Discussion
Anybody fitted the above to their alloys www.alloygator.co.uk/products.asp
We used to fit these at work. They were so crap, I would actually tell customers not to buy them whenever "the boss" wasn't looking.
They had a habit of either flying off while driving, partially coming off or they would let air escape past the tire bead.
We were forever getting customers coming back with them hanging off, asking us to knock them back in. One customer even had one fly off at 80mph. It did enough force to dent and scuff his front wing.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
p.s, if you enjoy having an occasional hoon, they also come off. They peel off when they get the slightest sniff of the sidewall "folding".
They had a habit of either flying off while driving, partially coming off or they would let air escape past the tire bead.
We were forever getting customers coming back with them hanging off, asking us to knock them back in. One customer even had one fly off at 80mph. It did enough force to dent and scuff his front wing.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
p.s, if you enjoy having an occasional hoon, they also come off. They peel off when they get the slightest sniff of the sidewall "folding".
What's the current thinking on these?
I see they appear to have been significantly improved.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/409...
I've just had a set of vulnerable alloys refurbished and will be fitting new tyres. Just wondered if these would be worthwhile - I'd go for black.
I see they appear to have been significantly improved.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/409...
I've just had a set of vulnerable alloys refurbished and will be fitting new tyres. Just wondered if these would be worthwhile - I'd go for black.
Koln-RS said:
What's the current thinking on these?
I see they appear to have been significantly improved.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/409...
I've just had a set of vulnerable alloys refurbished and will be fitting new tyres. Just wondered if these would be worthwhile - I'd go for black.
See my post above. They were V2's that we were using I see they appear to have been significantly improved.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/409...
I've just had a set of vulnerable alloys refurbished and will be fitting new tyres. Just wondered if these would be worthwhile - I'd go for black.
I work in a main dealer and we had two guys come out to us supplying a few sets of these for us to sell, they showed us how to fit them.... pretty decent fit really. I'v never drove a car or scraped the wheel up the kerb with these fitted but the sets we have fitted to the courtesy cars seem to be doing pretty well! (chunks of plastic ripped of but the paints still unmarked)
I think from memory they said they had a new improved plastic as the others cracked with abuse, he hit these with a hammer to prove they didn't crack
Although I would actually buy any for myself I think they're ok if you want to give your alloys that extra potation
I think from memory they said they had a new improved plastic as the others cracked with abuse, he hit these with a hammer to prove they didn't crack
Although I would actually buy any for myself I think they're ok if you want to give your alloys that extra potation
For the benefit of anyone considering these, I really would recommend against them.
I just had a torrid year trying a set. IMO they are hard to fit properly (and I had them professionally fitted), don't fit very well at all, don't look good (there's an ugly bulge where the joint is), they come away from the rim and can separate from the wheel and damage your car.
Although they might protect some rims from some damage, the protector itself gets damaged and looks a mess. I took issue with the supplier, and gave them the opportunity to resolve my complaints but they did nothing.
Best avoided. Just be careful near kerbs and save the money for periodic repairs.
I just had a torrid year trying a set. IMO they are hard to fit properly (and I had them professionally fitted), don't fit very well at all, don't look good (there's an ugly bulge where the joint is), they come away from the rim and can separate from the wheel and damage your car.
Although they might protect some rims from some damage, the protector itself gets damaged and looks a mess. I took issue with the supplier, and gave them the opportunity to resolve my complaints but they did nothing.
Best avoided. Just be careful near kerbs and save the money for periodic repairs.
I have a few clients with them, and have fitted one set for a client at their request. Fitting was fairly straight forward but I took about 4 x longer than it's meant to as I was just double checking everything as I went!
I wasn't convinced by them to start with but the clients who use them do like to get quite intimate with kerbs and tbh they're wheels are still fine now. Yes the allogators do take a bit of a battering occasionally, but for more marks you can actually 'trim' the alloygator (they sell a suitable 'tool') which can make them look nearly new again.
Sure I can imagine if you are a PH'er who likes to drive you car hard from time to time they probably aren't ideal, but for people who just drive normally and tend to kerb their wheels regularly then it's worth giving them a go - certainly never heard of the proper Alloygators flying off - only ever the cheapo versions. Quite tempted to fit a set to my GF's Micra tbh (if I bother to refurb the wheels) as her alloys were immaculate when she bought the car a year ago, now they're fubarred!
I wasn't convinced by them to start with but the clients who use them do like to get quite intimate with kerbs and tbh they're wheels are still fine now. Yes the allogators do take a bit of a battering occasionally, but for more marks you can actually 'trim' the alloygator (they sell a suitable 'tool') which can make them look nearly new again.
Sure I can imagine if you are a PH'er who likes to drive you car hard from time to time they probably aren't ideal, but for people who just drive normally and tend to kerb their wheels regularly then it's worth giving them a go - certainly never heard of the proper Alloygators flying off - only ever the cheapo versions. Quite tempted to fit a set to my GF's Micra tbh (if I bother to refurb the wheels) as her alloys were immaculate when she bought the car a year ago, now they're fubarred!
