Alloy wheel refurbishment

neilmcl

Can anyone recommend a quality alloy wheel repairer/refurbisher in the Nottinghamshire or general East Midlands area?

sheslookinhot

You might be better looking at reviews that customers have made of businesses within say a 20 mile radius of your home.

mobileron

Chips away i believe.

neilmcl

mobileron said:

Chips away i believe.

I'm not going to let that lot anywhere near my alloys. I want a proper job doing, not a SMART mobile repair.

facade

If you are keeping the car, ask them what pre-treatment they do before the final finish. The cheaper places just strip the old finish and powder coat without any surface etching and primer, and it falls off within 12 months.

BOWFER

Are they DC alloys?
They look great, but they're such a pain to repair as all they can do is shave metal off, whereas scuffs/scrapes on normal alloys are filled and then covered with paint or powder coating.
My Polo GTi 18" wheel was damaged by a pothole and the repair guy I use said he was just able to shave off enough metal to make it look good, but any further repairs wouldn't be possible,

neilmcl

facade said:

If you are keeping the car, ask them what pre-treatment they do before the final finish. The cheaper places just strip the old finish and powder coat without any surface etching and primer, and it falls off within 12 months.

Some of the local places don't even do that. I've seen loads of pics on their FB pages of wheels repaired/refurbished without even removing the tyre which means all they've been doing is simply respraying the faces, and these are supposed to be so-called recommended places.

There is one of the "The Wheel Specialist" franchises on Nottingham, but I'm not sure of their reputation. I'm also tempted to send them off to Lepsons but they can be expensive, particularly if you want an OEM match. 

neilmcl

BOWFER said:

Are they DC alloys?
They look great, but they're such a pain to repair as all they can do is shave metal off, whereas scuffs/scrapes on normal alloys are filled and then covered with paint or powder coating.
My Polo GTi 18" wheel was damaged by a pothole and the repair guy I use said he was just able to shave off enough metal to make it look good, but any further repairs wouldn't be possible,

No, not diamond cut (I assume that's what you meant), just standard 18" alloys.

gavinaw

BOWFER said:

Are they DC alloys?
They look great, but they're such a pain to repair as all they can do is shave metal off, whereas scuffs/scrapes on normal alloys are filled and then covered with paint or powder coating.
My Polo GTi 18" wheel was damaged by a pothole and the repair guy I use said he was just able to shave off enough metal to make it look good, but any further repairs wouldn't be possible,

Had the same dilemma on my Mustang V8, I had forged wheels customized cause they said it resists cracks better and said that the wheel can be repaired if necessary. (to support here's one of the cast vs forged wheels article that sold me into getting those expensive a** forged wheels).

But when I hit a deep bump when I went to the country side I had to rent a tow truck to bring it back cause they said it's unsafe. So the next day I took it back to the shop (not the shop where I got the wheels) and said that it's going to be hard to repair it cause all they can do is shave it off or I might have to get new ones. So not sure if I got scammed by the shop saying that it's "a forged wheel" when in reality its just a a low-quality forged one or I'm just dumb af.

northernstar007

go to "the wheel specialist" national chain, they are the best will bring them up like brand new, theres a 1 in bham look them up

maxsteam

neilmcl said:

Can anyone recommend a quality alloy wheel repairer/refurbisher in the Nottinghamshire or general East Midlands area?

Get an old toothbrush and some soapy water. There are better things to spend money on.