Has anyone used Xtrema Alloys in Fareham for a wheel refurb?

[KTF]

I have very minor damage to one of my diamond cut alloys that has only just been replaced under warranty



I know its minor but its bothering me so I have contacted a couple of places for quotes.

The Wheel Specialists in Fareham have said that they can polish round the rim to remove it for £84 (the finish may be slightly 'flatter' where the work has been carried out as a result) or a full refurb for £176.40 which is more than the cost of a new wheel at £126.

Xtreme alloys say they can do a full refurb for £112.80 which seems a bit cheap given that Diamond Cut is meant to be a more complicated process to sort out?

The Wheel Specialists tend to be recommended from people on here and I was going to have them polish it to remove the damage as it is only on the edge and a new wheel is over the top.

The refurb from Xtreme alloys is close to the cost of a new wheel but then it should look like new however I cant find any reviews for them.

So what would you do - leaving it isnt an option - go for the polish or the refurb?

Edited by KTF on Tuesday 12th May 10:15

[W4X LG]

If a new wheel is only £126 that would be my choice, it will match the rest perfectly. Also can sell on the other wheel to recover some of the costs.

[KTF]

Thats the problem as all of the quotes are not far off the cost of a new wheel.

If it was between a refurb and a new wheel then I would go for a new wheel but if a rim polish (ho ho) can get very close to the original then thats worth exploring - I will take it to the wheel company so they can have a look at it rather than via a photo then see what they say.

There is a known issue with the lacquer on the wheels bubbling every few years so they may well be replaced again before the warranty is up but any 'excessive' kerbing is used as a get out clause hence me wanting to make it less obvious.

[daydotz]

Saw one of their vans today I'm abit curious have they been trading long did they give the impression that they knew what they were on about ?

Edited by daydotz on Tuesday 12th May 14:42

[normalbloke]

You could take that out by hand!!

[KTF]

normalbloke said:

You could take that out by hand!!

I have no experience of doing this sort of thing so would prefer to pay someone who knows what they are doing to fix it

[KTF]

daydotz said:

Saw one of their vans today I'm abit curious have they been trading long did they give the impression that they knew what they were on about ?

Edited by daydotz on Tuesday 12th May 14:42

Trading since January 2014. From the details on their site, it seems like there is a production line system going on rather than the smaller places where its more done by hand - geared more to trade customers maybe?

The person I spoke to suggested a refurb based on the pictures but this may be all they are geared up to do. Seemed fine on the phone - explained the process, how long it would take, broke the price down (refurb + vat + tyre fitting).

Few more pictures and comments on their facebook page as well. Nothing bad so far but they could have been removed I guess: https://www.facebook.com/xtremealloys

[daydotz]

From their Facebook they look ok the website doesn't do them justice

[KTF]

Yeah, their website is a bit clunky compared to the pictures on facebook. Certainly seem to have plenty of work on and are recruiting for more staff on a 24h basis as well.

[SilverPhoenix]

I've used Xtreme for the last 3-4 months. In that time we've probably had 10-12 sets of wheels refurbished, plus the odd wheel.

We have had a mixture of diamond cut and powder coating.

I'm very impressed with them. They've always done a great job, within the time frame stated. Seriously, do not let their slightly 'more reasonable' prices put you off.

If you have any doubt, pop up to their premises. It is a pretty impressive set-up!

Alternatively, you could buy a new wheel & tyre and keep the slightly damaged one as a spare, if you only have a space saver of pump & gunk!?

[KTF]

The car comes with a pump and gunk but the previous owner bought another alloy (but no jack or brace) because they didnt like the idea of driving around without a spare in the boot

The dealer left this 'spare' alloy + tyre in the boot when I bought the car but its in a right state so currently resides in my garage gathering dust.

So if I were to buy another wheel I would then have 2 sitting in the garage which is why I would prefer to have it repaired if possible.

However the spare will have a use as I will use it when the newly damaged wheel is off for repair which is more than you can do with pump and gunk

Still torn between the two options. The polish will probably be OK afterwards and you will only know its there if you know where to look but a full refurb is just under £30 more...

Good to have a report on the quality of their work though.

[KTF]

Just to follow up, I took it to the Wheel Specialist in Fareham for a rim polish and here is the end result. Obviously if you know where to look then you can see it but from a few feet away its very hard to spot and a lot less obvious than it was before: