Kerbed alloy

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gr1nch

Active Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Messages
729
Location
Louth, Lincolnshire
Car
2017 W222 S350d AMG Line Premium Plus : Iridium Silver and Black Nappa
Not been two months since getting my first Mercedes and first luxury car, yet I kerbed it trying to squeeze past a car which had parked where it shouldn't have. Heard the dreaded grind. No one was behind, stopped, got it and looked at it. Was fuming, even more so as there was a young driver seated in the car, window open not giving a monkeys. Ended up reversing back or of this one way road.

Getting it seen to by MB Ashford on Tuesday who use Lepsons. £120 as it's a 20" diamond cut, the 14 spoke AMG line ones. A good price? Should get the wheel back on Friday, just in time for Benz the Green :banana:

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* 2017 W222 S350d SWB AMG Line Premium Plus
* Ashford, Kent & Mons, Belgium
Sent from my Moto G using Tapatalk
 
Your spell checker has ruined your emoticon.

I'm not in your league of car, but I'd be happy with £120 for a diamond cut wheel to be restored to perfection, so it's probably a little pricy but only a little.
 
If it's £120 including VAT then yes that's a good price
 
From your description it sounds like a single minor kerbing... does the whole wheel need to be fully refurbished? Isn't there an option for a local/smart repair of the only damaged area?

The other question is if they can refurb one wheel to match the others?
 
Sounds about the going rate for a diamond alloy. Remember you can only repair each rim a couple of times. Possibly only once if it's a deep scrape.

Was talking to an alloy reconditioner a while back who mentioned the CNC lathes and profile templates cost upwards of £100k
 
Your spell checker has ruined your emoticon.

I'm not in your league of car, but I'd be happy with £120 for a diamond cut wheel to be restored to perfection, so it's probably a little pricy but only a little.
It wasn't my spell checker, it was me :) I use Tapatalk which can't handle those special forum emoticons, but I like them anyway so typed it in from memory.

The job done as described by the nice Lepsons lady (who phoned me at Mercedes request) should be to perfection. They gave me a disclaimer about not always being able to match the colour, but the wheel is stock MB and new, so the chances should be good. Incidentally she explained they have to make up all the colours themselves! MB don't sell the wheel paint (from one supplier) to their chosen wheel refurb supplier.
I'll have to replicate the wheel detail when it's back, though I'm tempted to give the Lepsons lady a call back to see if they'll do it.
If it's £120 including VAT then yes that's a good price
Got to know. Maybe it's Ashford and Kent, but the places around here are charging £100-150 with none more thorough than Lepsons. So I was glad when Mercedes told me it was then they use. At first they said they send it away to a SMART repairer which want appealing for the price. Lepsons certainly do not consider themselves one.

From your description it sounds like a single minor kerbing... does the whole wheel need to be fully refurbished? Isn't there an option for a local/smart repair of the only damaged area?

The other question is if they can refurb one wheel to match the others?
I'm not sure what would be classed as minor. The scratching is about 5.0 x 0.5cm and I guess an mm or two deep. What would that be? It's close to the tyre and hard to see unless looking closely. I'd read that if left untreated this can allow corrosion to set in. I looked at SMART repair (honestly, with the cars I've had before I've never had a wheel mended and hadn't even heard the term SMART rotator until I read it in the blurb that MB sent me on ordering the car - I'm a newbie to all this). On Friday, I first searched for SMART repairers locally to compare service/price but all but one had their own shops and all charged about the same give or take 20%. I didn't take out the SMART insurance, so had a twang that wished I had! But my wife doesn't like these extra insurances and was happy for us to pay if and when it happens though. I don't like the hassle of paperwork, justification and excess, so that suits me too.

Sounds about the going rate for a diamond alloy. Remember you can only repair each rim a couple of times. Possibly only once if it's a deep scrape.

