Weller rims - hubcap problem!

[Andy W]

Andy
Thanks for the above.
One last thing - you have not quoted the part number which should be stamped on the wheel centre.
The part number will confirm that they are the correct wheels once and for all.
Phil

No part no. stamp on my rims BUT def. Wellers - something which they have never questioned.
I have been in touch with John ("midget") & his Weller rims do not have a production date stamped on them so I assume Weller have altered their marking processes over time.

FINAL UPDATE:
I give up!
I get constant stonewalling from Weller, who are not remotely interested in the fact that they have produced some rims that don't accept the hubcaps.
They are:
...too busy to take someone off the production-tech. floor to speak to me,
...are endlessly "reminding" me that I am not the original purchaser & the rims are out of warranty so I have no legal comeback,
...adamant they have never heard of an issue,
...repeating that if I sent them the rims they may get time to look at them but will not say what they may or not actually do with them, etc, etc........
The above is the decision of company's MD, Alan Lowe.
I really thought that Weller would want to look into a production issue & also would help owners of their products in the interests of public relations.....wrong!

Andy.

[philthehill]

Andy
Many thanks for the reply.
Phil

[Andy W]

Ok, This Is The Final, Final Update (honest!):

I had a no choice but to give it a go & try to modify the buttons on these blasted rims so that I could get hubcaps on.
That, or I had completely wasted my money.

Midget had fed me some pointers/ideas - thanks buddy, your communications & having a go at it yourself gave me the confidence to do so as well!

I carefully used my Dremel with it's eq. of a cutting disc. This gave me a "miniature angle grinder with slit disc".

I took approx. 1mm off each button, on it's outer (rim) side as a starting point.
Next I took about the same off (from underneath) each buttons' depth as I had noticed that there was not enough gap between underside of the button & the rim surface to let the hubcap clip on.
I gradually reduced the buttons tiny bit by tiny bit to suitable dimensions, by trying the hubcaps, shaving as needed, etc, etc........
Once the caps fitted, I chamfered a bit off the button tops where I had cut them, in order to help the hubcaps pop on.

Phew!
Time consuming & slightly nerve wracking but at least I now finally have my hubcaps on, no thanks at all to Weller!

[greendefender123]

Glad your sorted. Something less to worry about now anyway.

[Andy W]

Well now, "mu04ngo" is a member on the other forum (MMO) & has a set of Weller rims that he never used....guess what...hubcaps don't fit his rims either!

He & I are going to email Alan Lowe, the Weller MD.

Three of us now with this issue!

Andy.

[Andy W]

I have just sent this to Weller MD, Alan Lowe.....

Dear Mr Lowe,

As you are aware, I have been in touch with Weller several times regarding the Weller Morris Minor rims I purchased which do not accept hubcaps due to the “buttons” being wrong.

I have had nothing but stonewalling from your company.
Whilst it is true that I have no legal come back to Weller due to the wheels being out of warranty & my not being the original purchaser, I had thought that some help might be offered out of good public & customer relations.

The constant denial from your company that there has ever been a problem with these rims is as frustrating as it is inaccurate.
There are at least two further Minor owners on the club forums that have exactly the same issue.
It would appear at first glance that the problem is with rims from around 2014-2015.

I have had to carefully re-profile the “buttons” on my rims to accept Minor hubcaps.

The reluctance to acknowledge a problem with your products, & the lack of interest in helping owners of those products is surprising (& very disappointing) coming from such a long established company & I feel that it shows considerable disregard for your own customers.

I hope you will both acknowledge this email & accept that there is indeed an issue with these rims.
Links to these forum discussions are below.

Yours sincerely,
Andy Winters.

[Andy W]

THE LATEST CORRESPONDENCE....



Dear Andy,

Thank you for your email below. After speaking with you I have again reviewed the build process and technical drawings for the Morris Minor wheels with our technical team. These wheels have a very clear build process and stringent quality measures are in place that gives me the confidence in all the batches that we currently produce and there hubcap fitment.

I am very sorry that the second hand wheels you purchased did not meet your satisfaction. Unfortunately with them being out of any warranty period and having a third party intervention painting them I could not confirm any problem with them.

As discussed with you we as company were very happy to look at your wheels for you and I had invited you to send them to us along with the hubcaps for the team to check all fitments.

We take our product and its quality very seriously and are currently updating our ISO certification furthering this program of continuous improvement.

I am glad you were able to resolve the problem but again would reiterate we would have been very happy to receive the wheels back in this instance to review and assist had we had the chance.

I hope you understand this and look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Kind regards


Alan Lowe
Managing Director


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Alan,

Thanks for the swift response, it is appreciated.

I am very glad that you have confidence in your currently produced rims, mine & the other owners issue is with previously produced rims of course.

I do appreciate that you were prepared to have a look at my rims if I sent them in, but to be honest I lost all faith in the company’s genuine interest or willingness to engage with the matter.
I had nothing but “hedging” reaction to contacts I instigated with Weller, no proaction - emails or calls back.

I asked if a tech. team member could call me & that was apparently going to be incredibly difficult as everyone is so busy,
& indeed it didn’t happen.

When a tech. was shown the pictures I emailed across, the comment was that there have been hubcaps on the rims as the paint was marked…of course it was, how else would I find out that the caps didn’t fit unless I tried?

The disappointing insistent focusing on warranty legalities, etc. rather than looking after, & showing goodwill to, owners of your products was also very off putting & made me very reticent to invest time & money getting the rims to you.

I did ask, but got no real answer, as to whether you would actually be prepared to do anything to rectify the problem if I did send them to you, also making the exercise seem rather pointless.

I note still the reluctance to acknowledge, or be interested to learn of & explore, a problem with a production run of your product.

Moving on from my own experience, can I ask you to confirm for the other owners with this same issue, that you will gladly receive their rims if they chose to send them to you, & rectify the problem - which most definitely does exist - before returning their wheels to them?

Thank you for your time,
Regards,

Andy Winters.

[irmscher]

The lugs look the same as the ford fitment

[Andy W]

The lugs look the same as the ford fitment

Hmm, good point. They obviously use the same lugs.
Are you thinking that the Ford lug spacing could have been used on some Minor rims?

[Andy W]

Alan Lowe's response to my reply :


Dear Andy,

Thank you again for the email, I'm sorry that your experience with us was not as you'd expected.

As business we strive to build the very best in British steel wheels and invest a huge amount into building quality steels for our customers.

If any other members had a concern with a wheel and contacted us we would of course review on an individual basis and would always look to try and find a solution where possible.

I hope this reassures your concerns.

Kind regards,


Alan Lowe
Managing Director

[irmscher]

Maybe Andy or done on a Friday afternoon .I don't accept there apology of no solution was of any use whatsoever and doesn't give future buyers any confidence

[Andy W]

Maybe Andy or done on a Friday afternoon .I don't accept there apology of no solution was of any use whatsoever and doesn't give future buyers any confidence

I couldn't agree more!
An owner from "the other channel" has some unused rims he bought in 2014 with the same problem. He is taking them in to Weller for examination.
A third disappointed owner has emailed Alan Lowe now so hopefully he is beginning to realise that you can't just fluff around selling faulty products!

[neilmorey]

I had been thinking of getting a set of wheels but at £500 plus tyres it seems very expensive. For the last month or so I noticed that the website has said "out of stock" maybe they are reviewing the design before selling again?

https://www.wellerwheels.com/product/morris-minor/

[midget]

You could well be correct sir.
I visited the production facility in Redditch yesterday and met with the MD who intimated the same.I took my wheel and hub cap and demonstrated the areas of concern with him and he agreed that there seems to have been a problem in the past.
He has only fairly recently been in his current position but is keen to correct errors with future production.

[Andy W]

Oops!
Time to get the Dremel out again....rough road & lost a hubcap....remodelling these Weller rim h/cap buttons is going to be trial & error I think!

[midget]

Exactly my experience Andy. It is I believe the lack of the "locating space" (for want of a better term) that is the problem.
I have taken mine down too far I think, but still I cannot get them to "clip" in securely. I hope this will be remedied as the MD agreed.

[Andy W]

Exactly my experience Andy. It is I believe the lack of the "locating space" (for want of a better term) that is the problem.
I have taken mine down too far I think, but still I cannot get them to "clip" in securely. I hope this will be remedied as the MD agreed.

Hopefully your wheels will come back to you remedied, John.
If I can not "Dremel" fix my rims I may have to get back in touch with Weller, although I suspect I am not their favourite person right now!

[midget]

Mystery solved!
Just returned from Wellers production facility and met with people from the design/production team and now understand what the problem is and how it occurred.
Was shown the cap that the team used to mount the locating pins for the caps, and they fit absolutely perfectly being impossible to remove from wheel without the assistance of the original tool kit supplied tool.
Trouble is (and this was news to me) the cap that they used was an original early example with a MUCH shallower inner rim edge to the later "pattern" ones which, I guess, is what we all have. This later wider rim will not under any circumstances fit "their" lugs.
I would ask on here...did the early cap have the "M" stamped in the centre, as this one that they used as an "original" pattern, did not have it?
If it did not then maybe this was not a Minor cap to start with
That is the the only thing that I can think of that caused this problem.

[Andy W]

Oh for ****'s sake!
That's another hubcap lost!
Back to the welding & grinding!

[midget]

Having been without my rims for 3 months, I have now been reunited with them, so can now add closure to my part of the problem.
I cannot bring myself to criticise Weller really--yes they did have a problem that probably should have not occurred, but am pleased that they did correct their mistake--and I would point out that I did not buy these from new, but inherited them from the purchase of a 2 door which had them fitted. I was upfront about this fact when negotiating.
Anyway, thanks are due to Andy for initially getting the ball rolling, and Gary(on the other channel) who gave support, and of course
Alan Lowe of Weller.