w126 Carat wheels refurbished - refund or not saga conclusion

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talbir

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
1,692
Location
Nr Heathrow
All

You may recall the story discussed here in late 2008...where a person bought a set of Carat Duchatelet wheels from me, sent them to a refurbishment outfit who stripped the wheels and found a crack (one that was not visible prior to stripping the paint). The buyer insisted i refund the money as i 'misdescribed' the wheels....most people here thought otherwise, but i decided not to bother wasting any energy on the buyer and refunded.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/59296-refund-not.html


Well, finally got round to refubishing these....Nav (KLP92) and Simal (wheel wizard) were round my house last week and were shocked to see the wheels still unrefurbed, sitting in my back garden....but the wheels were stripped of the tyres and valves and ready to go to the refurb man i found in Aylesbury.

Now Nav and Simal and indeed the original buyer of the wheels can testify to the condition of the wheels...stripped of paint (by the buyer !) and wheels were marked where they were buckled and there was one single hairline crack where the spoke meets the outer dish. The crack was barely 1cm in length.

An alu-welder sorted it in no time and then my refurb chap in Aylesbury did the rest. Now the biggest challenge with the wheels was recreating the script 'Carat Duchatelet' logo on the centre caps...but we found a designer to do that for us and how good a job he did ! The Carat script is not something you can buy on ebay or elsewhere.....and losing that in the refurb process would have been a big loss to the overall aura of the wheels...so hugely chuffed to be able to replace that logo !

Well, pics speak for themselves, but i can say with 100% certainty, pics don't do these wheels justice....they have come out of the refurb simply stunning !

The wheels will go on my Carat Clarity w126 560 SE...some pics of that car also attached....

Finally, throughout last year's exchange with the seller (and his friends !) the message to me was that wheels are not economical to refurb and repair blah blah blah....well, when i finally got round to it, i got these refurbed in 5 days turnaround from dropping off to refurber and collecting...and total cost of alu-weld, powder-coat, powder lacquer, outer dish, centre caps, centre cap logo design and placement.....total for all that lot ....£275 !!!! That's unbeatable !

cheers
talbir
 

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Last edited:
Those wheels look amazing!!! and what a car to put them on...

K
 
Talbir.Is them rear seats original,cos is the first w126 i`ve seen?
 
:thumb::thumb::thumb:

Very, very nice....
Sometimes things happen for a reason ;)
 
very well said....these wheels are the finishing touch on my Carat 560SE.....when i first put them on the car, i hadn't refurbed them and they looked ****e on the car....hence i sold them...but how glad i am they came back as i am sure they will look good on the car now that they look right !

The car has the full Carat Duchatelet homologated works :

Carat front bumper
Carat rear bumper
Carat instrument cluster
Carat steering wheel
Carat picnic tables
Carat dashboard and centre console in double-stiched leather and alacantra, with Carat phone installation
Carat door sills (all 4 doors)
Carat Clarity boot badge
Carat suspension springs

These Carat wheels will be the icing on the cake !

cheers
talbir
 
Here we go, pics of the Carat 560 SE fitted up with the Carat wheels :

http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s154/talbir/Carat%20Clarity/?albumview=slideshow

How they sit perfectly, right out to the ABC Exclusive w126 extended arches !

Finished off nicely with gold-plated tyre valves and centre cap lock nuts !!

I've got a set of Carat side skirts - i shall have those painted up and fit them on in place of the current Brab skirts, to fully complete the Carat parts. Although almost every Gen II Carat i have seen has no side skirts, just the stock sills.

Totally chuffed with the result ! These Carat wheels have taken time and effort to get right....bought them from Japan 12 months ago! Purchase price (£400), shipping from Japan to here (£300 !) and refurb (£275) has cost almost a grand, but well worth it when it's the final piece in the Carat jigsaw !


cheers
talbir
 
Last edited:
Amazing how much better the car looks with the new/origonal? wheels.
It was amazing before...just looks more solid, better presence now.
I'd love one of your "fleet", keep up the good work.
Colin.
 

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