Some first hand experience.
I fitted these to my 2010 Q7 after a nasty kerbing incident, first set were s
te and kept coming off, but they revised them and added some metal clips that you glue in that grip the alloy. These pretty much stayed in place for a couple of years, no problems.
Well, I say 'no problems' until that is I come to sell the car and have a closer look at the alloys...
2 problems:
1) where the gator sits on the rim there is sometimes a small gap which fills with water when it rains - this accelerates the coating bubbling and flaking.
2) Where the metal clips grip the alloy it 'nicks' the rim and damages it inside, worse unless you are uber careful when you remove them it also nicks the outer edge of the rim, which over time will peel and pretty much require as refurb.
Sold the car now, but there's no way in hell I'm putting them on the 2014 Q7!
I fitted these to my 2010 Q7 after a nasty kerbing incident, first set were s
te and kept coming off, but they revised them and added some metal clips that you glue in that grip the alloy. These pretty much stayed in place for a couple of years, no problems.Well, I say 'no problems' until that is I come to sell the car and have a closer look at the alloys...
2 problems:
1) where the gator sits on the rim there is sometimes a small gap which fills with water when it rains - this accelerates the coating bubbling and flaking.
2) Where the metal clips grip the alloy it 'nicks' the rim and damages it inside, worse unless you are uber careful when you remove them it also nicks the outer edge of the rim, which over time will peel and pretty much require as refurb.
Sold the car now, but there's no way in hell I'm putting them on the 2014 Q7!
Dead Thread resurrection 
Looking at the various threads on pistonheads for alloygators it seems a bit of a mixed bag, but decided to fit them to diamond wheels anyway, because of the unbelievable cost for properly refurbishing them and the limited number of times you can do it.
I've now had them on for 18k miles and they have saved the wheels from four serious kerbings across 3 alloys, which would have resulted in a big refurb bill.
The main point worthing noting is proper fitting is essential I.e follow the instructions to the letter. On the first wheel I did not do this and though it seems the alloygator is properly fitted it wasn't - resulting in a slow loss of pressure and the strip slowly riding out. Once I'd followed the instructions again and re-applied it was as good as the other three.
In terms of it nicking the alloy and accelerating lacquer peeling - too early to tell but I usually aim to refurb the wheels every four years anyway, so at least should prevent a major refurb.
Though I done some spirited runs, I've not tried it on track yet to see if extreme tyre movement causes a problem.
So, for me it's a no brainer on expensive diamond cut wheels - it probably won't stop the eventual need for a refurb but seems to prevent some major kerbing issues. For painted wheels and a relatively easy refurb (£50-60 per wheel) propably not.
Looking at the various threads on pistonheads for alloygators it seems a bit of a mixed bag, but decided to fit them to diamond wheels anyway, because of the unbelievable cost for properly refurbishing them and the limited number of times you can do it.
I've now had them on for 18k miles and they have saved the wheels from four serious kerbings across 3 alloys, which would have resulted in a big refurb bill.
The main point worthing noting is proper fitting is essential I.e follow the instructions to the letter. On the first wheel I did not do this and though it seems the alloygator is properly fitted it wasn't - resulting in a slow loss of pressure and the strip slowly riding out. Once I'd followed the instructions again and re-applied it was as good as the other three.
In terms of it nicking the alloy and accelerating lacquer peeling - too early to tell but I usually aim to refurb the wheels every four years anyway, so at least should prevent a major refurb.
Though I done some spirited runs, I've not tried it on track yet to see if extreme tyre movement causes a problem.
So, for me it's a no brainer on expensive diamond cut wheels - it probably won't stop the eventual need for a refurb but seems to prevent some major kerbing issues. For painted wheels and a relatively easy refurb (£50-60 per wheel) propably not.
Technically speaking, Alloygator themselves actually recommend against fitting them to diamond cut wheels due to the risk of trapping water and speeding up the lacquer corrosion issue, but at the same time, there's also quite a strong argument against 'taking that risk' to save them from general day to day kerbing, so there's certainly pro's & con's to it! I will always make customers with diamond cut wheels who are considering them aware of the potential risks - I'd say about 75% tend to still go ahead with the fitting and have never come back to complain about water ingress caused directly by the Alloygator.
I can understand the accelerated lacquer peel argument and see why alloygator do not recommend, however general motorway driving usually results in chipping of the lacquer, which even if I touch up, will require some form of refurb eventually. Usually get new centre caps as well, since these seem to suffer with water egress over time.
Anyway, with miles I'm doing, the length of time I'm keeping the car and the fact that it's outside all year we shall see - so far so good.
I probably wish I'd put then on my OH mini - all four wheels have been kerbed several times! Though these are painted, it would have saved me £240ish three times over and kept the wheels looking neat.
Anyway, with miles I'm doing, the length of time I'm keeping the car and the fact that it's outside all year we shall see - so far so good.
I probably wish I'd put then on my OH mini - all four wheels have been kerbed several times! Though these are painted, it would have saved me £240ish three times over and kept the wheels looking neat.
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