Boxster Wheel Issue. - Page 4 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I've never seen anything like that before on a wheel but it does look like a bad quality repair to some sort of impact. Surely there must be a similar 'scab' on the other side in the wheel well? All I can say is that I have witnessed some failures of alloy wheel repairs and personally would never have an alloy repaired on any car, especially on a Porsche.

No that's one of the things that's puzzling me - there is no evidence of any damage at all on the other side.

What model 987 or 981, how long owned, and under any kind of warranty? Did you buy from a dealer or privately?

It's a 13 plate 981 bought in February from a dealer.

jedm said: It's a 13 plate 981 bought in February from a dealer. Exactly what date in February? What warranty did it come with? By law, it must have 3 months. Or was it a Porsche main dealer? In any case, whether in warranty or out, you should get on the phone to the dealer explaining the issues, that you're not happy, that you feel the wheels are a safety issue and should be replaced at their cost (in full). Be pleasant but firm. Send them a synopsis of the conversation (I told you... you said... etc) along with photos. Give them a day or so to come up with a solution you are entirely happy with. It may be they too didn't know about the issues, but that shouldn't be your problem. Keep dated notes of telephone conversations, who you spoke to, what was said. Try not to deal over the phone, but get responses in writing (email is quickest). Keep posting here with updates so we can advise. IMPORTANT: You will need to take the other two tyres off so as to check those rims too. Do it now, or you may have a bigger, more difficult, battle if you find they're the same at a later date. Edited by DJMC on Wednesday 11th May 11:45

Feb 10 from Porsche main dealer, so with 2 years warranty.

jedm said: Feb 10 from Porsche main dealer, so with 2 years warranty. Sorted then. No way on earth can your OPC wriggle out of this one with "they all do that sir"! Make sure you check the other wheels yourself. Make sure they also pay for any sundry extras, like the cost of removing, then replacing, your old tyres or the other tyres (if that applies). Phone the service manager, explain your car is undriveable due to your discovery and you'd like a loan car while they order brand new wheels. Ask them to come and collect with a low loader. Be pleasant throughout. If any problems at OPC level, I have a good contact at Porsche GB who sorted my wheel issue. Don't settle for anything less than new wheels. Even if the other two are undamaged (on the face of it) I'd be suspicious about them and indeed the WHOLE CAR now. Has it been in an accident!? You need to get the car checked for accident damage. If it appears to be accident damaged, you are close enough to the purchase date to REJECT it and get your money back in full. Don't think "well, it looks OK to me". If such unusual wheel damage has been covered up, what else has been covered up which will creep out in the future to either worry you, or kill you. Wheel damage often equals suspension damage which leads to chassis damage, and so on. I had a similar experience with a Mercedes UK E-Class in 2014. After 5 months 14 issues had been found, including a buckled front wheel. The car hadn't had it's 120 point inspection. Merc UK bought it back at full purchase price. By the way... even though you are dealing with an OPC keep notes of each phone conversation, dates, names, etc. Edited by DJMC on Wednesday 11th May 12:09

it looks like they refurbished the wheel before selling it to you and that the person that did it didnt care about how the "invisible" bit looked. Or the previous owner had it repaired... I would doubt that an OPC would do that ... God knows where I get my faith. My experience of OPCs is that they sell the cars and rely on the new owner to notice problems (hoping they wont)...

jackliebling said: it looks like they refurbished the wheel before selling it to you and that the person that did it didnt care about how the "invisible" bit looked. Or the previous owner had it repaired... I would doubt that an OPC would do that ... God knows where I get my faith. My experience of OPCs is that they sell the cars and rely on the new owner to notice problems (hoping they wont)... I agree. But the OP really does need to prepare for the car to go back. The thought now should be "unless I'm certain that there's no connected issues to what appears to be accident damage, the car must be rejected." Working from this stance, you need to be "sold" on the car again. I'd be wanting an independent engineer's report on the car now, funded by Porsche as you will have "lost faith" in their ability to pre-delivery check the car. OK, that's a little unreasonable perhaps as the fault was hidden, but if they say no to that expense the existing damage would perhaps be grounds to reject the car. They would counter by saying they will do a 111 point check, but this is wholly inadequate. The suspension geometry and chassis alignment needs checking at the very least, and what other parts have had bodged repairs done by the prior owner, assuming the OPC is innocent?

