I like my wheels and think they suit the car well. They are however looking a little \'tatty\' and in need of a professional quality refurb.
Took the car along to Pristine Wheels in Milton Keynes today for them to have a look and give me a quote.
I didn\'t expect the cost to be cheap, you only get what you pay for etc and their price of £850 [I think it could creep up] is not really out of the question.
However a couple of the things they said made me think;
They would use the existing bolts, as they are and I think this could let the the finish down.
There is only a six month warranty on the work and that the powder coating only.
They tell me I will have to clean and polish the wheels every other week and they aren\'t exactly \'easyclean\'
So is it worth spending that much money on a refurb job or should I be thinking about new wheels.
Call me old fashioned [or just old] but I do like deepish dish wheels, I hate the current trend of wheel rims that stick out wider than the tyres.
Anyone have any suggestions on alternative wheels, I can always keep the tyres.
These are mine when they looked good;
split rims are a real pig to do. they take a good day or two just to get them apart thats why they are askin so much. that and pristen arn\'t the cheapest bya long way but they do a good job. they are a big company so they can be picky with what they do so they could be over pricing because they don\'t want the hassle or doing them.
I would suggest getting other quotes form different companys i know a sprayer that sends his rims away to have them refurbed but he colours etc himself so i\'ll let you know who he uses next time i see him.
I There Mate If U Have The Time Ur Better Off Doin Them Ur Self Put Afew Hrs A Nite Take U Afew Weeks.
I Have A Set Of The Racing Advans Three Spoke Split And I Am Polishin Them Myself Only Using Auto Glem Metal Polish N Alot Of Elbow Grease!!! Worth It A The End :) :)
U Can Put Afew Layers Of Wax On Once U Have Finishd Polishin Them And That Will Protect Them For A Lil While.
Can Mail U Sum Pic Of The Wheel I Am Doin At The Moment If U Gie Me Ur E-mail Add
Zab
I have the same alloys on my car and they are in a real mess.
Im not keeping them on the car as I have some other alloys to go on, but I cant see anyone paying much for them in there current tatty state so Im looking at having a go at refurbishing them myself in the new year.
ZAB, what did you use to undo the studs? Are the studs strong or should I be worried about them shearing off? Send me pictures of the wheel you have done to martin_skinner@tiscali.co.uk.
Cheers :Thumbs-up
Martin.
The studs are normaly stainless so you shouldn\'t have any issues with them snaping!! The best way to polish the ally rim is to use wet n dry sand paper: Depending on how bad they are work from 400 grit down to 1200 / 1500, then invest in a polishing kit from screw fix (£25 I think) fit it in a drill and polish away to a mirror finish!!!!
I did this with mine, but unfortunatly I left them go last winter and they have never been the same since!!!! So in the new year they are coming off again to be redone, but this time I\'m going to be laquering the outer rim to save the agro of cutting them back every time I clean the car!!!
Jono
I could quite fancy the diy route but how difficult is it to re seal them and how is it done. Is it some sort of rubber gasket or silicon type seal?
What about laquering them afterwards is that an option?
John
are they 3 piece or 2piece? they look like 2 piece to me inwhich case you wont need to re-seal..
keep those re wheels, they are stunning, and would look awesome when like new again.
from my knowledge of doing some race car 3 piece split rims they really arent difficult to do. sealing them back is easy really.
prestine seem to be taking the p......... with that price really.
Quote from: Jono FD3The studs are normaly stainless so you shouldn\'t have any issues with them snaping!! The best way to polish the ally rim is to use wet n dry sand paper: Depending on how bad they are work from 400 grit down to 1200 / 1500, then invest in a polishing kit from screw fix (£25 I think) fit it in a drill and polish away to a mirror finish!!!!
I did this with mine, but unfortunatly I left them go last winter and they have never been the same since!!!! So in the new year they are coming off again to be redone, but this time I\'m going to be laquering the outer rim to save the agro of cutting them back every time I clean the car!!!
Jono
Hi Jono,
What did you use to undo the studs?
Fortunatly the outer polished part of the rim on mine are in very good condition apart from one that has a small amount of curbing. Im hopeing to get away with just buffing them up a bit the rubbing down and re painting the centres!
£200 a rim?? thats a bit steep. I bet it would\'nt cost a great deal more to buy new ones?
