I just bought some new tires for my Lexus RX 350 and the dealership removed several of the weights that were on the wheel from the factory. In some cases, they removed the paint. :wall On the other spots, what product/procedure would I use to remove what appears to be glue that held the old weights on?
Wheel Weight Glue
- Thread starter jb1
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
eyezack87 said:
Yeah, absolutely. I've had dealerships replace/refinish wheels over stuff like this, even over *very* light marring that only an Autopian would ever notice. Don't be surprised if they say "sorry, we can't do that", but don't believe it either; they can do whatever they think is in their best interst to do
For future reference, I use 3M Adhesive Remover. The trick is to let it dwell for a long time and to gently agitate the adhesive residue while the Remover is doing it's thing (I often use a wooden stick; I flag the end of the stick with a razor blade so it's less likely to mar). Note that this can take a while, maybe even a whole afternoon.
Update. It appears that they removed the glue from where the previous weights were. They polished the lip that they scratched and told me to check it in 3-5 days. If it doesn't work, they said they would send the wheel off to get refinished and they would pay for it. Thanks again to you guys for your help.
Accumulator
Well-known member
jb 1- Glad to hear things are gonna turn out OK. Guess that shouldn't be any big surprise, given how Lexus dealers usually treat their customers 
Accumulator said:jb 1- Glad to hear things are gonna turn out OK. Guess that shouldn't be any big surprise, given how Lexus dealers usually treat their customers
I agree. I'm just wondering what they put on the wheel and why they want me to wait 3-5 days to see if it works. Is it some type of glaze that's filling in the scratch marks and it takes 3-5 days to cure?
eyezack87 said:Good to hear that its being taken care of. Lexus is a great brand with amazing CS. I had my ES brought in there for engine noises and I got a loaner for a day and at the end it was completely FREE
Good stuff I must say
Yeah, I had 4 tires put on last week and they put Goodyears when I specified that I wanted Michelins and since it was at the end of the day on Saturday, they gave me a white IS250 to drive. We returned it Monday afternoon. I really liked it. Then when I took it in this week for the 30,000 mile check, they asked me what I wanted.......Silver IS250. Couldn't talk the wife into trading in her RX. She told me I could trade my vette in. I told her that the vette gets 29-30 on the highway so I wanted to trade in her gas guzzling suv. She didn't see the humor.
Accumulator
Well-known member
jb1 said:
I dunno...does sound a little fishy to me but hey, I'm just suspicious about dealerships in general
If they refinished it, it'll take a while for the paint to cure. IF (maybe a big "if") they put some glaze/etc. on there, eventually the problem will become visible again, and at *that* point I'd insist on the new wheel.
For now I'd hope for the best and not stress over it...you'll know soon enough whether you'll be asking for the new wheel or not and at least they're being cool about the whole thing.
Accumulator said:I dunno...does sound a little fishy to me but hey, I'm just suspicious about dealerships in general
If they refinished it, it'll take a while for the paint to cure. IF (maybe a big "if") they put some glaze/etc. on there, eventually the problem will become visible again, and at *that* point I'd insist on the new wheel.
For now I'd hope for the best and not stress over it...you'll know soon enough whether you'll be asking for the new wheel or not and at least they're being cool about the whole thing.
With my limited knowledge of detailing products/procedures, the first thing that came to mind was "glaze" or a similar product that just hides/fills the imperfection. I'm thinking about using a wheel cleaner to see if I can remove what they did. They're more inclined to replace it sooner rather than later.
Accumulator
Well-known member
jb1 said:
I can appreciate wanting to get to the bottom of this ASAP. Yeah, clean with a wheel cleaner and I'd take it one step farther: go to an autobody/paint supplyt place and get a small bottle of PrepSol/etc. solvent. Clean things with that, which oughta strip off *everything* except the paint
See if it uncovers residual marring and if so, ask for the new wheel(s). But I wouldn't tell 'em you used the PrepSol BTW, solvents like that are handy to have around anyhow, so it's not like a waste of time/money or anything.
Accumulator said:I can appreciate wanting to get to the bottom of this ASAP. Yeah, clean with a wheel cleaner and I'd take it one step farther: go to an autobody/paint supplyt place and get a small bottle of PrepSol/etc. solvent. Clean things with that, which oughta strip off *everything* except the paint
BTW, solvents like that are handy to have around anyhow, so it's not like a waste of time/money or anything.
Yeah, I tried to buy some at Wal-Mart that someone suggested was the same thing but the one I go to didn't have any. I'll hit an auto parts store and pick some up. Thanks again for your advice!