Can't believe OPC selling a car with these tires, especially 981! it's maybe understandable for an older age car and from a private seller or even an independent dealer but OPC should really be careful about this. You might even have a strong case against them, whoever was doing this physical/engine checks they were not careful at all.

Well to be fair to the OPC the tyres looked fine, it wasn't until they were removed from the rims that the damage became evident. Anyway I've written to the OPC taking into account the advice received and we'll see what happens now!

jedm said: Well to be fair to the OPC the tyres looked fine, it wasn't until they were removed from the rims that the damage became evident. Anyway I've written to the OPC taking into account the advice received and we'll see what happens now! Good luck, I think it's an absolute mistake on their side. You, as a responsible buyer, going to OPC and buying a used car from them, instead of a probably much cheaper but risky situation. They should be much more careful.

No the puncture damage was down to something puncturing the tread, can't be associated with the rim damage. OPC have detailed email, together with photos. Let's see what happens.

How many miles has the car done ? You could be replacing the original Tyres from the factory ! They are usually date stamped which could give a clue.

Car has (now) done 7000 miles. 5600 when I collected it. Was off line 30/01/2013 and the punctured tyre was from week 49 2012 which seems about right. Other rear was from 26/2014. Fronts are a mix as well 13/2014 on the same side as the 2014 rear and 45/2012 on the other side.

You have done the right thing by contacting the OPC. No one would take tyres off to check wheels if everything looked OK from the outside. I am assuming that both the wheels that had new tyres were damaged? If went this is looked at and the other wheels are also damaged, it could be a number of things. I doubt accident damage as to damage all four wheels would mean the overall damage would most likely mean a write off, so a Cat D which would have to be declared. My feeling is the original decent wheels were swapped out before trade in and the good ones sold. But who knows at the moment.

It begs the question how carefully do OPC's check cars they sell? They're generally good at fixing cosmetic issues, but it's hard to believe the rim damage was isolated to just the rear wheels without a knock-on effect to anything mechanical or to chassis/body. Did you determine the cause of the puncture? If a nail, fair enough, but if it was a blow out or other failure I'd pin the cost of the new tyre/s to the rim damage too, as the tyre may have been internally damaged and later failed in your ownership. Edited by DJMC on Wednesday 11th May 17:10

We don't know about the front rim with the new tyre yet, as it hasn't been taken off. The two damaged ones so far are the rear rims. All very odd, what with one side's tyres being original and the other newer. Could be all sorts of reasons, none look too good.

There seems to be a lot more paint on the inside of the wheel than normal this part is usually pretty thinly painted as no one can see it, screams of repair / refurb what is the back of the wheels like paint wise.

You have done the right thing by contacting the OPC. No one would take tyres off to check wheels if everything looked OK from the outside. I am assuming that both the wheels that had new tyres were damaged? If when this is looked at and the other wheels are also damaged, it could be a number of things. I doubt accident damage as to damage all four wheels would mean the overall damage would most likely mean a write off, so a Cat D which would have to be declared. My feeling is the original decent wheels were swapped out before trade in and the good ones sold. But who knows at the moment. Edited by stebbo on Wednesday 11th May 19:29

Klippie said: There seems to be a lot more paint on the inside of the wheel than normal this part is usually pretty thinly painted as no one can see it, screams of repair / refurb what is the back of the wheels like paint wise. Back of the wheel looks fine.

Klippie said: There seems to be a lot more paint on the inside of the wheel than normal this part is usually pretty thinly painted as no one can see it, screams of repair / refurb what is the back of the wheels like paint wise. I think the welded in bit gives a rather good clue to a repair also? We can safely conclude these are undoubtedly accident damaged rims. But did the accident happen whilst on this car?

DJMC said: Klippie said: There seems to be a lot more paint on the inside of the wheel than normal this part is usually pretty thinly painted as no one can see it, screams of repair / refurb what is the back of the wheels like paint wise. I think the welded in bit gives a rather good clue to a repair also? We can safely conclude these are undoubtedly accident damaged rims. But did the accident happen whilst on this car? here we go, don't tell me, you'd expect a brand new car from Porsche...

WinstonWolf said: here we go, don't tell me, you'd expect a brand new car from Porsche... Why brand new, when this one's 3 years old? Have you anything constructive to add which might help the OP, or are you just an arse?

DJMC said: WinstonWolf said: here we go, don't tell me, you'd expect a brand new car from Porsche... Why brand new, when this one's 3 years old? Have you anything constructive to add which might help the OP, or are you just an arse? Me an arse? how old are your calipers???