You\'ll proberly find they just don\'t want to do Split rims (so the submit a Big estimate)
Also you may be best off stripping them yourself get the Rims polished by a Chrome/Platers and have the centers Painted (can get that done at your Local bodyshop), Depending on where you have them done i can\'t see it costing much more than £300. A mate had a set of 3pc rims done a year or so ago, he said if you get the Option get the rims waxed/Clear Anodised when there Polished that way the shine lasts longer and not left in raw Alloy (His went dull after 1 winter).
BTW, Stainless bolts are much easyer to snap that Mild steel (Stainless is more Brital) they mainly use them becouse they look nice :)
Quote from: kermitHi Jono,
What did you use to undo the studs?
Fortunatly the outer polished part of the rim on mine are in very good condition apart from one that has a small amount of curbing. Im hopeing to get away with just buffing them up a bit the rubbing down and re painting the centres!
I just used a 8mm spaner..... I\'ve got the Rays MS01\'s so they are 2 piece & nut & bolted. Dont know if the RE:A rims have nut & bolt or bolt into the ally of the inner section???
Jono
i did my oz split rims it was a real pian in the a*se but they looked fantastic when they were done i had the rims polished and the centre powder coated ,you can get the bolts re coated if ness (they are not normally s/steel) give us a bell if you want them doing i can get them done for you (for a realistic price !!!) craig
hi got same rims 1 off mine is bad , so going to try and remove old coating and get it powder coated at a place my work uses and see what it comes out like
Update on my wheels
Decided to split them myself and take it from there.
Found a polisher in Brum that took the pieces and did this.
Considering what a poor state they were in when he took them on I\'m well pleased.
I\'ll put pics up when they\'re back on the car.
One bigger
thats exactly what im doing with my RB split rims! Who are you gona beusing to get them lacquered?
They look fantastic. Was it hard taking the split rims apart?
The guy who polished them has advised against lacquering. He says just keep em clean and dry.
I\'m not convinced so I would welcome other ppl\'s experiences of lacquer durability as I\'m all for the easy life.
Re: splitting the rims, at fiirst I thought it would turn out to be impossible 160 nuts and bolts to undo and I couldn\'t even move the first one with a socket.
The answer is to use an air gun, [thanks Craig] still took a couple of hours but the only way.
After that I was surprised how easy they did split. Ran a stanley knife all round and then eased a chisel in. Remeber to mark matching pairs and position, I used a drill and just spotted each set in line
Bought some marine sealer to use when they go back together. I\'ll update on how successfull it is.
John
i can see his argument against lacquering.... the salt in this country really screws lacquer :( Im sure there must be some companies out there offering a decent lacquer that doesnt degrade tho.
Im interested in this ceramic clear coat which image wheels use. Sounds like a viable alternative to lacquering
http://www.imagewheels.co.uk/pages/finishes.html
That sound interesting - I\'ll drop them a mail see if they will do mine.
Taking into account they didn\'t polish them it may be an issue, we\'ll see
i dont know if they do it to wheels they didnt make....but im gonna give them a shout tomorow!
You would\'nt lacque it because the Compounds they use to buff the Rim is like a Wax and its a Pain in the Rear to paint over then you have the Issue of Paint not keying to a Shiny surface so it would flake off.
Don\'t get a Polished alloy surface mixed up with a Clear Anodised surface. ;)
dont do it it will chip and then flake seen it so many times !! just use a good polish ie silicon based it works on bike wheels craig,
Do you need to torque these up once putting back together as im looking in to doing my MS01\'s before the summer. is so what did you torque them up to ?
No idea about the torque, just going to do them up tight.
Unless someone knows a torque setting?
give me a ring i have a torque listing at work ,do you have a good torque wrench ?
I missed this thread earlier. I have the same rims and like them too much to let them go.
Last year got a company, Leaves Green garage in Biggin Hill to clean them up and re-spray the insert silver at £50 per wheel, not taken apart but well masked up - fantastic.
later on that year during a Eastern European car wash (in Clapham Junc) they used a wheel cleaner that left crazy patterns on the rims and I could\'t clean it off because I thought the rims where chrome plated. Later again that year on Millbrook and using Hawk pads, the dusting baked itself on when it rained and the front wheels have a brown deposit - which also contains a lot of metal from the knackered disks.
If the rims are aly then I\'ll get me polishing kit out on the Dremel and see what result I get.
