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Alloy Wheel Refurbishing - recommendations??


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Hi,

 

I am looking to get my Fondmetal Tech 5 alloy wheels refurbished and am after recommendations please. 

 

The short story is this:  a tyre fitter gauged 2 of my completely unmarked and in beautiful condition alloy wheels, which necessitated my having to get them refurbished. After some considerable research, I had them refurbished at Pristine Alloy Wheels in Milton Keynes nearly 3 years ago. To be fair, they looked amazing when they came back - see the attached pictures.

 

But fast forward to now and despite the wheels having never been anywhere near a curb or chipped in any way whatsoever, lots of horrible rust can clearly be seen coming through from underneath the paintwork (mainly around the hole where the air valve is, and also around the bolt holes). In fact I first notice clear signs of rust coming through about only 18 months after the wheels had been refurbished.

 

I am absolutely disgusted with this to be honest - the other two wheels that weren't/have never been refurbished, are still unmarked and completely rust free. So you can draw your own conclusions here.....

 

Now a place called Radar International look to have done a good enough job in refurbishing the the alloy wheels on my friends old Audi TT and 12 months on, they still look to be in good condition with no signs of rust (she paid in the region of £90 per wheel to get them done).  But having contacted Radar International for a quote, the price they gave me for refurbishing my wheels is £125 + VAT for each wheel, which seems steep to me and is disproportionately higher than what my friend paid.

 

What do you think guys? Grateful for your views and any recommendations please.

 

Thanks.

 

       

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1 minute ago, Old Red Celica said:

Are you talking about brown/Orange rust or white alloy rust?

It hasn't actually broke the paint yet, so I can't see what colour it is. It is bubbly though.....and spreading!

1 minute ago, biggles933 said:

It hasn't actually broke the paint yet, so I can't see what colour it is. It is bubbly though.....and spreading!

Just had another look - looks to be breaking through around where the valve is - looks brown.

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Did they remove the decorative studs (look like 12 point Allen key bolt heads)

If not there is contamination coming out. If they did remove them, did they use Stainless Steel and use something like epoxy resin to seal the holes that the bolt goes into up.

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1 minute ago, Old Red Celica said:

Did they remove the decorative studs (look like 12 point Allen key bolt heads)

If not there is contamination coming out. If the did remove them, did they use Stainless Steel and use something like epoxy resin to seal the holes that the bolt goes into up.

They initially wanted to paint over the plastic studs but I said no. So they drilled them out and replaced with new ones (I had a limited stash of replacement studs, which I sourced from Fondmetal)

1 minute ago, biggles933 said:

They initially wanted to paint over the plastic studs but I said no. So they drilled them out and replaced with new ones (I had a limited stash of replacement studs, which I sourced from Fondmetal)

When I said bolt holes, I mean the bolts that secure the wheel to the hub (not the decorative studs). Took a picture of the valve area......it needs cleaning, but you can see the rust underneath.

IMG_5930.jpg

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Can highly recommend Mint Alloys just outside of Luton if you're down this way

 

Think I paid 312 for 4 17s, not the cheapest but did a lovely job a few years back with no sign of issues yet

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2 minutes ago, Spaff said:

Can highly recommend Mint Alloys just outside of Luton if you're down this way

 

Think I paid 312 for 4 17s, not the cheapest but did a lovely job a few years back with no sign of issues yet

Thanks very much for that . Yeah I paid Pristine £111 per wheel - I could have got them done cheaper, but I wanted a proper job doing.... 

5 minutes ago, Spaff said:

Can highly recommend Mint Alloys just outside of Luton if you're down this way

 

Think I paid 312 for 4 17s, not the cheapest but did a lovely job a few years back with no sign of issues yet

Just had a quick look on their website - look a decent outfit.......but I am up North, so too far away :( 

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8 hours ago, biggles933 said:

Thanks very much for that . Yeah I paid Pristine £111 per wheel - I could have got them done cheaper, but I wanted a proper job doing.... 

Just had a quick look on their website - look a decent outfit.......but I am up North, so too far away :( 

Ah that's a shame, I just assumed you'd be near Milton Keynes from your first post!

 

Any pics of how yours look now?

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6 minutes ago, Old Red Celica said:

Unfortunately the area around the valve is a place they go, on any alloy.

But there is no signs of this happening on the 2 alloys that haven’t been refurbished (I.e. the wheels that are entirely still original). Whereas BOTH of the wheels that were refurbished are rusting (quite badly) in exactly the same places.

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3 hours ago, 99GT said:

I know a really good place in Leeds if you're ever this way. If you are, let me know and I'll give you details

Leeds is about 90 miles from me. But if they are good at what they do, I could always consider using a courier...

13 hours ago, Spaff said:

Ah that's a shame, I just assumed you'd be near Milton Keynes from your first post!

 

Any pics of how yours look now?

I used a courier to get my wheels to Milton Keynes. There is a pic of one of the wheels earlier on up this thread - both wheels that were refurbed are rusting in exactly the same places (whilst my original/untouched wheels are completely rust free.....)   

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Jeez I had my ACE alloys refurbished and powder coated for £190 for 4.  I would tend to agree with oldred .. it's almost certainly aluminium oxidisation the brown will probably be from brake dust etc ... Water has got behind the coating around the valve seat would be my guess 

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I paid around £70 per alloy for refurb, powdercoat including straightening at Platinum alloys in Swindon. The Fondmetal alloys are generally fairly heavy, prone to bending in potholes and the finish is not good. Because of this I went with aftermarket alloys that are lighter and can look better (wider 8j, different colours) or more to your taste. Also switching to 225/45r17 tyre size can be good to prevent pothole damage. Only downside with looking at aftermarket or nice used alloys is that it can quickly get addictive/more expensive.

Edited by Y393
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On 01/08/2019 at 21:10, biggles933 said:

Leeds is about 90 miles from me. But if they are good at what they do, I could always consider using a courier...

 

They're very good. They re cut my diamond cut ones that were old, chipped and furred up. One of the few that actually do the cutting rather than farm it out to someone else. I had a look round and they had some lovely painted and coated stuff in they'd done. I'd recommend 

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10 hours ago, Y393 said:

I paid around £70 per alloy for refurb, powdercoat including straightening at Platinum alloys in Swindon. The Fondmetal alloys are generally fairly heavy, prone to bending in potholes and the finish is not good. Because of this I went with aftermarket alloys that are lighter and can look better (wider 8j, different colours) or more to your taste. Also switching to 225/45r17 tyre size can be good to prevent pothole damage. Only downside with looking at aftermarket or nice used alloys is that it can quickly get addictive/more expensive.

Cheers for that. Yeah I take your point about the Fondmetal wheels bending etc.....I am a bit of a stickler though for keeping stuff standard in so far as possible. I've taken a look at their web site and they look a real possibility. Many thanks!

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On 02/08/2019 at 22:53, bazz54 said:

For an astonishing £20 a wheel, I quite like this outfit in Brum https://www.citywheelrefurbishment.co.uk/

I’ve sent them an email, £30 a wheel same day! Ive got some standard celica wheels spare I could with using as mine are peeling bad and the st needs a refurb from curbing! For those prices it’s worth a day trip to Birmingham! 

 

I had my wedssports done in Cardiff, £760 for Straightening and refurb, came back like brand new but bloody expensive!  

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