Wheel improvement

Jun 16, 2020
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A few months ago I looked to update my tow car. But even with £12,000 to put with my PX nothing looked like much of an improvement.

So I reassessed my situation and thought. My current car tows very well, it’s very comfy and reasonably economical.

So decided to keep it for a few more years.

I had a new cam belt, water pump, auxiliary belts and tensioners fitted with new coolant, £480. This was at my friends garage, he recommended someone to tidy my wheels which were looking scruffy.

I had been looking and lots people have had problems. A new set, fitted, would be around £450.

Anyway, I had them done on Saturday. Striped to bare metal, 10 coats of paint, some baked on, £200. Really happy with the result.

Before:

53FB2151-12DB-4D3C-A1BB-97B47F2AA286.jpeg

Closer:

250CEDA7-0ED7-444B-8A35-434DC1C8EA47.jpeg

After:

EBE251C6-11BE-4616-9DF6-48CB8FD7B261.jpeg

John
 
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Jan 3, 2012
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A few months ago I looked to update my tow car. But even with £12,000 to put with my PX nothing looked like much of an improvement.

So I reassessed my situation and thought. My current car tows very well, it’s very comfy and reasonably economical.

So decided to keep it for a few more years.

I had a new cam belt, water pump, auxiliary belts and tensioners fitted with new coolant, £480. This was at my friends garage, he recommended someone to tidy my wheels which were looking scruffy.

I had been looking and lots people have had problems. A new set, fitted, would be around £450.

Anyway, I had them done on Saturday. Striped to bear metal, 10 coats of paint, some baked on, £200. Really happy with the result.

Before:

View attachment 1196

Closer:

View attachment 1197

After:

View attachment 1198

John
They look great
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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A few months ago I looked to update my tow car. But even with £12,000 to put with my PX nothing looked like much of an improvement.

So I reassessed my situation and thought. My current car tows very well, it’s very comfy and reasonably economical.

So decided to keep it for a few more years.

I had a new cam belt, water pump, auxiliary belts and tensioners fitted with new coolant, £480. This was at my friends garage, he recommended someone to tidy my wheels which were looking scruffy.

I had been looking and lots people have had problems. A new set, fitted, would be around £450.

Anyway, I had them done on Saturday. Striped to bear metal, 10 coats of paint, some baked on, £200. Really happy with the result.

Before:

View attachment 1196

Closer:

View attachment 1197

After:

View attachment 1198

John

They look good. I had my Kia Sorento alloys refurbished as they were not scraped but the lacquer and paint were bad. I used a company (franchised) called The Wheel Specialist and they did a similar excellent job including new valves and full rebalancing.



The Wheel Specialist
 
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They look good. I had my Kia Sorento alloys refurbished as they were not scraped but the lacquer and paint were bad. I used a company (franchised) called The Wheel Specialist and they did a similar excellent job including new valves and full rebalancing.



The Wheel Specialist

I think yours was a superior job of powder coating. I could have had that done locally but it meant being without the car for a while, it meant some logistic issues for us. I don’t know how much it would be, but certainly more expencive.

With the method used on mine, It seems the tyre is just deflated and pushed back and wrapped in cling film, and marked so they go back in the same place, so balancing is not needed.

Mine were simple, but he does some two tone, and has a machine to recut diamond cut wheels.

The result is excellent.

John
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Powder coating when its done well can be very good, but I've had so many examples of powder coated items where the coating has started to flake off allowing the metal underneath to corrode I'm not always sure its the best solution to the problem. Preparation seems to be the key (no pun intended) but when the jobs done you can't see how the substrate has been treated. Actually the same problems there with any coating process, but with most liquid paint process you can at least do some repairs.
 
Jan 3, 2012
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I think yours was a superior job of powder coating. I could have had that done locally but it meant being without the car for a while, it meant some logistic issues for us. I don’t know how much it would be, but certainly more expencive.

With the method used on mine, It seems the tyre is just deflated and pushed back and wrapped in cling film, and marked so they go back in the same place, so balancing is not needed.

Mine were simple, but he does some two tone, and has a machine to recut diamond cut wheels.

The result is excellent.

John
My wife car could do with having her tyres done just something simple and looking great ..
it on our to do list
 
Jan 31, 2018
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Keep wondering if I should have our winter wheels done this summer as I did them and they could do with a proper refinish. £200but tyres off all balanced and valves etc. New ones only £160more than a refurb. Mmmm.
 
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Keep wondering if I should have our winter wheels done this summer as I did them and they could do with a proper refinish. £200but tyres off all balanced and valves etc. New ones only £160more than a refurb. Mmmm.
I noticed that when I went to Finland or Germany in winter on business a lot of cars with winter wheels were plain steel and they seemed to have a higher aspect ratio than the summer/OEM alloys.
 
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A few months ago I looked to update my tow car........ nothing looked like much of an improvement.

John

Been doing that for a few years!
..........now find my tow car is 20 years old (purchased new).
Still does the towing job perfectly fitting my requirements.
The car is garaged and only does caravan/trailer towing ........normally 5-7000 miles a year.
 

JTQ

May 7, 2005
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Been doing that for a few years!
..........now find my tow car is 20 years old (purchased new).
Still does the towing job perfectly fitting my requirements.
The car is garaged and only does caravan/trailer towing ........normally 5-7000 miles a year.

