alloy wheel refurbishment

[jim4]

Just had my wheels refurbed by the Fareham branch - well chuffed with the result - look like new again - a thoroughly recommended outfit. :bannana:

 

[mercmanuk]

did you get the discount

 

[jim4]

I did - 25% off

 

[crash]

Hi jim4,

I am thinking of getting my wife's wheels done and having seen mermanuk's wheels it looks like 'wheelspecialist' is the place to go. You seem to be happy and it would be Fareham that I would go for but I have a couple of questions for you.
Did you have them done all in the same day and if so how long did they actually take to do them?
Reason I ask is because we have to travel a good distance to get there and will be stuck once the wheels are off.
And I hope you don't mind me asking but what did the wheels cost each? I am assuming that they were done in a 'basic' colour i.e. silver etc

Many thanks in advance,

Paul

P.S. If I did the wheels on my car it would probably double it's value....that's just adding the cost to the car!!

 

[crash]

Further to my last post is there anybody who can recommend a mobile wheel specialist?
I appreciate that a workshop will always be better than a van but you never know. If someone knows of a company they would strongly recommend I would love to hear who it is. I live in West Sussex by the way.

Cheers

Paul

 

[television]

Mobile people cant do much of a better job than you can owing to the limitations of paints that can be used out side

 

[crash]

Yep, that's what I figured Malcolm. I think it will be worth the aggro of going down to Fareham.
Cheers

Paul

 

[television]

Yep, that's what I figured Malcolm. I think it will be worth the aggro of going down to Fareham.
Cheers

Paul

In the Summer you could make a nice day out and visit the seaside and leave the car with them. There are a lot of places down there of interest

At least you would not have to pay parking charges

 

[jim4]

Hi jim4,

I am thinking of getting my wife's wheels done and having seen mermanuk's wheels it looks like 'wheelspecialist' is the place to go. You seem to be happy and it would be Fareham that I would go for but I have a couple of questions for you.
Did you have them done all in the same day and if so how long did they actually take to do them?
Reason I ask is because we have to travel a good distance to get there and will be stuck once the wheels are off.
And I hope you don't mind me asking but what did the wheels cost each? I am assuming that they were done in a 'basic' colour i.e. silver etc

Many thanks in advance,

Paul

P.S. If I did the wheels on my car it would probably double it's value....that's just adding the cost to the car!!

Good question - I dropped the car off at 8.30am and picked it up at 4pm so I don't know for sure. Best bet would be to give them a call and see what they can do.

I went for the standard silver - if you go on their website they'll give you a quote online within about 30 seconds. I took that with me and a printout of the first page of this thread where mercmanuk mentions the discount. I then got a discount off the price of the "Alloy,16",Standard Silver,Full refurbishment" bit of the bill. I also opted for the "Strip refit and balance - up to 17"" and "Wheels waxed" but the discount doesn't apply to that bit. Oh and they did a puncture repair as well as they found a nail in one of my tyres. Overall price came in around the £280 mark.

 

[crash]

Thanks jim4 for that.
8.30am to 4pm for all that work is pretty good going, I wouldn't think it could be done much quicker than that! I got a quote which was £235 for 16" alloy standard silver refurb plus £47 for strip refit and balance. So it sounds similar. Was your refurb price £235 approx or 25% less than that which would surpise me.
Also what is the 'wheels waxed' option? I must be a bit naive do they mean tyres when they say that?
Questions questions questions! I do apologise for this.

television,
We are regulars down at the Historic Dockyard and Gunwharf Quays so I think it will be a two car run down there and then tranfer to my car for the beach etc. As long as it doesn't rain.

I have to say on this subject that the finish on the MB wheels has deteriorated really quickly now. They look awful and the car would look so much better with them back to good health, if not better than original.

Cheers

 

[television]

The new MB's are now coming through with thse Chrome paints and should look good for years.

Though polished or diamond finnished clear coated rims lok good when new, any paint or lacquer without pigment has no strength and it soon fails, the Chrome paint wheels look just as nice. my V70 wheels are 10 years old now it it was too wet to take a good photo and they have not been cleaned

 

[jim4]

Thanks jim4 for that.
8.30am to 4pm for all that work is pretty good going, I wouldn't think it could be done much quicker than that! I got a quote which was £235 for 16" alloy standard silver refurb plus £47 for strip refit and balance. So it sounds similar. Was your refurb price £235 approx or 25% less than that which would surpise me.
Also what is the 'wheels waxed' option? I must be a bit naive do they mean tyres when they say that?
Questions questions questions! I do apologise for this.

