Car Cafe Ruined My Wheels

[350gt premium]

Hey guys,

I had my car washed at on of those car cafes on the hume highway. Once the car was cleaned I did a once over just to check if everything is good.

Had a look at my wheels it was still dirty it looked like there was still brake dust on my wheels, told the guy and he got a cloth and tried to wipe it off and it didn't want to come off, they were stained I argued a bit and they just kept on saying it was like that already. On the receipt I got from them when I paid for the wash it has a discaimer that states " We do not accept any responsibilty fo any type of damages made to the car"

I was so pissed off I couldn't do anything, took the car to a tyre and wheels shop they told me the wheels were stained due to chemicals that was used and the only way to fix it was to get the mags repainted. I had another look at the whole car and could see that some of the chemicals that was used went on to the body of my car causing the paint to bubble and eating into the paint.

This is bull, I have 4 mags that are stuffed and the paint work at the front of my car has 3 big marks that can't come off.

It will probably cost me about $1k plus for new mags and another $1k to fix the paint just by going to get my car cleaned.

Is there anyone I can talk to in relation to this? Maybe an automotive ombudsman? They can't get away with this....

[GTR32G]

You can lodge a claim with your Insurance Company if you have full comprehensive and let them do the talking with them, but at the end you may have to pay your excess pending how much it is to if this would be worth while.

[D_I_F]

Not a great chance of recovery but it's always worth a shot..

P.s Hey Brian say guy to the new staff

[San-Ni]

look at ACCC website

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml...kingAComplaint/

unless you had knowledge (" We do not accept any responsibilty fo any type of damages made to the car" ) of this before having your car cleaned, difficult to argue....

[MrStabby]

Ring up Fair Trading in your state - putting a disclaimer doesn't get them out of their legal responsibilities, so don't be concerned about that.

My guess is that it will probably pan out something like this;

1. You'll have to get three quotes on repairing the wheels, and then approach the car cafe to pay for the damage

2. If they refuse, you take them to small claims and they will end up paying in the long run, but it might take some time to get your money back

but that's a guess. Follow Fair Trading's advice and you should be ok. Good luck.

[Owens]

It's pretty dog they'd have the disclaimer on the receipt, and you see it AFTER you've paid. It pisses me off when places pull shit like that. At least they could have had a sign out front with the conditions on it.

What the hell were they cleaning your car with? acid?

Anyways, hope things work out for you. Definitely get in contact with ACCC / Fair Trading and get quotes from various car detail places, it will be time consuming but think of the 1000's you could be saving.

For futures sake, its worth cleaning your own wheels. All you need is a toilet brush (preferably new ) and rim cleaner which you can get from any autoshop. Spray on and scrub away, thoroughly hose off.

[PM-R33]

What the hell were they cleaning your car with? acid?

+1 what the hell are they using

I'd go back there and demand to see what type of products they are using.

[VB-]

how are you so sure it was them that stained the wheels? sure its not caked on brake dust residue or anything?

[AlexanderWilde]

+1 what the hell are they using

I'd go back there and demand to see what type of products they are using.

actualy some wheel cleaners use minute traces of acidic chemicals to remove the baked on brake dust. problem is unless ur a professional and know what you are doing you will f**k the wheels up, as you need to spray a small area, scrub then rinse straight away , and if this process is not followed it will end up in the result mentioned

these are used by detailers for detailing or repair on mag wheels but some of these caffes use them cus they dont have to scrub hard.

+1 on the disclaimer not doing shit, by law from what i know any disclaimer has to be before the use of any service. does your doctor perform major surgery and tells you the risks after the surgery or before?

this would fail in any court of law

your difficulty will be proving that the damage was not before that wash

so se if you have any good quality pictures close to the day without the damage and you wil prob have to take it to a few pannel beaters or detailing places to say the damage is caused by cleaning products used improperly

[GTR-N1]

I'd get a mate with a sh!tbox & a couple of sterilised yellow-top urine-sample bottles to go there and get the same treatment > Collect > Test > Legal team at your insurance company.

I suspect though, that after you made your complaint, the detergent dilution ratios have been altered - so it may be too late for that.

The same approach needs to be taken when you think you received dodgy fuel.

