To make a long story short, I had 2 tires changed on my '03 Lancer at Canadian Tire, and there was extensive damage done to my rims. It looks like someone used a tire iron to pry the tires from the rims, chipping the rims all the way around on both tires.

I filed a complaint, and the service manager said that these are rust blisters caused by the Canadian winter and would not compensate me.

I don't really believe this answer, as my dad's car does not have this problem, and he has had his Protege 5 as long as mine, and his tires were changed recently as well. Also, rims should be coated to handle salt and weather conditions anyway.

Any opinions? Please keep the answers civil, as I would like to use the information gathered from this thread to further my case with Canadian Tire.

Some pics of the damaged rims (the first 3 are of the damaged rims, the last 2 are the okay ones):

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the 'Damage' on your rims is simply the coating and plating that is applied to your rims. The rims that you have, to me, appear to be alloy rims and most of the rims like that are coated and have are very common to chip like that when the tires are changed. I hate to say it, but there is no way of preventing it and it would've happend regardless. Sorry about that, but Ive seen it all the time. :(


Oh-- and by the way--- welcome to the Forums.

I don't think they would get that bad after a few minutes!

I would think that your only defense is any pics of your rims before you took them in and then these to show after, as well as the comparisons which you gave us.

Also, that's a load of bull telling you that the winter weather made your rims chip. That just plain doesn't make a lick of sense...

Looks like curb rash to me.