The £235 and £47 is the same as my quote. The wheels waxed is another £23.50 and has put a thin layer of wax on the wheels to stop brake dust getting directly onto the surface (I believe) and to make them look good (at least until the first thorough clean)....

Just rechecked the final invoice which included the puncture repair as well......Clearly my mental maths ability at 8.30 on a Thursday morning is not up to scratch . The actual discount was 16% off the wheel refurb rather than the 25% I originally thought. Not sure if that's my misunderstanding or if some other error crept in somewhere. Take a calculator would be my advice .

Either way I remain very pleased with the results. One refurb every 10 years isn't too bad.

 

[crash]

Cheers jim4. The wax bit sounds like a great idea to protect the finish at its early stage in life! Now all I have to do is find the cash and talk my wife into it.

television, your wheels look great. I saw your earlier pics and realised how bad mine were. Mercman just confirmed that I had to get them done.

 

[Matt32AMG]

Just had a quote for all four wheels by these chaps for £329 Including VAT via email from [email protected]. This was for my 17inch AMG wheels. This was for full refurbishment Strip and finished in Standard Silver, refit and balance, including the Wheel wax.

Ok this isn't a bad price. However, that is without any discount as far as I can tell. So, how does one qualify for the discount that people are talking about here, buy tyres as well? (The trouble is I bought 4 new tyres about 1500miles ago), or go for an exotic non standard finish? Or, does one just ring up and bid them in the proverbial for a better deal?

 

[television]

Just had a quote for all four wheels by these chaps for £329 Including VAT via email from [email protected]. This was for my 17inch AMG wheels. This was for full refurbishment Strip and finished in Standard Silver, refit and balance, including the Wheel wax.

Ok this isn't a bad price. However, that is without any discount as far as I can tell. So, how does one qualify for the discount that people are talking about here, buy tyres as well? (The trouble is I bought 4 new tyres about 1500miles ago), or go for an exotic non standard finish? Or, does one just ring up and bid them in the proverbial for a better deal?

Matt, If your wheels have the clear lacquer finish, dont go down that path as they will not last,,take one of the chrome paints on offer

 

[Matt32AMG]

Matt, If your wheels have the clear lacquer finish, dont go down that path as they will not last,,take one of the chrome paints on offer

Oh ok, thats interesting, how come? Lacquer just not a hard finish?

Just had another look see at the options page. My AMG Monoblock IV's are going to be now finished in Black Chrome

 

[television]

Oh ok, thats interesting, how come? Lacquer just not a hard finish?

I'll take another look see at the options page.

Any paint with no pigment has no strength,,its ok for a while but soon comes off
The other problem with sand /bead blasting is the small areas of corrosion can get peened over out of sight, only to re appear later and push the lacquer off.

All new MB's now use the chrome paints, pop into the dealers and take a look. I like the lighter versions myself but does depend on the car

 

[Matt32AMG]

Any paint with no pigment has no strength,,its ok for a while but soon comes off
The other problem with sand /bead blasting is the small areas of corrosion can get peened over out of sight, only to re appear later and push the lacquer off.

All new MB's now use the chrome paints, pop into the dealers and take a look. I like the lighter versions myself but does depend on the car

Just had an Interesting Chat with Vernon Kerr Regarding wheel finishes and prices.
1st, the discount price was an introductory, just opening offer and not because I’m or anyone else is
a Member of MBclub.co.uk. As for 25% off, I'm guessing not a prayer!
As regards the Standard silver wheel finish he’s saying the wheels are stripped back to bare alloy
and imperfections are addressed, they are then heat treated powder coated, baked, then Lacquered
and baked again if memory serves. (Though I’m getting a little more senile the older I get!)
He reckons the finish is hard, and will last the rigors of M3, M25 driving, (not that I do much of that these
days anyway).

I’m going to go down to Fareham next week to see what’s what so to speak as there are more options
and finishes to look at that are not on the website, and seeing first hand is always going to be better.
The plan is to book a day, get all four wheels done and drive away same day.