[Kinks]

I've used "mag wheel cleaner" of a pretty well respected car care brand and it ate the clearcoat on my stock wheels, crazed them to buggery. i only noticed about a week later but there was no way they were like that before.

since then I only use car wash soap on my wheels. religiously. maybe i've used car wash pre-soak once or twice but it's citric acid based (smells like oranges) which is a VERY weak acid.

also, a disclaimer on the receipt is void because it was never a condition of sale. you can't add conditions after the transaction has been made. secondly, it doesn't mean anything if the cafe has been negligent. if they left acid cleaner on your wheels for too long and damaged them then they should foot the bill for repair.

[jawrgy]

WD-40 worked wonders on my wheels =D

[AlexanderWilde]

WD-40 worked wonders on my wheels =D

just make sure you dont get any on your brakes

i find dishwashing liquid and elbow grease works great every time

[GoldZilla]

i find dishwashing liquid and elbow grease works great every time

Not a good idea, as anything like this with a detergent in it will eat through the clear coating of the paint on the car's body and wheels. If you plan to wash it off straight away, fair enough, but DO NOT let it dry on any surface and then wash it off later.

[Kinks]

dishwashing liquid will strip wax off as well, which is almost certainly NOT what you intend to do. wax protects your paint job.

there's a reason why car wash soap exists, and it's not to make those companies rich.. it's different to other household products because the application is different!

[Kujotk]

I took the clear coat off a Mercs wheels as the brake dust would just sit on it and be impossible to separate from the wheel. Tried everything to get it off without damaging the wheel, car looked crap as the wheels stayed dirty. Eventually got out the mineral terps and took the dust and clear coat off. 1 year on and the wheels now only need the spray of a hose to get the brake dust off and always look new.

OP if you have the stocker nissan wheels just wipe them down with terps, they are clear coated because of the winter northern hemisphere where they drive on salted roads, how often do you drive through the snow?

If you know what you are doing you can take off a layer of clear coat to strip away the damaged part, but keep a thin layer of clear coat still on the wheel. But from first hand experience spend the +1.5hour scrubbing the whole thing off by hand. It is a common issue when idiots leave acid on the wheels of modern cars.

PS: why take your car to a car wash? Car washes use dirty cloths, sponges, chamois ect.... they never clean them properly, if they drop the chamois on the floor they just pick it up and keep drying and putting spiderwebbing on your cars clear coat that makes it look shit in the sunlight.

I always do it myslef, that way you take care in what you do, the car washers dont give a crap about your car.

[Kujotk]

just make sure you dont get any on your brakes

i find dishwashing liquid and elbow grease works great every time

ARGH!!!! It will work fine with detergent for a while, but over time you will notice your car scratches easier, and the black paint is fading. It won't take the clear coat off quickly, but if you do that once a week, after a couple of years you will notice the difference.

As the detergent strips layer by layer off it will be clean and shiny (untill you go right through the clear coat). The problem is detergent takes off too much of the clear coat and it doesn't do it evenly. There is nothing wrong with taking off some clear coat, that is what you do when you use any type of washing product on the paint work, and that is what a detailer does when they polish your car back to looking like new. But they key is to do it evenly and only take a tiny layer off.

[s13_Skyline_inside]

if the wheels were still a bit hot from driving when you spray the wheel cleaner on it will dry extra fast and stuff them, also meant to be done one wheel at a time not spray all four then wash off, I learnt the hard way, lucky they were shitty r32gtst wheels

[AlexanderWilde]

dishwashing liquid will strip wax off as well, which is almost certainly NOT what you intend to do. wax protects your paint job.

there's a reason why car wash soap exists, and it's not to make those companies rich.. it's different to other household products because the application is different!

when i said use dishwashing liquid i was refering to washing the wheels/ mags only, i would never use that on the car paint

reason for that is the dishwashing liquid is a softer degreaser than turps or acid based weel cleaners and if you wash the weel then rinse it off it works just like a wheel cleaning product but it wont stain like one

thats just my expirience and you can see my wheels that i have had for over 4 years and they still look like new no stains or marks

[blk15]

The only place I would get my car washed from is at a respected detailer i.e. final inspection