*Best* wheel refurbishment company for diamond cutting?

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Will

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
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Location
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GL63 AMG / 190E 2.5-16 / Porsche 911
Hi Gang,

Who’s the best company these days for wheel refurbishment?

I’m familiar with wheel refurbishment having had a good 10-20 sets done over the years (makes you realise how many cars you’ve had too!) and to be fair I’ve not had many issues either.

But the new car, my immaculate 2011 E63 AMG has the expensive forged 19” AMG wheels which have the whole face and rim polished (not diamond cut more a high-sheen, smoother finish) and lacquered with a Himalaya Grey (or Titanium grey?) painted recesses.

Like these:

19" AMG IV wheels in Forged & High Sheen Polished with Titanium Grey - Alloy Wheels Direct (632535)

The AMG logo is bang on the rim edge, not recessed at all but right on the very rim itself which obviously poses a risk for kerbing damage (!) and limits how much (and how many times..) the wheel can be machined back when refurbishing as the engraving is only a couple of mm deep at most.

At £5.5k a set I’d like to make sure whoever I use for the work is the absolute best in the business, and the car itself deserves it too.

I’m 50:50 about whether to use the place I normally use - they always do a decent job and at a very fair price (and are less than an hour away for drop off/collection) or to seek out somewhere who perhaps are known for their perfection and experience with specialist colour matching/diamond cutting and polishing etc?

I’d ideally like to keep to the OE finish as much as possible - some diamond cut finished I’ve seen is like the surface of a record and looks like a rainbow - not really what I’m after. More a very lightly machined/high sheen surface - like in the images on the link.

For reference:

BJV engineering - £78 a wheel
Pristine - £100 a wheel

(Both including VAT)

I’ve seen a set of wheels done by Pristine before and they were very good. Not diamond cut or polished though so not really much to go on for these ones I want doing.

Anyone experienced have a very good recommendation for as close to OE as possible. There’s literally dozens of places doing refurb work nowadays compared to 10+ years back.

Rimfurbish used to get a good report but I’d be put off reading about their timescales etc. Any other places worth looking into?

TIA :cool:

Will
 
Will, not close to you but JP Alloys in Staffordshire have refinished the 21-inch diamond cut wheels on both of our family cars - they’re grey with a cut face - and both sets were done beautifully.

Alloy Wheel Refurbishment | Diamond Cuttting | JP Alloys

This was taken not after they were refurbished. I can recommend the Alloygator too. They’re great at protecting expensive wheels for cars which are used every day and for everything - they’ve paid for themselves having got caught in a width restricted road, and in a very tight multistory car park.

download


They’ll be doing our winter wheels soon too (silver with a cut face)
 
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I’m based in Surrey but don’t mind travelling for a decent job.

BJV are about 45 minutes away, Pristine about 1 1/2 hours. To be fair even JP that Bobby Dazzler has recommended are only a couple of hours away which if they are that good for the diamond cutting is worth it to me, pricing seems competitive too :thumb:

I’ve had some wheels that were done by Lepsons before and they were also very good (W210 18” AMG wheels with diamond cut lips) but like I say they finish on these wheels is more a high-sheen polish than the regular diamond cut - depends on what can be done with them though of course.

I’ve got a couple of spare front wheels here so hoping to get a kind of ‘baker’s dozen’ done (ie refurb 4 front and two back) and pick the nicest two for the car.

Interestingly the two spare front wheels have never been refurbished and still have the MB factory finish on them, the polished metal surface has virtually no imperfections (other than some light kerbing marks) or mikilness (ie corrosion) which is quite common on the diamond cut/lacquered wheels - so definitely a thumbs up for the factory finish!

I wonder if sometimes where the wheels are diamond cut the machining process leaves a hard/rough edge which perhaps doesn’t get a thick enough coat on it (like the edges when you’re painting woodwork etc?) - perhaps leading to earlier deterioration of the bare metal finish?

