Body shop threw my spare away

[davepl]

The body shop forgot to send back my original 16.5x8 8-bolt wheel. It had a new tire on it was well.

Even though I'm in the phonebook apparently no one was able to reach me and it got thrown away.

I still have four, but it'd be nice if the spare matched. Does anyone know what one of these wheels is worth?

I'm assuming they're not rare, but really don't know. Couldn't spot one on eBay.

[jocko]

16.5 is a common junkyard find of a wheel - 8" might be a bit more scarce though. 16" replacements for the 16.5s are the harder ones to come by in my experience. Folks like us like to swap our old 16.5s for 16s for the illusion of tire selection, ha! I've had both, the 16.5 shows a little more wheel color between the cap and tire, a good thing. Still, it's almost unnoticeable. I bet you'll have no trouble finding a 16.5, the 8" width might be a bit more of a challenge though. Good luck. I assume the shop will reimburse you for their buffoonery??

[mgchevyparts]

Why would a bodyshop throw anything away? Sounds fishy to me.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by mgchevyparts

Why would a bodyshop throw anything away? Sounds fishy to me.

I agree, with the chassis already "restored", why would the spare need to be removed to paint the body? MAYBE the tire got mis-placed now the blame game.

Sounds like someone is trolling, oops, I mean fishing for SOMETHING LOL

Old habits are hard to break!

[leddzepp]

16.5 x 8.25 are not that easy to find. I would post a WTB ad on the parts board. Too bad you are not local, I have a pair out in the garage

[Ironhorse]

Seems to me it would be up to your body shop to locate and purchase a replacement wheel and tire for you. Seems a little fishy to me also that a body shop would " throw away " a customers spare tire. Did you ask them about a replacement? They should not have acted with out your permission and if they can't contact you they should not have done it at all. Just my opinion, mind you.

[kowboy63]

Ironic, I was at body shop today & another customer came in and asked the owner what he did with his spare tire. The owner said he didn't know, he said it was leaned against the wall yesterday now its gone. The owner told him if he couldn't find it at his shop that he would replace it.

[WIDESIDE72]

They "threw away" a wheel with a new tire... Im not buying it!

[Fitz]

Somewhere in Washington winged pigs are circling like vultures....

[boraxman]

Sue em!

[imjeff]

It costs extra money to throw tires away at our dump. I'm with the guys of smell something fishy....and I don't mean like salmon!

[71swb4x4]

One of his guys took it home. No one throws away a wheel with a new tire on it.

[jeffahart]

Go there and ask face to face. They will give you your wheel or replace it. An honest shop will do this if you care enough to drive there. Just show it's important to you. Not lost or thrown away, it was taken.

[John H.]

Dave,

I might have one. I think it is stock on my 72. It will need to be refinished.

Price is right

[davepl]

Originally Posted by John H.

Dave,

I might have one. I think it is stock on my 72. It will need to be refinished.

Price is right

Somewhat surprising (to me) the SPID is silent on wheels and tires. My build sheet says

RP9 F950x165x8
RP9 R950x165x8
RP9 S950x165x8

I'm guessing that means 16.5x8 wheels, but what's the 950 parts?

A spare wheel would fit nicely into my blast cabinet if its a good match!

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by davepl

Somewhat surprising (to me) the SPID is silent on wheels and tires. My build sheet says

RP9 F950x165x8
RP9 R950x165x8
RP9 S950x165x8

I'm guessing that means 16.5x8 wheels, but what's the 950 parts?

A spare wheel would fit nicely into my blast cabinet if its a good match!

RP9 F950x165x8: Front- 9.50 X 16.5 8 ply tires.
RP9 R950x165x8: Rear- 9.50 X 16.5 8 ply tires.
RP9 S950x165x8: Spare- 9.50 X 16.5 8 ply tires.

SPIDS rarely listed tire sizes, at least my 69 Fremont truck that came with 8.75 X 16.5 8 ply tires didn't. I've never seen wheel width listed either.


Jim

[71Dually]

Originally Posted by 71swb4x4

One of his guys took it home. No one throws away a wheel with a new tire on it.

I agree. I don't even throw away wheels with old bald tires with exposed belts or tread separation on them. I'll pay the fee to dismount and recycle the bad tires but I always keep the wheels.

Right now in my "Just in case..." wheel pile I have 13 wheels with tires and 5 wheels without as spares for my truck. Please note, thats not counting the 6 wheels and tires that are actually mounted on my dually truck either.

Sounds like a body shop owes you a wheel with a new tire or a rebate on your paint job.

[Lattimer]

The shop needs to own up to their screw up and replace it for you or pay you whatever it takes to replace.

Throw away part of my truck and I'd have someone by the neck until they saw things my way.

[piecesparts]

Get them to return to you what they either lost or had stolen. It was on your truck upon delivery to them, it is their responsibility to return it to you.

[4oldcars]

I'd hook up the trailer and get my truck outta there.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Go to the bodyshop and check under their employees trucks!

Unfortunately, if your truck is still there and they "pay you" for the lost wheel/tire, they'll just inflate your bill somewhere else...

[davepl]

Here's the "more detail" version.

I had the truck painted by a shop in Wisconsin. I had shipped the body/cab/frame with the chassis restored and they did the body. I shipped it with the spare strapped in its proper location.

They forgot to send the tire/wheel back with the truck.

They had a different truck driver that makes frequent runs out here bring the wheel. For some reason (I've been in the white pages for 20 years) he couldn't get ahold of me, so he left it at some other local bodyshop that they did not tell me the name of in Lynnwood, WA. Maybe they know someone there, I don't know.

That local bodyshop, which I've never been to, held onto it for a while. Supposedly they tried to contact me and failed as well, so they tossed it.

No one offered to pay for or replace it. As I've spent a quarter of a million dollars with them in the last 6 years it's immaterial in terms of cost but will be a big factor in where my next restoration goes for paint. Each interaction gets a little less personal and a little less attention to detail and a little less organized. Maybe they're too busy... always friendly but it takes a number of tries to get something handled.

I'm on at least my third contact person (they day to day "how's my truck coming" contact), but they turn over so often I wind up dealing with the owner. He's a very nice guy but he can't run every detail of the probably 25 restorations going on.

Back in July I also sent back a mirror bracket that had rust and needed to be replated. I also sent along the two door panel accent strips and my two door handles. Took 3 weeks to find a person who knew where my chrome pieces were. And as per usual, if you complain enough they magically "just arrived" and are ready to ship back, and it was $1600 for those pieces.

I think they do great work (I've found a number of flaws since, but overall its a nice paint job and the body is straight as any I've seen).

In business, and with customers, sometimes it's the little things. For the price of a spare tire I'm just going to wait and see what I learn about them this time. Kind of like being charged storage DURING your restoration while they're waiting on something (and not payment, of course). Yeah, you make $50 off me. But if you lose one of every 1000 customers doing it, you've lost 5X as much business.

[John H.]

Dave,

It is ready when you want it. I have 16's on my project. This came on the front of the K20 project. I have not looked to see if there are any #'s

[davepl]

Originally Posted by John H.

Dave,

It is ready when you want it. I have 16's on my project. This came on the front of the K20 project. I have not looked to see if there are any #'s

Thanks John! From memory it looks right, I'll compare to my others.