[SA] Modifying VE rims for VY (bob jane)

[Jim101]

My son was given a set of rims for his VY which he took to bob Jane tmart to have new tires put on and fitted onto his car. They called him to say the rims are actually from a VE and do not fit his car. They had already put the new tires on and told him to go home and file out the centre of the rims then bring them back. They said there was no way of telling that the rims wouldn’t fit until they actually tried to put them on. Is this correct? I feel like a tire place should have been able to tell this before putting on the tires and doing an alignment. Also advising my teenaged son to modify the rims himself seems unsafe? Just after some general opinions on how this was handled from people with experience please and thank you.

 

[someguy360]

It's common practice to machine out VE rims to fit earlier models.

How is the tyre place supposed to know they were VE rims without trying to fit them? They aren't expected to know what every single rim looks like thats ever hit the market and you aren't able to tell by eye that it's not going to fit, the PCD is the same it's just the hub centre thats a very small difference.

If you are supplying the rims you should know before hand whether they fit or not, thats not their responsibility.

Theres plenty of places around that will machine the wheels for pre-ve's just do a quick google.

 

[Exogator]

Don't file them, the centres need to be machined out a little bigger as the ve uses a smaller centre bore, same stud pattern, look around for people who can machine the rims, I have a local bloke that charges $50 for the set and it takes barely 20 mins.

 

[vc commodore]

If they were aftermarket rims, it is a little difficult to tell if they are pre VE or not....This is coming from someone in the tyre industry too...

I could assume they thought they were actually for his car, so they wouldn't have given it a 2nd thought.

As for filing them out himself....Not very wise....That's a professionals job

 

[someguy360]

If they were aftermarket rims, it is a little difficult to tell if they are pre VE or not....

Even if they were factory OEM rims, theres been 100's of wheels fitted to commodores from the factory.

It's not up to the tyre shop to know what wheels were fitted to every single production car on the planet. If you supply the wheels the general opinion is you should know whether they fit your car or not imo.

If the tyre shop are providing the rims thats a different story, but much like mechanics, if you provide the fit, the general consensus is you did the research to make sure it fits, if they pull parts off to replace it and it doesn't fit.....guess who's paying the labour (and no it's not the workshop).

I think what ol mate is asking for is a psychic not a tyre fitter.

 

[NORTI]

Don't file them, the centres need to be machined out a little bigger as the ve uses a smaller centre bore, same stud pattern, look around for people who can machine the rims, I have a local bloke that charges $50 for the set and it takes barely 20 mins.

@Jim101 looks like you are in SA, If you are northern suburbs way, there is a bloke around Burton that does them.

 

[vc commodore]

Even if they were factory OEM rims, theres been 100's of wheels fitted to commodores from the factory.

It's not up to the tyre shop to know what wheels were fitted to every single production car on the planet. If you supply the wheels the general opinion is you should know whether they fit your car or not imo.

I think what ol mate is asking for is a psychic not a tyre fitter.

Being in the industry, you tend to get to know what is a factory rim and what isn't.....Comes with doing it day in day out.

If it is loose factory rims, generally the ears prick up if they are VE onwards rims and they are wanting to fit to pre VE...That's where the "lets bolt it on" comes into play....Mainly because it is a common thing...

 

[vc commodore]

@Jim101 looks like you are in SA, If you are northern suburbs way, there is a bloke around Burton that does them.

Who is that?

 

[someguy360]

Being in the industry, you tend to get to know what is a factory rim and what isn't.....Comes with doing it day in day out.

If it is loose factory rims, generally the ears prick up if they are VE onwards rims and they are wanting to fit to pre VE...That's where the "lets bolt it on" comes into play....Mainly because it is a common thing...

Oh yeah I get that, but it's really not up to the fitter to pick that up straight away, old mate has no right to give them a hard time if they didn't.

If they did pick it up, good on em, but it's not their responsibility to check before hand.

Would be the same if I provided say a tailshaft centre bearing that I bought on ebay and it wasn't the right one when they got it all stripped down to replace it. It's not up to them to check that it's the right one that you supplied, and they should also charge the labour it took up to the point of discovering that.

 

[vc commodore]

Oh yeah I get that, but it's really not up to the fitter to pick that up straight away, old mate has no right to give them a hard time if they didn't.

If they did pick it up, good on em, but it's not their responsibility to check before hand.

Bob Jane employees are useless at the best of times, but finding out if they are factory rims or not goes a little way to whether you stick it up them or not.

Part of your job is, identifying rims.....Well, I should say, it used to be...The youngins couldn't give a toss

Oh and the "lets file it out" is a typical Bob Jane thing, which means they deserve a serve....