Was talking to an alloy reconditioner a while back who mentioned the CNC lathes and profile templates cost upwards of £100k

Good to know, thanks. What might also help solve that, is buying a duplicate set as winter wheels (fronts and rears are different), but they are over €3.5k, so not that affordable!

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* 2017 W222 S350d SWB AMG Line Premium Plus
* Ashford, Kent & Mons, Belgium
Sent from my Moto G using Tapatalk
 
Get a set of alloy wheel rim protectors . Then it wont get damaged again ..They come in a lot of colours so you chose the one you like most. Check them out ..
 
It all depends on where you are.. although my car was much older I did the exact same about 6 weeks later, I had 4 minter alloys on my car, not a mark or blemish on them then **Crrruuunnncchh** yes,one ruined...but up here (Somewhere in darkest Scotland) a refurb and trueing of the wheel costs £65 notes which I think is pretty cool...:cool:
 
Your car is pretty new - isn't there meant to be some sort of 'minor mishap' cover to deal with this sort of thing , punctures too , as goodwill/warranty ?
 
I'd be wary as on an e92 m3 I had with diamond cut wheels where one was damaged by a tyre fitter it went to lepsons and came back 3 times as the paint quality was poor (m3 had a black inside to the wheel) and to remove the kerbing they basically chamfered the edge of the wheel so it didn't match the others - put me off alloy wheel repair.
 
JP alloys in Cannock are fantastic. Diamond cut my 18" CLK63 rims to perfection. Was £95 a wheel.
 
Think I'd be happy with £120 for diamond cut refurb, those alloys are pretty tasty.....

RR
 
I've got this "joy" to sort out when I get back from my holiday. Whacked the corner of a low loose laid cotswold stone border as I left home for the airport. Head full of "what have I forgotten" and not paying attention to moving away from an infreguently used parking spot. Also had the builder round fixing some ridge tiles, hence car parked in the unusual spot. :(
 
What a nightmare, I'm absolutely terrified of damaging the AMG line black alloys on my A Class, so far so good! I think £120 for a refurb is reasonable given the alloy type.

Liam
 
Lepsons will do a good job. They did my A8 wheels a few years ago to perfection. You shouldn't have any matching issues with the diamond cut.
 
I feel for you! Did something similar to mine, not too much damage to wheel, but ruined a brand new tyre at the same time. Just checking how wide the Eurotunnel carriages are, to avoid the same thing happening with a wide car, low profile tyres and metal 'kerbs'
 
Get a set of alloy wheel rim protectors . Then it wont get damaged again ..They come in a lot of colours so you chose the one you like most. Check them out ..

I've heard a story when they come unstuck on a motorway and then damage the flanks of your bodywork as they fly off.
 
How unfortunate. I've used Lepsons on three occasions.

You will not be disappointed.
They will 'weld' to fill deep scratches if required.
 
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I feel for you! Did something similar to mine, not too much damage to wheel, but ruined a brand new tyre at the same time. Just checking how wide the Eurotunnel carriages are, to avoid the same thing happening with a wide car, low profile tyres and metal 'kerbs'

Not directly related, but I managed to get a couple of deep cuts into the front left tyre at a toll both near Calais on the way back... they don't have booths for RHD cars on the autoroute (only at the entrance to the terminal itself), and I tried to get as close to the ticket machines as possible... not sure what I hit with the tyre, but you would have thought that they wouldn't use sharp metal...?? Tyre since changed.
 
£120 sounds cheap for Lepsons, especially taking into account the size/finish, then wheel and tyre removal/refitting etc.

They will do an awesome job but as mentioned, there is only a finite number of times they can be resurfaced.

People will disagree with me but for very minor scuffs (and I mean minor) i normally feather back with wet and dry and blow in a bit of laquer.

It won't last forever and will need a proper Lepsons job eventually but don't like the thought of losing 0.05mm off the entire face for what is only a little mark. And when done properly, you have to really look for it!
 

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