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***UPDATE***
Defective bolts have been replaced (18 of them), with the exception of one bolt, which was so poorly cross-threaded that I just told them to remove it and keep it empty. Otherwise, I would have needed to buy a whole new wheel. The excellent team at Maxwell Ford helped me get all the bolts flush again against each beauty ring. I may explore some other options to fix the last missing bolt with some of the advice I got earlier on this thread, but for now, I am happy.
Shout out to B Miller for his post and advice on what to do. I had to buy the bolts from the dealer, but because I was always calm and polite, they knocked off 50% of the total cost of parts needed to get the job done. Luckily, I had so many Ford Pass points I didn't pay a dime. Calling Ford was a dead end. The warranty does not cover anything wheel-related, and there is no way for me to prove this was a manufacturing defect.
Some people here have had ZERO issues removing and painting their beauty rings - and I say kudos to you - I'm certainly jealous. However, being that I carefully used hand tools like many other users on this forum, I am still convinced it was more of a manufacturing issue than an owner error. All that said, I'm putting this to rest - I may replace the wheels one day, regardless, so I didn't feel the need to raise hell. But I still encourage everyone to be EXTRA careful before removing these rings. (Or just leave it be - wish I had
)
Happy New Year, Folks!
______________________
I thought I would warn some folks in case they want to do this. Please don't do what I did.
About 7 months back, I removed all five beauty rings from my 2Dr Badlands (33" Optional Wheels).
I took them off to plastidip the rings to see what the color would look like if they were straight black, which I ended up loving.
The problem was the damn bolts were awful to remove. Several were horribly cross-threaded. Just don't remove them. I stripped two screws, and two of them were "supposedly" not screwed in correctly onto one of the wheels when I re-installed the beauty rings (even though I had the proper bit/torque wrench, etc. (and Ford won't fix them under warranty).
The dealer needs 18 new screws and a NEW WHEEL to fix it for a whopping $3500! Which I laughed at. Anyways, I wanted to get new wheels one day, so - I guess that day is today - but don't mess with them. I still feel the threads were done poorly by the manufacturer, which shouldn't fall on the customer to replace. Removing beauty rings should not be something this challenging for any consumer. But because I pastidipped them and did it myself, I am at fault. Even though several of the bolts were obviously cross-threaded, and poorly constructed.
Anyways, save yourself the trouble. Don't remove them. I'm keeping mine as is, missing a screw, etc. But that was a painful lesson to learn. I'm still calling Ford to raise hell on the threading issue, but I doubt I will have much luck.
Defective bolts have been replaced (18 of them), with the exception of one bolt, which was so poorly cross-threaded that I just told them to remove it and keep it empty. Otherwise, I would have needed to buy a whole new wheel. The excellent team at Maxwell Ford helped me get all the bolts flush again against each beauty ring. I may explore some other options to fix the last missing bolt with some of the advice I got earlier on this thread, but for now, I am happy.
Shout out to B Miller for his post and advice on what to do. I had to buy the bolts from the dealer, but because I was always calm and polite, they knocked off 50% of the total cost of parts needed to get the job done. Luckily, I had so many Ford Pass points I didn't pay a dime. Calling Ford was a dead end. The warranty does not cover anything wheel-related, and there is no way for me to prove this was a manufacturing defect.
Some people here have had ZERO issues removing and painting their beauty rings - and I say kudos to you - I'm certainly jealous. However, being that I carefully used hand tools like many other users on this forum, I am still convinced it was more of a manufacturing issue than an owner error. All that said, I'm putting this to rest - I may replace the wheels one day, regardless, so I didn't feel the need to raise hell. But I still encourage everyone to be EXTRA careful before removing these rings. (Or just leave it be - wish I had
)Happy New Year, Folks!
______________________
I thought I would warn some folks in case they want to do this. Please don't do what I did.
About 7 months back, I removed all five beauty rings from my 2Dr Badlands (33" Optional Wheels).
I took them off to plastidip the rings to see what the color would look like if they were straight black, which I ended up loving.
The problem was the damn bolts were awful to remove. Several were horribly cross-threaded. Just don't remove them. I stripped two screws, and two of them were "supposedly" not screwed in correctly onto one of the wheels when I re-installed the beauty rings (even though I had the proper bit/torque wrench, etc. (and Ford won't fix them under warranty).
The dealer needs 18 new screws and a NEW WHEEL to fix it for a whopping $3500! Which I laughed at. Anyways, I wanted to get new wheels one day, so - I guess that day is today - but don't mess with them. I still feel the threads were done poorly by the manufacturer, which shouldn't fall on the customer to replace. Removing beauty rings should not be something this challenging for any consumer. But because I pastidipped them and did it myself, I am at fault. Even though several of the bolts were obviously cross-threaded, and poorly constructed.
Anyways, save yourself the trouble. Don't remove them. I'm keeping mine as is, missing a screw, etc. But that was a painful lesson to learn. I'm still calling Ford to raise hell on the threading issue, but I doubt I will have much luck.
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