Does it make any sense to dwell on any immediate change in that case, with the industry really not knowing quite where it is going?
Development of vehicles will be in a period of rapid change, perfecting ever better solutions for the post ICE era, so anything purchased now is going to be obsolete faster than at any time in the past.
Then there is the bigger hit the newer the ICE you have, as these types of vehicle similarly will plummet in value, as in a few years owners will seek to future proof themselves. Flooding the SH market with larger diesel vehicles.
Now is IMO not the time to be changing, where the vehicle is owned for our limited role as just a tow vehicle covering few miles per year. If it comes lame and has to be changed, then it seems unwise to be replaced with anything too expensive that will inevitably suffer a bigger value loss.
I suspect, if it has not already started, the "dumping" of big diesels is not far off as many owners will "panic", or their use force them into changing to modern technology, IMO that itself will rapidly be superseded.
 
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This was at my friends garage, he recommended someone to tidy my wheels which were looking scruffy.

I had been looking and lots people have had problems. A new set, fitted, would be around £450.

Anyway, I had them done on Saturday. Striped to bear metal, 10 coats of paint, some baked on, £200. Really happy with the result.

On our previous Jeep I had all the wheels done including the spare done by Reinventing the wheel in Tewkesbury. Think it was about £500 for all the wheels. This included repairing rims and what they called a Diamond cut finish. Looked much better afterwards.
Now need to get around to having the current Jeep done sometime this year however there is no damage to the rims unlike the previous Jeep. BTW £200 seems an excellent price. Where did you have them done?
 
Jun 16, 2020
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On our previous Jeep I had all the wheels done including the spare done by Reinventing the wheel in Tewkesbury. Think it was about £500 for all the wheels. This included repairing rims and what they called a Diamond cut finish. Looked much better afterwards.
Now need to get around to having the current Jeep done sometime this year however there is no damage to the rims unlike the previous Jeep. BTW £200 seems an excellent price. Where did you have them done?

I will PM the link, as I am not too sure if publishing it is within forum rules,

This chap can do diamond cut refurb, but don’t know how much that costs.

My wife car could do with having her tyres done just something simple and looking great ..
it on our to do list

If anyone else is interested in the link send me a PM, he is in Gloucester.

Keep wondering if I should have our winter wheels done this summer as I did them and they could do with a proper refinish. £200but tyres off all balanced and valves etc. New ones only £160more than a refurb. Mmmm.

The system used on mine did not need tyres being removed or balancing. For me, the saving is at least £220. That’s based on £85 per wheel plus £20 for tyre change and balancing. And more like £320 with a better choice of wheels.

John
 
Nov 6, 2005
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It's always worth checking the price of new wheels - I found a set of genuine VW 17" SUV-rated wheels on Ebay for £100/wheel so cheaper than some of the refurb prices being quoted.
 
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It's always worth checking the price of new wheels - I found a set of genuine VW 17" SUV-rated wheels on Ebay for £100/wheel so cheaper than some of the refurb prices being quoted.

The Peugeot 4007 (Mitsubishi Outlander), I used to have, was a special edition with 19” wheels and low profile tyres. Which made for very harsh towing. In fact it was a poor tow car. Then I found on EBay a Peugeot dealer selling an unused set of wheels with Michelin tyres for £200. A customer wanted special wheels fitted and just left the originals, they had been stored in the dark for about 5 years. I asked Michelin who said they would be fine. A proper bargain. And the towing improved completely.

A7E7DF81-409C-4395-8985-F355BD53C566.jpeg

There are bargains to be had.

John
 
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The Peugeot 4007 (Mitsubishi Outlander), I used to have, was a special edition with 19” wheels and low profile tyres. Which made for very harsh towing. In fact it was a poor tow car. Then I found on EBay a Peugeot dealer selling an unused set of wheels with Michelin tyres for £200. A customer wanted special wheels fitted and just left the originals, they had been stored in the dark for about 5 years. I asked Michelin who said they would be fine. A proper bargain. And the towing improved completely.

View attachment 1199

There are bargains to be had.

John
They look great
 
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Refurbishment is about £85 per wheel and includes balancing etc.

I would definitely say that mine have been properly refurbished for £50 per wheel.

It might be more expensive for diamond cut or fixing kerb damage. Mine had little in the way of physical damage.

No need to balance as the tyre is refitted exactly were it came off. I tried a fast run when I brought it home. No issues.

New hub centre and wheel nut caps in black are on order.

John
 
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I would definitely say that mine have been properly refurbished for £50 per wheel.

It might be more expensive for diamond cut or fixing kerb damage. Mine had little in the way of physical damage.

No need to balance as the tyre is refitted exactly were it came off. I tried a fast run when I brought it home. No issues.

John

On the previous Jeep it had kerb damage done by the previous owner. Not serious but was there.
 
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if the weights were on the outer rim, then I don’t imagine it would be possible unless they were labelled and replaced like for like. But on alloy wheels the weights are normally glued to the inside of the rim and don’t need disturbing. He told me, and his FB page supports this, that the tyre is deflated, then wrapped to protect it. But left on the middle of the rim. Acid is applied and the rim jet washed inside and out. That is followed by the 10 coats of paint using 4, or it might have been 5 types of primer, paint and lacquer. The tyre is then returned to its original location.

I have heard horror tales of poor work, patching and overpainting. But the friend who recommended this chap, is reputable in the motor trade. He does my servicing and apart from the service garage has a paint touch up company and a car sales outlet. I am normally sceptical of that industry, but I have known the family for over 15 years.

I realise that time will tell but I have my fingers crossed. The original Volvo finish had corrosion showing through after 3 years. Very poor.

John
 
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