Alloy Wheel Refurb?

All 4 of my alloys need some work to bring them back to a1 condition. 1 has quite heavy curbing and the other 3 have a little curbing but to practically the entire edge of the wheel.

1) Any ideas how much the cost will be? Have you had it done before? Who by, how much and for what size wheels?
2) How long does this usually take? I can't really send the wheels so they'll need to take the car until it's done!
3) Would it be prudent to buy new tyres while they are being refurb and get the refurber to refit and balance the tyre and wheel?

These are 18" rims and I'm based in Staffordshire or Warrington for locations.

As an idea of cost, I've just taken a set in for full refurb and they said they normally charge £40 a wheel, but with these being 14" Cinquecento wqheels they're doing them for £35 each.

Couldn't you just have used some beer bottle tops for your wheels on the cinquecento instead ?

Originally Posted by mikeyw

Couldn't you just have used some beer bottle tops for your wheels on the cinquecento instead ?

Originally Posted by mikeyw

Couldn't you just have used some beer bottle tops for your wheels on the cinquecento instead ?

They're good in snow with the serrated edges, yes. Shirt buttons are good as an equivalent for slicks.

One way or another, it'd still beat a GT JTD down the quarter mile

How quick is the turbo cheekycento on the quarter mile?

Its about £40 a wheel if the tyres are off, if it need major fill it might add another tenner, I think I paid about £80 each in total including tyre off/on/rebalance along with repair, lots of places do it, ask you local alloywheel sellers for a contact thats local to you.

Had my 156 GTA wheels stripped and re-coated last year and they were charged at £29.50 each + VAT (£139 the lot)

This included chemical stripping, filling the minor blemishes (kerbing damage) and powder coating in silver. End result was fantastic!

Company that did the work are in Flaunden, Hertfordshire and have a helpful website:

www.wheelrefurbishing.co.uk

They will remove refit and rebalance tyres (quoting £9.50 +VAT ea) but much prefer bare wheels. They also collect and delivery within a small radius I believe.

Originally Posted by TCK

Company that did the work are in Flaunden, Hertfordshire and have a helpful website:

www.wheelrefurbishing.co.uk

That same company made a mess of the split-rims off my RZ, unfortunately. The workmanship was poor, but more worrying was that several of the bolts joining the two pieces of wheel were only finger-tight.

I've attached some photos after the refurb.

In fairness, they did accept that they hadn't done a good job and accepted that I wasn't going to pay the full cost.

Halfords have now started doing this. Costs are higher than quoted so far on here (starting at £65 a wheel), but if you're not sure about the reputation of the firms local to you, I would guess there's an attraction to using a company as big as Halfords, and therefore knowing you have some come-back.

Originally Posted by Pete McK

As an idea of cost, I've just taken a set in for full refurb and they said they normally charge £40 a wheel, but with these being 14" Cinquecento wqheels they're doing them for £35 each.

Are you using Romax in Stockton?

Unusual suggestion perhaps, but I used 'Chips Away' to do my GT 18s. He was coming in anyway to do a bumper scuff and I asked him about the wheels (all 4 of which were in a pretty similar state to yours, by the sound of it...). I'd previously spent weeks looking for a suitable company and trying to work out the logistics (as I don't have another car, nor a set of spare wheels lying about).
He came in, took the car down to the end of the car park, fixed the bumper and repaired all 4 wheels - absolutely brilliant job for a meagre £25/wheel plus VAT, whilst I sat at my desk and got on with things. Repairs were completely invisible and wheels remain as good as new some 6 months on (apart from the rear n/s which I clouted on the kerb that very same evening as I left the car park - doh!).

Not the most obvious choice but for convenience, cost and in my experience at least, quality, hard to beat. Give 'em a call, number's on the web and local franchisee will come out to you.

Thanks for that reply, do you have any pics?

After seeing jamieboy's wheels does any one have recomendation for two piece BBS split rims for my cherished Golf II ?
Preferably in the Dorset/Hampshire area.
Thanks

Nick

Originally Posted by wonder_lander

Thanks for that reply, do you have any pics?

Was that aimed at me Wonder Lander? If so, my avatar pic was taken a couple of days after the work was done. It's the front n/s wheel and that was the most badly scuffed.....

I used Chipsaway some time ago to repair two scuffs on my old 147's alloys. They charged £75 for the pair and did the work outside my house on my work-from-home day. The work was excellent - to the extent that when I traded the 147 in for the GT, the saleswoman inspecting the 147 congratulated me on the state of the wheels.

"Usually the first bloody thing we have to do is order up a wheel repair"

...she said, before offering me about two thirds what I thought the 147 was worth.....

Also, the Chipsaway man was an Alfa fan who had a 156 Sportwagon at home so we had a nice chat about Alfas over a cup of tea afterwards.