Page 1 of 1

Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:12 am
by iAmbu
Hi all

The most annoying thing happened this evening, after a great night out seeing Michael McIntyre live in Bournemouth, I kerbed my front offside alloy :cry:

I am based in Weymouth, can any one recommend any reputable companies who could restore it back to it's former glory? Preferably companies who someone has used, and had a good result from.

I would want it to be a quality repair and would be prepared to travel a reasonable distance to get there.

Looks like all the companies online need 2-3 days to do the work, if they are going to completely refurb the wheel. Not sure if that is what I need, or just get the affected area repaired. I would probably steer away from a mobile service, as I would be sceptical about the quality of their work.

I have the VW 19" Lugano alloys - I was surprised to find that where I have kerbed it, the grey/anthracite colour appears to be a coating on the surface of the wheel. The best way I can describe it is like what happens when paint on a metal garage door starts to degrade and flake off. This is what it looks like, in fact I picked some more off the wheel whilst inspecting it (oops!). It is not like the alloys on my old car which when kerbed, the metal of the wheel was rough and burred.

So, any suggestions of companies?

I'm not looking for a company I could courier the wheel to, as I would have to drive around with the space saver on for a good few days (no thanks!).

One last thing, next week I will be up in the south Hertfordshire / Milton Keynes / north London area for a few days, so any recommendations near there? Again though, I would prefer the job to be done in one day so I didn't have to leave my car with them for longer than that.

Re: Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:09 am
by scottyroc
Hi,

sorry im not from that neck of the woods so cant help on that front, what i would say though is that there are alot of great mobile repairers on the road that will make you wheel look like new, i have had this service carried out before with great results, also kianok and vee-dubber have recently had their' done, i have personally seen kianoks and it was unoticable where it had been repaired, so this may be an option for you.

If you can post a pic on here, do so and i'll let you know if its a mobile or full refurb job.

On that note, i had all four wheels fully refurbed on my golf, therefore blaseted off, cleaned, primed, baked, painted, baked, laquered, baked...all done in one day...

HTH

Re: Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:18 am
by Deacon
iAmbu,

The wheel specialist company (http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) have a pretty good rep and a number of locations around the country. My boss at work had some damage on her wheels sorted out by their midlands branch and was very happy with the job/cost and the fact it took them less than a day.

May be worth a try :yes:

Deacon

Re: Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:34 am
by iAmbu
Thanks all. Deacon - I had seen The Wheel Specialist website before, and your recommendation has prompted me to contact them. The girl I spoke to was very friendly and I am booked into their Fareham branch for a week today (Friday 23rd). I will be driving home to Dorset from London that day, so it suits me well.

I shall let you all know how it goes....

Re: Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:24 am
by Candy Monster
There is a place in Crawley that looks very good but it's not really south west. I'll try and find the name. Went in to see some of their handy work and they had a lambo in having a refurb done.

Re: Alloy wheel refurb - South West England?

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:16 am
by lancs_lad
iAmbu wrote:Thanks all. Deacon - I had seen The Wheel Specialist website before, and your recommendation has prompted me to contact them. The girl I spoke to was very friendly and I am booked into their Fareham branch for a week today (Friday 23rd). I will be driving home to Dorset from London that day, so it suits me well.

I shall let you all know how it goes....
The wheel specialist are a franchise so I can't vouch for the particular depot you're going to use but I had a set of 4 alloys refurbed last year at Leeds and would never use anywhere else now. Fabulous service and the wheels are as good (if not better) than new. 12 months later and they're still the same.