Pure speculation but here goes. I'd have thought "accident" damage capable of doing that would also damage the outer rim beyond repair. The damage since patch repaired and the scoring look to me like they could have been caused by driving over spikes or projections which only damaged the inner rim - say a stinger device or those devices to stop you driving into a car park the wrong way. As I say, pure speculation. Is the patch repair even welded? Or is that a bead of sealant around the edge?... It's an intriguing mystery. I hope you get to the bottom of it. Can you contact the previous owner and ask what happened?

griffter said: It's an intriguing mystery. I hope you get to the bottom of it. Can you contact the previous owner and ask what happened? I'm loathe to try and contact the previous owner. I think it will just muddy the water as my Sale of Goods contract is with the OPC not the prior owner who may well be very reticent to tell the full story anyway

DJMC said: We can safely conclude these are undoubtedly accident damaged rims. But did the accident happen whilst on this car? That's the more important question! Was there any other damage?

About a year ago, a car (Renault) in front of me in a quite busy traffic (5-10 mph) just went over a long metal conduit that left on the road by a construction company, near Marylebone High street. In seconds, both tires went flat and you could see the slight metal damage on the wheels. I doubt this has caused a massive damage to his car as it was very slow but again pure speculation, one never knows the full story, hopefully it is something quite small and OPC would agree to somehow compensate their sloppiness on their side!

I love the number of 'fact' statements on this thread, from people just looking at some blurred photos. I agree that it doesn't look 'right', but playing Devil's Advocate... The 'patch' repair - how 'deep' is it? It almost looks like a manufacturing mark was removed, rather than accident damage (I know they don't put manufacturing marks on the inside of the barrel, but...) The scoring - how did that happen, and yet the rim just a few cms away appears untouched? I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue it, but the possible causes are not exactly clear-cut. OP - what rims are they? OE Porsche, or aftermarket?

Orangecurry said: OP - what rims are they? OE Porsche, or aftermarket? OE Porsche.

Orangecurry said: The scoring - how did that happen, and yet the rim just a few cms away appears untouched? I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue it, but the possible causes are not exactly clear-cut. To be honest, I really don't care what caused it, or how they got there. What does give me great cause for concern is the fact that they are there in the first place and as such are significant stress raisers and the potential source for catastrophic failure in the event of hitting a pothole or similar.

Sorry - I wasn't clear - for me it would be critical to understand how it happened, as the other posters have said, to define what other damage could have happened to the car - suspension, chassis, engine anything. A wheel is just a consumable after all.

Orangecurry said: Sorry - I wasn't clear - for me it would be critical to understand how it happened, as the other posters have said, to define what other damage could have happened to the car - suspension, chassis, engine anything. A wheel is just a consumable after all. I agree. The cause is crutial. The wheels can be replaced, but the OP should try and ascertain how the damage was caused, albeit unlikely he will, as this would give peace of mind, or cause for further investigation. When my Merc was showing prior hidden accident damage I contacted the owner who'd sold it to Mercedes UK to ask her about it. In my case she denied what was fairly obviously pre-sale cosmetic paintwork. She was no doubt lying. But that doesn't mean all prior owners would lie. The name may well be in your V5C. If so, I'd recommend tracking him/her down and asking "matter of fact" questions.

phone past owner and ask, it's quite simple. they will either tell you or not. Looks likes a Police stinger get away car to me !

First owner is ex directory. I've written but not holding my breath I'll get something terribly constructive back. OPC management who need to be involved are apparently out until tomorrow.

jedm said: First owner is ex directory. I've written but not holding my breath I'll get something terribly constructive back. OPC management who need to be involved are apparently out until tomorrow. If the original owner has done something less than honest, it is extremely unlikely they would admit to it. I wish you luck on this. At the very least the OPC should sort the wheels out.

To be it looks like the wheels have been powder coated- The long gouge is where they installed the tyre a and marked the thick powder coat and the square is where they had it on a rack or something. Without stripping it we will never know of course.

aceparts said: The long gouge is where they installed the tyre and marked the thick powder coat.... Bingo. So that's what happened to the wheels - refurb and tyre fitted before the paint had cured.

aceparts said: To be it looks like the wheels have been powder coated- The long gouge is where they installed the tyre a and marked the thick powder coat and the square is where they had it on a rack or something. Without stripping it we will never know of course. That they may have been powered coated I don't disagree with, but the long gouges are not where the tyre installation tools would normally touch and the marks have not just removed the paint they right into the metal, 2/3mm in places.

