Are My Wheels Painted or Polished

[royalexander]

Parked to close to the Kerb at the weekend and now looking at the options (repair,refurb, new...).

Damage is not that bad but it is right on the edge of the RIM (and I know it's there!)

Chips away chap (who could not help in this instance) could not tell if the 18" spiders were painted or just polished.

Does anyone know if they are painted or not; or have any experience of having them repaired?

TIA.

Roy.

[bigphil]

spiders are painted and then laquered.
one of mine got damaged and took it to BMW bodyshop in Guildford who matched and repainted exactly cost £45.

[chim_girl]

I had all my 18in Spiders done last week by Wicked Wheels, conpletely delighted with the result and not too expensive at a cost of £50 plus vat per wheel. They can take out kerb grazes and scuffs, once done they refinish them to match your other wheels, mine looked like new. If you have a look on their website you should find your nearest franchise.

PS - If your wheels are the factory fitted ones they're painted, I'm told polished ones are the really shiny chrome finish.

[S1X OK]

Chim_Girl, did you lose the TVR logos in the process?
I don't know anyone that replaces the decals prior to the lacquer. I had a minor scuff on one rim but built dug out the old compressor and airbrush and managed a pretty good repair with a few coats of Audi silver and a couple of layers of lacquer. Not sure if I fancy tackling a majorly mashed rim though, so Wicked Wheels might be called upon one day.

[chim_girl]

My wheel centres were colour coded without the logo and there weren't any decals on the spokes. AFAIK my dealer sells the TVR wheel centres, not sure about the decals though, have you tried the factory?

[royalexander]

Thanks for the info, I also have the decals and am trying to hunt some down without any luck so far. Wicked Weels seemed very helpfull and once I find the decals will be calling them again.

[S1X OK]

I've heard the factory don't supply the TVR logos for spiders. Not that I need any at the moment, but I had a thought. Back when I had a day job, I used to use these things we called 'rub-downs' in the studio that were like letraset but were made from artwork we provided. They were for dummies that needed a quality logo or graphic repeating without having to reproduce it manually.
Anyway, it's been a few years since I used any of them, but anyone that remembers letraset from before computers took over the graphics world will know what I'm babbling about.
I assume they're still available and would do the job just fine. The big question - would they accept a coat of lacquer without turning to a pool of black liquid?
It might be worth pursuing, if only to find out it doesn't work.

[royalexander]

Not to worried about the Decals other than it will look a bit odd as half the car will have them and the other not. suppose I could just have the whole lot refurbished, it would still work out cheaper than two new wheels but it is marginal. Then again you only look at one side of the car at a time!

I assume they still make the wheels so the Decals must be available from somwwhere, are they made by TVR or is there another supplier involved here?

R.