factory with the same end result. We cannot restate enough how important this is but unfortunately even some of our partners don't listen and we have cut off one dealer just for this reason.
6. At the end of the day, HRE's name is on those wheels and you're unhappy. Our intention is and will always be to take care of you as best possible even though the warranty was voided due to damage by a 3rd party. I hope you realize that this level of service is not common in this industry or any industry for that matter. You have HREs and that means there is a promise that goes along with that and I hope you can see we're trying to always uphold that promise. I hope and assume we will work this out to your satisfaction and I hope I have clarified our intentions regarding this issue.
Please be careful out there.
#19
03-20-2011, 02:42 PM
What I think? That metallurgy isn't a game, and things like welding and heating cycles (in case of powder coating) are no joke. Especially for alloys.
What's the point in a forged wheel if you create a discontinuity in the metal by welding????
IMO you crack a wheel -> you buy a new one. My 0.02€.
What's the point in a forged wheel if you create a discontinuity in the metal by welding????
IMO you crack a wheel -> you buy a new one. My 0.02€.
#20
03-20-2011, 03:09 PM
So it isn't clear yet because we don't have all the facts, but one party in the chain didn't disclose the welds. It was either the person the OP bought them from or the wheel company. Someone has some splainin to do though.
#22
03-20-2011, 04:50 PM
Wow.
If there was a wheel vendor involved in this chain, as the 'certified professional', they surely should have done a cursory inspection of these wheels.... looks like you can see the spokes were reworked from the rear....
If there was a wheel vendor involved in this chain, as the 'certified professional', they surely should have done a cursory inspection of these wheels.... looks like you can see the spokes were reworked from the rear....
#25
03-20-2011, 06:56 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Woodbridge Virginia
Posts: 510
Rep Power: 58 
Original seller that sold these wheels refinished:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-19x8-5-a.html
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-19x8-5-a.html
#26
03-20-2011, 10:37 PM
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Seattle
Posts: 2,039
Rep Power: 128 Well when they say checked and (Corrected) that would send a red flag up for me, there is no doubt they were welded because they saw cracks and wanted to resale them. I would want all my money back or new wheels or we would have to take the legal route if it was me.
It just makes me sick to my stomach people would sell a wheel that has been welded up and painted over. I would not expect such a thing from a vendor here on 6speed that deals with high end wheels/cars. To put out sh*t wheels that are band-aided up to make a few bucks and put lives at stake says a lot about a companies integrity.
And for the seller who knew they were repaired and failed to mention anything to me also makes me sick. The seller will not speak to me on the phone and will only text me telling me to call up the company HE bought them from and maybe they can help me. Anyone notice he doesn't defend himself on here? The seller I bought them from tells me he doesn't have the money right now to refund me. I will be contacting the company tomorrow to see what their answer to this is before this gets ugly.
Last edited by dgreen78; 03-20-2011 at 10:42 PM.
#28
03-21-2011, 04:19 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Woodbridge Virginia
Posts: 510
Rep Power: 58
#29
03-21-2011, 07:08 AM
Seems to me this whole issue started when a vendor took a known defective product, "corrected" it by welding then worsened it by refinishing then put it on the market on this forum.
I'd like to see the vendor remedy this situation as they put these known defective products back in use. I'm sure they paid almost nothing for cracked wheels then sold them for substantial profit. At the buyer's risk and expense.
This is extremely poor form.
I'd like to see the vendor remedy this situation as they put these known defective products back in use. I'm sure they paid almost nothing for cracked wheels then sold them for substantial profit. At the buyer's risk and expense.
This is extremely poor form.