Not the fitment tools - the tyre itself. When the fitter first puts the tyre on, they push the inside-bead of the tyre over the outside-rim of the wheel - the tool(s) help him stretch that over the outer rim, but when that happens the inside-bead of the tyre bites into the barrel of the wheel - if it's metal or cured paint, it won't mark it, but if 'wet' it would put that 'scoring' mark on the barrel in the paint. * again this is all conjecture from blurred photos. Find out what happened, but with Aceparts idea thrown into the mix, I agree that it looks like a rushed refurb/repaint on the wheels. Are the newer tyres (2014) both the nearside wheels?

Orangecurry said: Not the fitment tools - the tyre itself. When the fitter first puts the tyre on, they push the inside-bead of the tyre over the outside-rim of the wheel - the tool(s) help him stretch that over the outer rim, but when that happens the inside-bead of the tyre bites into the barrel of the wheel - if it's metal or cured paint, it won't mark it, but if 'wet' it would put that 'scoring' mark on the barrel in the paint. * again this is all conjecture from blurred photos. Find out what happened, but with Aceparts idea thrown into the mix, I agree that it looks like a rushed refurb/repaint on the wheels. Are the newer tyres (2014) both the nearside wheels? Not discounting anything, but don't believe inside bead of tyre would actually gouge the mental to the depth that I have.....as I said 2/3 mm in places. Yes both 2014 tyres are on the nearside, although the most badly damaged rear wheel is on the offside, although that may just where it ended up when the wheels were put back on the car.

Agreed - if it's in the metal it's very odd, but having watched many tyres being fitted, that gouge mark and importantly the angle of the gouge looks exactly where the tyre would hit during fitment. Good luck with your detective work!

Just going back to the "welded in plate" or "rack mark"... If this was a welded in plate there should be evidence of it on the other side of the metal, i.e. the "visible" (but still almost hidden from view) surface of the rim which faces the hub. Have a look there and see if there's evidence of the "weld" in the same position. It may have been expertly covered by the new paint job to give a perfect exterior finish but in view of the rest of the paint, I doubt it! You could of course scratch away at both sides of the metal to see what's going on but I'd leave well alone until your OPC have looked at the car.

jedm said: To be honest, I really don't care what caused it, or how they got there. What does give me great cause for concern is the fact that they are there in the first place and as such are significant stress raisers and the potential source for catastrophic failure in the event of hitting a pothole or similar. This exactly...if the wheel collapses then you are in an accident no matter what speed your doing, safety always comes first. I hope you get your wheels sorted out.

Am meeting with OPC management tomorrow. Very reasonable telephone call from them today, as expected based on our prior dealing. They certainly realise their key role in getting this resolved and I have no reason, at the moment to doubt their desire to get to a satisfactory solution. Actions however speak louder than words so we will see what transpires.

Hope all goes well for you.

They look like a couple of paper stickers that have been powder coated over

Any news on this OP?

stebbo said: Any news on this OP? Give you an update tomorrow.

Is it tomorrow yet?

Driven over a stinger, punctured the centre section of the tyre and damaged the rim - replacement sections cut out and welded into the two identical/at least similar dents? Tyres then badly installed by the same cowboy? Not sure I'd be happy to find that so fair play OP.

Incredible response from the OPC. Four new wheels and tyres fitted. Geo check / alignment / independent vehicle inspection. No issues at all with the car, and one very happy OPC customer.

Spot on, can't ask for more than that. Great result!

Twinfan said: Spot on, can't ask for more than that. Great result! +1

I bet it was one of those times when you expect and epic battle, phone calls and emails back and forth but oh!! Excellent news...

Good result for the OP. Hopefully they've been sensible with the offending wheels.

jedm said: Incredible response from the OPC. Four new wheels and tyres fitted. Geo check / alignment / independent vehicle inspection. No issues at all with the car, and one very happy OPC customer. Great news! But it is a little sad that we all agree it's incredible, and expected far less from an OPC. Did they give any clue as to what had happened?

Great result. You must be very happy to have resolved this without too much hassle.

The power of PH?

DJMC said: Great news! But it is a little sad that we all agree it's incredible, and expected far less from an OPC. Did they give any clue as to what had happened? Don't speak for me thank you. I would have been surprised if they HADNT sorted it out.