Anyway, I’ll try and give JP a call tomorrow and see what they think :cool:

Thanks again for the recommendations :)
 
On the same note.... my wheels have only very very minor kerbing damage, annoyingly one tiny scratch per wheel, but are otherwise in perfect condition. Is it worth trying to find someone who will affect a local repair, or is the only option to have the entire wheel face stripped and resprayed? They are standard wheel i.e. painted and lacquered.
 
On the same note.... my wheels have only very very minor kerbing damage, annoyingly one tiny scratch per wheel, but are otherwise in perfect condition. Is it worth trying to find someone who will affect a local repair, or is the only option to have the entire wheel face stripped and resprayed? They are standard wheel i.e. painted and lacquered.

you can have just the outer edge done, but I’m not sure about the match.
 
Has anyone got experience with BJV engineering? They seem very good value (£180 for a set)
 
Has anyone got experience with BJV engineering? They seem very good value (£180 for a set)

BJV [emoji108]

I have had quite a few sets done by Essex Wheel Co and all spot on! Andy is the guy who ran BJV then set up on his own!

I just recently had these done with a full refurb in original mb silver with diamond cut as you can see.

4ef214f099a2f98c31e0b8325736ddd6.jpg




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Has anyone got experience with BJV engineering? They seem very good value (£180 for a set)

Yes, I’ve had lots of sets of wheels done by them. I reckon about 20+ sets to be fair. They are really good, if anything they’re better now than they’ve ever been - I’ve had my 911 wheels done there, several sets of AMG wheels (both plain silver and with diamond cut lips) etc.

They’ve always been a volume operation, and keenly priced - and I can honestly say you get more than what you pay for - quality is easily a 9.5/10+ (often far better in fact) and for a good while they were about half the price of anywhere else. The finish is the most durable I’ve ever across too - better than OE in that regard in fact - they are very thorough with how the strip and prime the wheels it seems.

The only reason I’m contemplating using somewhere different this time is because the E63 forged wheels are so very delicate, are so expensive and I want a very particular service this time around - OE colour matched and ideally the machined/polished finish on the face and lip as close to factory as is possible. If it were just a powder coated or painted finish it wouldn’t really matter as they could just be stripped and redone as many times as needed, the machining part is absolutely critical on these as you only have 1-2mm to play with at most.

To put it into perspective the wheels on the car have just been refurbished already (but not diamond cut) - I want them better. And like I say - I’ve had 20+ sets done before - and been very happy, these I want perfect and done in a particular way.

I think I’ll have a word with BJV about these ones. I think Pristine and JP both look like very good options too though. It’s all going to come down to how they can machine and polish/finish the face of the wheel though at the end of the day - any of the wheel refurb places can strip and repaint the main wheel to a good standard I’m sure, and there’s literally dozens of places doing it nowadays :)

Likewise anyone that does diamond cutting can probably get a good looking finish on the lips etc, I need somewhere that can go that little further hopefully :thumb:
 
Yes, I’ve had lots of sets of wheels done by them. I reckon about 20+ sets to be fair. They are really good, if anything they’re better now than they’ve ever been - I’ve had my 911 wheels done there, several sets of AMG wheels (both plain silver and with diamond cut lips) etc.

They’ve always been a volume operation, and keenly priced - and I can honestly say you get more than what you pay for - quality is easily a 9.5/10+ (often far better in fact) and for a good while they were about half the price of anywhere else. The finish is the most durable I’ve ever across too - better than OE in that regard in fact - they are very thorough with how the strip and prime the wheels it seems.

The only reason I’m contemplating using somewhere different this time is because the E63 forged wheels are so very delicate, are so expensive and I want a very particular service this time around - OE colour matched and ideally the machined/polished finish on the face and lip as close to factory as is possible. If it were just a powder coated or painted finish it wouldn’t really matter as they could just be stripped and redone as many times as needed, the machining part is absolutely critical on these as you only have 1-2mm to play with at most.

