Diamond Cut or Painted Finish advise

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Boney

New Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2016
Messages
10
Location
Woking, Surrey
Car
CLS350
Hi all

I have a CLS350 with Diamond cut AMG 18" alloys, which were refurbished about 18 months ago. After about 9 months the first signs of milkiness appeared again around one of the hubs and now all four have gone again despite me following a strict cleaning, drying and polishing routine. I know DC alloys are fragile but 9 months seemed very quick to go again. I've now paid a visit to a different refurb centre who said they could be cut one more time or offered a painted finish as an alternative which is more durable apparantly. I'm reluctant to spend out again on the DC finish as it may go again has anyone any experience of the painted finish ? If so did it look ok ?

Thanks
 
I'm planning on getting mine done shortly for the same reasons, I think I shall go for powder coated finish, and forget the Diamond Cut as it just doesn't last.
 
Is there any firm that uses a better quality of coating that lasts a longer than a few months I wonder....?
 
I've spoken to a wheel refurb guy who actually dissuaded me from getting DC. The milkiness is inevitable apparently. They can do quite good chrome paint these days which achieves a similar effect.
 
Rimfurbish LINK I should think are the biggest outfit in alloy wheel refurbishment.

They also make the wheels for several leading car manufacturers LINK but even they only offer a 12 month warranty on diamond-cut finishes.

Unfortunately, alloy and lacquer just don't get along too well, which is a shame, because its a great finish when freshly done.
 
Another here for powder coat/paint as opposed to diamond cut.

It looks great when first done but just doesn't last, partially due to stone chips cracking the lacquer allowing water ingress and also due to it's inability to bond with the alloy.

Noticed above that a couple of people have said there's also a limited warranty with cut wheels. My local person will not offer any warranty at all now on them as, in his words, it just won't last.
 
Thanks all I agree Ringway DC looks great to start with but just doesn't last painted finish it is then
 
A good wheel place will be able to paint the wheels so they look nearly like diamond cut wheels , a high shine finish . Best of both worlds
 
Do a search on here, someone last year had his 18" wheels coated with IIRC shadow chrome, they looked really good.
 
My wheels 4 year old and looking a bit tatty, I'm also thinking of getting them powder coated.
Recently had new tyre's fitted that have left fine scratches on the diamond cut.

And using a cheap wheel brush has not helped.
 
Not sure how old your car is but if under 3 years would this not be covered under warranty?
 
Diamond cut wheels look good on some cars for the first six months and they this is exactly what happens.

Lacquer just doesn't bond properly to bare metal, so it starts to lift, takes one stone chip and the finish is doomed.

I had a set of wheels refurbished professionally a few years back. I wanted a black centre and polished lip. The chap there explained that lacquer will lift from bare metal as it simply doesn't stay put. I actually had a bare metal lip on those particular wheels and they stayed looking perfect with a light polish every couple of months.

Manufacturers insist on putting diamond cut wheels on cars and they're not really fit for purpose. Within a year they end tarnishing in some way or other, especially if harsh chemicals are used for cleaning them.

So to the first post, my advice would be to have your wheels powder coated. It's a much tougher finish and will still look good. The only thing would be that you wouldn't be able to have the silver/black finish but just one colour.
 
The alloy refurb guy I use only gives 6 months warranty on diamond cut
When I had my C63 wheels done, I went power coat, but diamond cut does look great at the beginning.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom