Okay, so I recently purchased an '09 G37xS with 60k miles from a local dealer. The dealer gave me a good deal on the car and even fixed any known issues. The car was shaking when I bought it so the dealer gave me 4 new tires, replaced all 4 brakes (rotors and pads) and even balanced all 4 wheels. This and a free oil change and detail. Now after driving the car for a few days I discover that 3 of the wheels have a slight bend in them.

I took the car back to the dealer to see what they can do about it, but unfortunately they are maxed out and cannot help any more.

So now I have two options:

1) Go to the local wheel doc and get bend wheels repaired ($110/wheel). the headache was to drop the car at the shop for a few days, get a ride there and back... the dealer is willing to help with the loaner car as long as I pay for the repairs.

2) Get a new set of rims. With this options, I want to either move to 19" or 20" wheels and tires that would fit well on the car without having to install a lowering kit. Since this is a G37xS, the car naturally sits higher than normal (at least that's what I think) so if I get a different set of wheels it has to look right.

What do you guys think I should do?

 

I would not pay to fix them. The price is semi-steep and I couldn't imagine that they will ever be as strong again. I would just move onto new wheels, but with no plans to lower I would stick to 18's. This way you could put on the same tires if you stay around the same wheel width. When you go up is size in wheels it only seems to exaggerate the 4x4 look. The meatier sidewall on the 18 just seems to flow better at stock height. Plus you'll save money on tires.

 

did you bend the wheels or were they bent when you bought them? if they were bent when you bought them, i don't care what they did to try to fix the issue, I would take the car back and have them pay for the new wheels.

 

I would pay to get them fixed. 330$ to fix vs 2000$+ for wheels and tires. Plus you have new tires right now..it would be a waste unless you really just wanted new wheels.

 

I recently had a bend fixed for $140. $110 is a good price. To me, vibration virtually makes the set useless. You will hate putting them on. In good conscience you can't just sell them knowing what you know. I would get them fixed.

 

Or buy a set for local Craiglist or the forums's classified section.

 

I agree with sniper27 if the rims where that way when you purchased the car then they (the dealer) should be responsible for replacing them. Bent wheels are a hazard to you and others on the road should something happen. Now, how did you discover that the rims had a slight bend in them? Because I'm thinking that whoever balanced the rims when they slapped on the new tires should have noticed that. I would say that a rim that is bent that badly would not balance properly??

 

I's take the opportunity and bump up to the G37S coupe 19" rims, it will look awesome with the car.

 

This.

When the tire shop put new tires on my wheels they called me into the back of the shop to show me, on the monitor, that the Hunter Road Force wheel balancer detected a slight bend in my front right wheel. He said it was so small that I wouldn't feel it but he just wanted to let me know (very professional). He was right too. I have driven up to 130km/hr and can't feel any imbalance.

My point is that they can detect slight imperfections. I suspect they knew the wheels are bent.

 

Seems like the dealers done everything they could "in-house" to remedy the situation. I do like the idea that they are willing to give you a loaner while you are getting your wheels repaired but in the end it just sucks that you are paying out of pocket for something that was already an existing issue when you purchased the vehicle.

These are some great suggestions but have you seen how much a set of pre-owned factory alloys are going for nowadays on this forum? You're practically paying for a set of used factory wheels at the rate of a 20" brand new decent brand wheels.

 

Maybe they did, small bend done in proper shop you would never know the diff.

A rim spot in queens had stacks of brand new BMW rims, all kinds.

3 series 5 series 7 series x3 z4, even a set from an m5.everyone of these rims were bent between factory & dealership.

Remember asking the owner, what's up with all these BMW stock rims.

He told they were either bent or out of round, he said BMW has the most issues. It is the only car brand he tells his customers to get rid of stock wheels.

 

Just remember when you buy used rims of craigslist or the forum, you run the risk of buying bent rims. People want to dump them for a reason--sometimes because they vibrate.

 

all good suggestion folks! so far i have the following:
1 - repair the existing wheels - cheapest solution since i don't need to put new tires but run the chance of losing quality on wheels.
2 - dealer already knew they were bent, so i should take the car back or have them pay for damage.
3 - buy used from craigslist or forum with the risk of buying bent wheels again
4 - upgrade to stock 19's, i like this option it'll still $$$ since i can probably get a new set of replicas for the same price.

if i can just send the wheel's in for repair then the repair cost goes down to $85/wheel. but then my car is sitting on bricks. i don't have a second car so this is going to tough.

 

^ Did you get the car from a local 'Infiniti' dealer?

If it was an Infiniti dealer then I would follow up with option 2 and if they don't take care of the wheels, escalate to Infiniti Consumer Affairs.
I still suspect they knew the wheels are bent. How many places go through all of the trouble of, 4 new tires, replaced all 4 brakes (rotors and pads) and even balanced all 4 wheels if something isn't wrong? Unless all 4 tires were bad, brakes and rotors were bad.

 

BTW what tires did they install? If they're bargain basement treads you'd be better off finding coupe 19s w/ quality tires.