To put it into perspective the wheels on the car have just been refurbished already (but not diamond cut) - I want them better. And like I say - I’ve had 20+ sets done before - and been very happy, these I want perfect and done in a particular way.

I think I’ll have a word with BJV about these ones. I think Pristine and JP both look like very good options too though. It’s all going to come down to how they can machine and polish/finish the face of the wheel though at the end of the day - any of the wheel refurb places can strip and repaint the main wheel to a good standard I’m sure, and there’s literally dozens of places doing it nowadays :)

Likewise anyone that does diamond cutting can probably get a good looking finish on the lips etc, I need somewhere that can go that little further hopefully :thumb:

Thanks Will, I will give them a call.

As for yours, you can’t go wrong with Lepsons! :) they are very highly regarded! (But quite expensive!)

They are used by MB Ashford etc. :)
 
have you considered silver on the shiny surfaces (face and rim) and grey for the other parts .. diamond cut or variation thereof will eventually come and bite you
 
Thanks Will, I will give them a call.

As for yours, you can’t go wrong with Lepsons! :) they are very highly regarded! (But quite expensive!)

They are used by MB Ashford etc. :)
I have a feeling Pristine were used by MB also - not sure though!
 
have you considered silver on the shiny surfaces (face and rim) and grey for the other parts .. diamond cut or variation thereof will eventually come and bite you

Yes I’ve considered it. What I’m thinking of is going for a careful diamond cut (or machined/high sheen finish+lacquer) this time around to clean up the wheel edges from any imperfections/grazes etc too and refinish them as OE, and if they need doing again in a year or two perhaps have them painted grey with high-power silver or chrome type paint on the face/lips next time around if required :cool:
 
Yes I’ve considered it. What I’m thinking of is going for a careful diamond cut (or machined/high sheen finish+lacquer) this time around to clean up the wheel edges from any imperfections/grazes etc too and refinish them as OE, and if they need doing again in a year or two perhaps have them painted grey with high-power silver or chrome type paint on the face/lips next time around if required :cool:
My plan is the same, recut them until they can be recut no more, and then switch to two tone paint.
 
So I’ve managed to source another two rear wheels, so I have two complete sets now - the ones from my car and the spare set which have never been refurbished previously.

So I have two options - get all eight done by one place (and have the pick of the best two out of four fronts/rears for my own car once done) or get one set done by one firm and the other by somewhere else for comparison and see which ones come out best.

I spoke to JP on Friday, I’m 50:50. Positives being that a regular human being answered the phone, seemed okay but don’t really feel that I’m any the wiser for me calling. All I wanted to know was about the diamond cutting - can they vary the finish (smooth) as I’ve seen some diamond cutting being quite deep in texture/grooved almost like a vinyl record etc. He just kept saying to bring them down for them to have a look and I can have a look at what they do etc - if it wasn’t a 5 hour round trip I probably would :)

This doesn’t put me off - it’s just a little frustrating!

So I either take a set (or two) up there and give them a go, or use my other two options instead (either a set to BJV and one to Pristine or both sets to either)

Anyway - I will probably start the ball rolling sometime next week and let everyone see how they come out. In the meantime if anyone has any other suggestions/recommendations please let me know :cool:
 
I’ve had two sets done by BJV inc a couple of wheels which required small cracks welding. Nice neat welds, great looking on return, no balancing issues, and they remained great looking for a further 2 or 3 yrs of ownership. (Car then sold, and sold the spare wheels). I will happily use them again.
 
Hi Guys,

Can I ask, my car is a late 14' E250 with diamond cut 18' alloys.

My car is immaculate apart from my wheels, one with a slight scuff and then the others with corrosion because they are diamond cut.

My two questions are:
  1. Will Diamond Cut alloys always corrode terribly? Second Mercedes with diamond cut and corrosion...
  2. Dependent on answer 1, can I have them refurbished so they will last longer? I like to detail my car etc. so it isn't because I don't wash it for 6 months.
Has anyone else had the corrosion issue and are just plain fed up always corroding?
 

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