Great thread.
Keith
John
Do you have any means of weighing the wheels unshod. In the past peeps have complained that they are heavy and it would be good to know for sure.
Keith :cheers
Good point - The wheels do seem heavy, I\'ll see what I can do.
John
Do the studs have to be tightened in a sequence too, to make sure its correctly seated together ??
I intend to do opposites and move round five or six studs and repeat the diagonals.
Seems logical
John
get them clear anodised - you can wipe them clean easily from that and it looks great. Anodising looks as good as the base wheel you give it and as you have had these mirror polished they will look fantastic.
you can easily go coloured as well if you like
i\'ve come from a mtorbike background and keeping KTM wheels (which come polished) clean is a nightmare; everyone either powdercoats them black or anodises them for the best clear or coloured look
my old race bike:
#
(http://home.clara.net/papercupandy/papercupWR.jpg)
Thanks for the idea Papercup, I\'ll look into it.
Anyone had experience with this?
John
Well I\'m more than pleased with the results,
Thanks to Jono for the RE-A logo artwork
Quote from: johnfThanks to Jono for the RE-A logo artwork
They look great, amazing the difference bet it looks like a new car!
Mark
Sitting a bit high at the front atm - no engine
looks good John what did you end up getting done and what was the damage to the wallet?
Kevin
Well I had so many opinions and how to protect them, laquer, powder coat, anodise etc. I got confused so went back to the polisher and talked to him.
I\'ve decided to leave them polished and see how they go, it they require too much tlc I\'ll re-think.
As for cost, the polishing was £200. The wheels were in a hell of a state and I think that was excellent. Top guy if anyone in the Brum area wants a number.
I think I was robbed by the tyre place who took the rubber off and put them back on. Over £70 WHAT!!! I said " £15 an inch " + balancing and valves, joke right - NO
New nuts and bolt [160] £50
Sealant - £15
John
All in all a successsful job imo
yes you we`r robbed lol.. my local tire guy removes/fits a tire for 2.50 per wheel lol..
you guys need to invest in your own tyre machine! :)
Best 200 quid i ever spent lol
John: did you outer sections have any kerbing on them??
Only one wheel had very slight damage, wasn\'t kerbed caught the front offside wheel on a toolbox reversing out the garage.
Gone now, don\'t know how he got rid of it.
Very very :chat
How did you treat the centre cap though, mine are plastic! and it looks like you\'ve polished yours.
Also is the inner rim polishable or just sprayed?
Keith
Look Very Shiney
Centre caps were ally not platic. I thought mine were plastic so check.
The inners were caked in crud, cleaned them with a wire brush in a drill them hammerite.
Iguess you could polish them but what a mission to get them back to any kind of starting point.
Looking good there John. Who did you make sure the wheels run true?
Fish
Who did you make sure the wheels run true
What do mean?
i think he means if they balance properly (ie the polisher didnt take too much off one particular area)
Well I marked all three sections of each wheel so they went back together as
they were and then had them all balanced, what else can I do?
Sorry, who I meant how.
When you take the centre\'s out of the rim, HOW when reattaching them did you make sure that they run true.
Nothing to do with polishing.
Fish
Why would they not run true?
It\'s not as if they\'re made of lightweight stuff, the wheels are very heavy
Not getting my point across very well am I.
When you remove the centre section, upon refitting they need to be dead centre otherwise they will vibrate. I.E. run true.
The bolt holes are bigger than the bolts, so if the wheel was standing on the floor, the centre would locate closer to the bottom than the top.
How did you get around this? Did you have someone do this for you.
Fish
There was no noticeable play in the bolt holes, i would describe them as an exact fit.
Aslo each of the three pieces has a ridge so they centre themselves even without the bolts. bit like a saucepan and lid so I can\'t see there being any mis-alignmennt
Quote from: johnfTop guy if anyone in the Brum area wants a number.
Hi know its an old thread but do you still have his number or know the company he worked for.
Cheers
I\'ll dig the number out and post it up
John
Where did you get the new nuts and bolts from?
A general fastener supplier.
Had options for quality and head type and finishes.
So did you get special strengthened bolts or anything?
The reason I ask is that I heard they usually cost 75p=£1 each so only spending £50 sounds like a bargain.
No, not special, just checked I could torque them up enough, can\'t remember what to though as it was some time ago now.