V12VS lightweight wheels “polished”

[melhuishjames]

A long while ago I saw a set of the V12S lightweight wheels fitted to an AMR roadster from memory which were black but to lift them the owner had stripped the black paint and polished the “spokes”. The rest of the wheel was black as standard. But worked really well.

I’ve been trying to find pictures of it again. I don’t suppose anyone knows the car/wheels and has any pictures. Interested to do something similar and want some inspiration.

Thanks James

[V8V Pete]

I remember this as well. I think they had just had them diamond cut to get the effect which is fine but brings with it all the problems of durability of the diamond cut face finish and what to do when you've used up all the cuts you're allowed.

It was me that won the auction of the V12VS lightweight wheels on CC cars recently. I actually replied on your original thread a few minutes ago but the whole thread immediately got deleted by the mods presumably because of the mention of CC

I'll copy my response below this for info. Anyway, from your new thread I assume you've now managed to source some of these wheels. Did you get a good deal?

I'll see if I can find a picture of the diamond cut finished versions. I've never really liked plain black wheels (although they are slowly growing on me) so I'm wondering what colour to do mine eventually. They've not been used since being powder coated so I'll stick with black for this summer then see what I think but may change to something like "smoked chrome" in the future.

[V8V Pete]

Reply to your original thread that got deleted below:

melhuishjames said:

Minglar said:

Looks like the set on CC sold for £2,100, (plus a fee I guess?).

At circa £525 per wheel that’s not bad at all imho, and I wish I’d placed a bid myself now!

I watched the auction to, but didn’t bid come the close - I noted they were the chaps who mentioned them on this thread and would of happily brought directly but paying £300 commission on purchase wasn’t for me. Set a good bench mark to value/price though ??

I was the lucky winner of the auction

I shared your reluctance to pay CC £300 commission but just told myself not to see it that way but look at it as an overall purchase price that I think was pretty competitive for essentially good as new wheels (with TPMS sensors included). Pleasure buying them off Ken too.

Can't wait to get some Pilot Sport Cup 2s on them for summer/track use and see how the Vantage behaves in that spec..

Have you managed to find some yet OP? If so, what did you pay in the end?

[melhuishjames]

Hi Pete, come the end (and definitely on reflection) I thought the wheels on CC were a good deal all in especially with the centres etc so congratulations. I wasn’t knocking the price, probably just being grumpy!

If you come over the pic that’d be great, love to see it again as keen not to go all black on the wheels but similarly I may just get used to it too ;-)

I picked up a set for very similar money to the CC auction so I think it’s the going rate. The auction was a great benchmark for values.

Cheers JM

[AdamV12V]

melhuishjames said:

If you come over the pic that’d be great, love to see it

Didn't know it was that kinda forum!

[melhuishjames]

AdamV12V said:

melhuishjames said:

If you come over the pic that’d be great, love to see it

Didn't know it was that kinda forum!

Haha!!

[JonnyCJ]

I sincerely hope SWMBO doesn’t ask what I’m laughing at…

[Adam911T]

Hi, this was me.

Original wheels were gloss black (exclusive to V12 AMR) but never really warmed to them.

I had diamond turned SportPack wheels on my previous V8’s and liked the look, so asked AM Brentwood to see if a similar effect could be achieved.

It was tricky, as the the spokes alternately meet the hub, but I think they did a great job. The wheels were painted anthracite grey and then the faces were turned. The lacquer is satin (you can choose satin or gloss).

Some pics for inspiration here:







As my user handle suggests, I no longer have VR12AMR having moved to Australia last year.

Hope this helps.

[melhuishjames]

Adam911T said:

Hi, this was me.

Original wheels were gloss black (exclusive to V12 AMR) but never really warmed to them.

I had diamond turned SportPack wheels on my previous V8’s and liked the look, so asked AM Brentwood to see if a similar effect could be achieved.

It was tricky, as the the spokes alternately meet the hub, but I think they did a great job. The wheels were painted anthracite grey and then the faces were turned. The lacquer is satin (you can choose satin or gloss).

Some pics for inspiration here:







As my user handle suggests, I no longer have VR12AMR having moved to Australia last year.

Hope this helps.

Hi Adam,

Thank you so much, it was your wheels/car I’d seen. Fantastic pictures, and great idea on your part in the first place, they look great to my eyes. Appreciate you sharing, wish I’d brought them when you were selling.

Many thanks James

[V8V Pete]

Thanks for the pictures Adam. They do look very good but, of course, diamond cutting them does introduce the problem of damage/deterioration to the lacquer, then what to do when you're on your last cut? Don't get me wrong, I'm a complete sucker for diamond cut wheels on an Aston (and have 2 sets already) but both are in need of a refurb even though I've never damaged/curbed them so not sure I'm ready to go down that route with my new V12S wheels.

Some people talk about being able to simulate a diamond cut appearance by painting the faces silver and the innards black, grey or whatever. Sounds like a good idea (even though the face won't have the same sparkle/sheen of a DC wheel) but I haven't knowingly ever seen an example of it in the flesh or even in a photo. Has anyone had this done? Any pictures or recommendations of somewhere that does it well?

[Adam911T]

V8V Pete said:

Thanks for the pictures Adam. They do look very good but, of course, diamond cutting them does introduce the problem of damage/deterioration to the lacquer, then what to do when you're on your last cut? Don't get me wrong, I'm a complete sucker for diamond cut wheels on an Aston (and have 2 sets already) but both are in need of a refurb even though I've never damaged/curbed them so not sure I'm ready to go down that route with my new V12S wheels

I had this conversation with the guys who did it.

They estimated I could easily and safely get another two refurbs done (which is prob 5-6 years) and then I'd probably have to powder-coat them.

I get bored of wheels way a quicker than that (I'd actually bought a set of AMR wheels after having the car for 3 years) so wasn't looking at the long-long term!

[MichaelV8V]

V8V Pete said:

Thanks for the pictures Adam. They do look very good but, of course, diamond cutting them does introduce the problem of damage/deterioration to the lacquer, then what to do when you're on your last cut? Don't get me wrong, I'm a complete sucker for diamond cut wheels on an Aston (and have 2 sets already) but both are in need of a refurb even though I've never damaged/curbed them so not sure I'm ready to go down that route with my new V12S wheels.

Some people talk about being able to simulate a diamond cut appearance by painting the faces silver and the innards black, grey or whatever. Sounds like a good idea (even though the face won't have the same sparkle/sheen of a DC wheel) but I haven't knowingly ever seen an example of it in the flesh or even in a photo. Has anyone had this done? Any pictures or recommendations of somewhere that does it well?

I have the lightweight wheels, and have heard of them being weakened and cracking when diamond cut too often, so went a different route, and sanded off the failed clear lacquer, just down to the alloy, then polished the alloy and left it without any lacquer.

The result is mirror-polished spokes, protected with PoorBoys wheel wax. I did this early on last year, and by winter there were some water marks appearing on the alloy, but a quick polish with Solvol Autosol, then a couple of coats of wax and they are back looking great again.

Its took several hours to do the initial sand and polish, but it hasn't taken any appreciable strength out of the wheel, and with an annual winter polish, they should look like this indefinitely. It does look slightly different from new, because it is a mirror polish rather than the fine grooving that diamond cutting gives, but you'd have to be a bit obsessive to notice.

[Felonious]

Damn, that looks good! Well done.