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Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Varche on 15 January 2015, 14:46:34

Title: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: Varche on 15 January 2015, 14:46:34
Later this year I am thinking about buying a set of secondhand SXI alloys for our Corsa C.

Virtually all that I have seen have bad scuffs on the two nearside wheels. Understandable I guess as they stick out from the tyre.

I don't know much about refurb but saw a spot in Edinburgh that does it £40 a wheel including putting your tyre back on. Question - if I just had two done would they look like the original two? I want them standard not dayglo pink/grey etc. Is £40 about the going rate to refurb a small alloy wheel?
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: 05omegav6 on 15 January 2015, 15:00:33
£40 sounds pretty good :y locally they're around the £60 mark...
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: andrew-v8 on 15 January 2015, 15:30:06
If you go on groupon they often do deals for £25 per wheel. Maybe different areas but could be worth a look.
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 15 January 2015, 16:09:50
sounds a good deal to me, you could pay £80 per wheel. (operative word here is could)

Long version:
As a general rule you can tell a refurbed wheel up close, if you sit them side by side, in my experience the paint tends to look a bit 'thick' almost like powedercoating, and the shade / level of fleck in the paint etc.. varies. That said, I'd imagine that's down to the individual refurber, and who's to say I've not been looking at alloys that I think are original paint, but that are actually themselves refurbed?

Again, operative words in that lot are if you sit them side by side You'd have to scrutinise. I dare not say 'silver is silver' as we know there are a hundred shades of the stuff, Vx Star Silver alone having three or four, with varieties within. But it's a wheel, not a body panel, so even a wildly 'wrong' shade wouldn't be noticeable unless you knew it was there.

That said, I did source as perfect a match for some Royale wheels once, including using a different shade of silver for the centrecaps. Thus giving the impression that I'd ran out of paint for the centrecaps, and just got any old paint - but actually that was how they came out of the factory. (using a brand new, still in the GM plastic bag centrecap as colour reference  :y)


Short Version:
Yeh. Be reet.

 :y
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: Mr Gav on 15 January 2015, 16:59:06
I paid £130 for all four of my alloys doing, LSN coatings in Castleford, West Yorkshire. I can`t fault the quality  :y
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: TheBoy on 16 January 2015, 13:03:41
Depends what needs doing, and how good a job you need.

I've had impressive results paying £170 (just strip/refurb) and £350 (straighten/fix/strip/refurb)

In both cases, impossible to tell any different from new.
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: 05omegav6 on 16 January 2015, 13:25:31
Depends what needs doing, and how good a job you need.

I've had impressive results paying £170 (just strip/refurb) and £350 (straighten/fix/strip/refurb)

In both cases, impossible to tell any different from new.
Define fix... ::)
Title: Re: Alloy wheel refurbishment
Post by: TheBoy on 16 January 2015, 13:37:33
Depends what needs doing, and how good a job you need.

I've had impressive results paying £170 (just strip/refurb) and £350 (straighten/fix/strip/refurb)

In both cases, impossible to tell any different from new.
Define fix... ::)
Mine were bad, just not THAT bad.

Accept it, replace, move on ;)