Wheel refurb / powder coating

[JRC1]

Looking to get all 4 wheels powder coated, have narrowed my options down to the following places:

Wheeltex, Portsmouth - http://www.wheeltex.co.uk/

The Alloy Clinic, Farnham - https://thealloyclinic.co.uk/

DW Wheels, Gosport - https://www.dwwheels.com/

MyAlloys, Basingstoke - https://myalloys.co.uk/

All have excellent 5/5 reviews, so can't see me having an issue with any but thought even better if someone on here can provide a recent recommendation.
Can't seem to make contact with DW Wheels through phone or e-mail though, so may just be between the other 3. Has anyone used any of these recently with excellent results?


Somewhere I won't be using, and for others reference if they're ever considering them:

The Wheel Specialist, Fareham - used these before, wheels were very averagely refurbished, lots of orange peel. Lots of other bad experiences from fellow petrol heads

Thanks in advance

Edited by JRC1 on Thursday 21st September 15:05

[normalbloke]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[normalbloke]

Some interesting further reading re The Wheel Specialist at Fareham, which also contains some better suggestions.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[JRC1]

Thanks yeah saw that others have also had bad experiences at The Wheel Specialist.

I did see Alloy Wheel Repair in Southampton but too many poor recent reviews for me to consider them. They've got 4.6/5 with some quite bad recent reviews whereas the places I've shortlisted are all 5/5, was just curious if anyone on PH had used any of them recently.

[normalbloke]

JRC1 said:

Thanks yeah saw that others have also had bad experiences at The Wheel Specialist.

I did see Alloy Wheel Repair in Southampton but too many poor recent reviews for me to consider them. They've got 4.6/5 with some quite bad recent reviews whereas the places I've shortlisted are all 5/5, was just curious if anyone on PH had used any of them recently.

Thats fair enough. Shame if standards have slipped. I last used them in 2021 for the wheels on my wife’s S2000. They still look fresh and shiny!

[AlexRS2782]

From your list OP, i've used The Alloy Clinic in Badshot Lea / Farnham a couple of times. First after we came out of lockdown in 2020 for a pretty bad condition set of EXIP alloys for my 205 GTI that came back looking factory and are still on the car and the finish is still holding up very well. Second time was 2022 getting the OE GTI Speedlines refurbed and again finish was excellent (although they're still in the garage as spares as i decided to stick with the EXIP's on the car).

[ThunderSpook]

Who did you go with in the end? I’m looking to get my 911 wheels done and TWS had been recommended.

[JRC1]

ThunderSpook said:

Who did you go with in the end? I’m looking to get my 911 wheels done and TWS had been recommended.

Still haven't had them done! Sorn'd the car for winter so will be getting them done in a couple of months.

I'm just keeping an eye on latest reviews in the meantime. MyAlloys seem good but expensive, they charge extra for keeping your car overnight for example and overall they come out the most pricey, but also look like the biggest setup with alignment facilities onsite etc.

Probably leaning towards The Alloy Clinic which was also recommended by the poster above or Wheeltex - both seem to consistently get 5* reviews. I'm sure I just got unlucky at TWS but I'm not the first person to have a bad experience there if you read threads on here, and there's so many other good places around it doesn't make much sense for me to go back there to be honest.

Will update when they're done.

[bennno]

JRC1 said:

ThunderSpook said:

Who did you go with in the end? I’m looking to get my 911 wheels done and TWS had been recommended.

Still haven't had them done! Sorn'd the car for winter so will be getting them done in a couple of months.

I'm just keeping an eye on latest reviews in the meantime. MyAlloys seem good but expensive, they charge extra for keeping your car overnight for example and overall they come out the most pricey, but also look like the biggest setup with alignment facilities onsite etc.

Probably leaning towards The Alloy Clinic which was also recommended by the poster above or Wheeltex - both seem to consistently get 5* reviews. I'm sure I just got unlucky at TWS but I'm not the first person to have a bad experience there if you read threads on here, and there's so many other good places around it doesn't make much sense for me to go back there to be honest.

Will update when they're done.

I used my alloys 2-3 times and they were always ok - just needed to be booked plenty in advance

[ThunderSpook]

I popped in to see Wheeltex today seeing as I was in the office and it was just around the corner. Didn’t seem quite as professional a setup as TWS, but it was cheaper and the guy seemed to know what he was talking about.

I got the impression their standard range of paints is not as vast as TWS, but they said they could order specific colours.

[JRC1]

ThunderSpook said:

I popped in to see Wheeltex today seeing as I was in the office and it was just around the corner. Didn’t seem quite as professional a setup as TWS, but it was cheaper and the guy seemed to know what he was talking about.

I got the impression their standard range of paints is not as vast as TWS, but they said they could order specific colours.

Ah interesting - thanks for feeding back. I did e-mail them and they said the same about ordering specific colours etc. But you can't really beat popping by for an enquiry in advance if you're local as you get more of a feel for the place. If you're planning on getting your wheels done soon do feed back with who you ended up going with and the results as it'll likely be another month or two before I get mine done.

[ThunderSpook]

I've decided to book in with Wheeltex. I'll let you know how it goes.

[ThunderSpook]

Wheels were done last week. Looks like a good job to me.

They found a slight crack which they welded up before they did it to ensure it was well covered. I've had a close look at all the wheels and I'm very happy.

[JRC1]

ThunderSpook said:

Wheels were done last week. Looks like a good job to me.

They found a slight crack which they welded up before they did it to ensure it was well covered. I've had a close look at all the wheels and I'm very happy.

Brilliant, that's good to know! What was the turnaround time like and did they store your car free of charge whilst doing the work? Reason for asking is MyAlloys seem to charge extra for that.

I also noticed that their opening hours state 7 days a week so if they are able to get them done over a weekend that could sway me to go for them.

[ThunderSpook]

I dropped it off Monday morning at around 10 and picked it up around 2pm on Wednesday. No charge for storing the car.

They also found the new centre caps I bought didn't quite fit, so they ended up painting my old ones instead which they did free of charge.

[ThunderSpook]

Before:



After:

[JRC1]

Is it a secure unit etc and they store the car inside?
The wheels look fantastic and a quick turnaround too. You may have sold them to me

[ThunderSpook]

It's something I pondered about, but honestly I didn't ask. It's near the Mercedes garage so to be honest there's more expensive stuff to nick nearby anyway. They have got enough space inside for 1 car I reckon, and maybe another in the place next door which does tinting but I think is the same guy that owns both.