Wheel Refurbishment!!

[gworilla]

My CLK 430 is now sitting on axle stands outside my house (sniff!!).

However, the good news is that my AMG alloys are just being re-furbished by a place near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire (yaaa!!).

Looking at the work this place has done for others and the very reasonable prices (compared to other places I rang for quotes), I hope to be very impressed.

I believe the process is firstly removing the old tyres, shot/ bead blasting the alloys, special powder coat and re-laquer. He told me that he has had excellent success by applying extra flecks of a very shiny metal (I think aluminium), which give a much better finish than the standard slightly dull AMG finish.

I have just purchased new rubber also in the form of the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 's which are excellent tyres and look awesome with the new tread pattern.

Once they come back, I will post some close up pictures so you can see the before and after...

 

[television]

Look forward to seeing the pics

 

[Dosco]

Quote "However, the good news is that my AMG alloys are just being re-furbished by a place near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire (yaaa!!)."

Can you PM me the details of the above please.

Thanks

 

[Chris Murray]

The "sterling silver" finish that most AMG wheels are finished with does not have visible aluminium flakes. It is incredibly difficult for most refurbishers to get it right because any faults show up far worse than with "standard silver" or "titanium silver" and any faults that appear through the process cannot be corrected on-the-fly as they can with standard/titanium silver.

All high sheen rim edge wheels use standard silver in the middle part of the wheel, but refurbishing with high sheen rim edge has two major disadvantages:
1. Any damage to the edge of the rim must be machined back to an even surface, removing material and weakening the rim
2. The lacquer adhesion to bare metal is less than with a polyester powder that has been applied to hot metal. Any lacquer defects or subsequent damage to the lacquer layer allow liquid seepage between the layers which spreads very quickly to make the rim look very bad indeed!

 

[television]

The "sterling silver" finish that most AMG wheels are finished with does not have visible aluminium flakes. It is incredibly difficult for most refurbishers to get it right because any faults show up far worse than with "standard silver" or "titanium silver" and any faults that appear through the process cannot be corrected on-the-fly as they can with standard/titanium silver.

All high sheen rim edge wheels use standard silver in the middle part of the wheel, but refurbishing with high sheen rim edge has two major disadvantages:
1. Any damage to the edge of the rim must be machined back to an even surface, removing material and weakening the rim
2. The lacquer adhesion to bare metal is less than with a polyester powder that has been applied to hot metal. Any lacquer defects or subsequent damage to the lacquer layer allow liquid seepage between the layers which spreads very quickly to make the rim look very bad indeed!

Some wheel manufactures and car makers have just started to release the the pigment details for some of these special paints used, they are not stocked by normal body shops, though as I say this info is now coming from certain manufactures.

The problems with so called diamond finishes is three fold,

(1) being that any paint without pigment is weak in its own right,
(2) paint does not stick very well to a polished surface.
(3) many wheels can only be re finished once owing to the wall thickness of the rim, good re finishes will not go beyond the limit.

As chris says, once moisture has penetrated a pinhole or kerb damage the electrolytic action soon take hold, and you have that ugly patch on the rim.

We have talked about this many times, and the best solution would seem to be, to have the wheels finished all over in one of the chrome paints that many re finishers use, they are durable and do last well, and if they do get kerb marks, it does not spread.

 

[frank133]

:roll: HI I just wondered what the the difference is between getting a wheel refurbished and getting it resprayed,I am not being cynical,but apart from filling in a few kerb marks or dents and repainting the wheel its the same thing.
I have resprayed and repaired a large number of alloys some motor bike but mostly cars,I have the paint made up in two pack,the same as the refurbisher uses.I dont beadblast just wet and dry,any imperfections can be filled in with a good body filler,flat it off and prime,.The silver is applied then the laquer.I usualy remove the tyres [the old way with tyre levers]thus leaving the balance weights on the wheel.Or another way is to deflate the tyre,break the bead and mask the tyre up.I have only posted this as a alternative to having to pay, a refurbisher,

 

[jibcl500]

Im about to refurbish the 17 inch alloys on the wifes SLK, I will be using different grades of paper to get the rim nice and smooth before hand polishing. The painted section needs to be rubbed down and repainted.
I leave the rims bare so all I need to do is polish them once a month to get the shine back, if I lacquer them they will need another refurb in 12 months.


jib

 

[ricky s]

You are all so right, had the wifes AMG wheels refurbed at spit and polish at Tonbridge, 8 months ago, these wheels have polished rims, and I wanted them to remain as original, albeit S and P guy did explain that they possibly wound,nt last as long as a painted wheel. Sure enough , whilst cleaning the car, have noticed some minor corrosion creeping in on the rim. I would have them all spray finish, if we had our time again! Live and learn, in my case very slowly!

 

[television]

You are all so right, had the wifes AMG wheels refurbed at spit and polish at Tonbridge, 8 months ago, these wheels have polished rims, and I wanted them to remain as original, albeit S and P guy did explain that they possibly wound,nt last as long as a painted wheel. Sure enough , whilst cleaning the car, have noticed some minor corrosion creeping in on the rim. I would have them all spray finish, if we had our time again! Live and learn, in my case very slowly!

Sad to hear about that with your wheels, but this what happens, go for one on the nice chrome paint finishes that are available these days, I see now that the clear lacquer is almost obsolete now

 

[jibcl500]

I polish the rims on my CL once a month, I use autosol spend a little time and the results get better every time, in the winter I put and thin layer of vaseline to keep the salt out.
clear coat the rims and its a matter of time before they need doing again.

jib