Reburbishing diamond cut alloys.
Discussion
I have just dropped off my diamond cut Oz 8 spoke alloys for refurbishment at a nearby tyre retailer (they send them away to get the work done).
They recommended NOT having them lacquered on the basis that it gets damaged easily and corrosion can set in underneath.
Their advice was to keep them in a polished aluminium finish, and to re-polish regularly (they did not advise which polish though).
I would have thought it best to have them lacquered and to protect them with frequent polishing with turtle wax or similar.
What is the considered opinion of the PH jury? 
they should be the experts I guess.... how much are they charging per wheel? The tyre place near me does them for £50 each including re balancing etc.... just depends how mouch the service mot etc costs to see if I have any change but the estimate was good so I will hopefully be looking into it. I am sure someone had their wheels done recently in black chrome....they may know for sure
I work with aluminium a lot as an aircraft tech and have seen some hideous corrosion on ally. The worst by far is pitting corrosion, so whatever treatment you give to your wheels, stay on top of it, ally corrosion is not pretty. Mine are pitted and I have just started to give a good going over with some very fine wet and dry, the final cut is with a grade 12000 which turns the ally into a mirror finish. Hours of work per wheel but well worth the effort.
V8Smith said:
...Bridgedav had two of his wheels refurbed and laquered, after 6 months they were worse then his other two non refurbed ones
Blimey Mike, no wonder you switched to Chimaera style alloys.
Looks like my son will have to do a lot of regular polishing to earn his place in my passenger seat
Thanks for the info/advice everyone.
I had my wheels done in black chrome a few weeks ago, I know others have done the same recently at different places so it will be nice to compare at SCH3.
You just wash and wax them like the body of the car so should be easy to keep clean ,time will tell.
Cost allot though
Dale
Can`t get the centers back in ! any suggestions
your wheels look great!
you probably can`t get the centers back in because the thin layer of chrome has made the hole a couple of thou smaller, try very carefully to either scrape around the inside of the hole with say the flat edge of a hacksaw blade, not the cutting edge,or even a very fine grade emery cloth, this will take some of the chrome off so be carefull not to mark the wheel face.
you probably can`t get the centers back in because the thin layer of chrome has made the hole a couple of thou smaller, try very carefully to either scrape around the inside of the hole with say the flat edge of a hacksaw blade, not the cutting edge,or even a very fine grade emery cloth, this will take some of the chrome off so be carefull not to mark the wheel face.
Nice wheels Dale.
I have been looking at getting mine re-furbished.
I was hoping to get them diamond cut and lacquered to keep them as original as possible. I had a set of woolfies on another car which had polished wheels which was bloody awful spent all my time polishing. NOT GOOD !!
Yours look very good thanks for the pics depending on the price I might even go the same way myself
I have been looking at getting mine re-furbished.
I was hoping to get them diamond cut and lacquered to keep them as original as possible. I had a set of woolfies on another car which had polished wheels which was bloody awful spent all my time polishing. NOT GOOD !!
Yours look very good thanks for the pics depending on the price I might even go the same way myself
DarkMatter said:
...Bridgedav had two of his wheels refurbed and laquered, after 6 months they were worse then his other two non refurbed ones
Blimey Mike, no wonder you switched to Chimaera style alloys.
Looks like my son will have to do a lot of regular polishing to earn his place in my passenger seat
Thanks for the info/advice everyone.
Yeah thats the main reason for changing to the Chim alloys? I think the 'S' OZ alloys look best diamond cut, but didnt fancy getting them refurbed every year! So went for the Chim alloys which also enables me to go 16" all round?
Cheers
Mike
OK A bit of an update on my wheels....
Had 2 refurbed by Spit N Polish as part of an insurance claim...
7 months down the line... Pitted, flaking and corroding. A call to S&P confirmed that the D/Cut is only covered for 6 months... Doh..!
NOTE.... Most places will resist doing repeated refurb on Diamond cut. Even though they take a very small amount off on the lathe, they are always removing much needed material.
I bought another set of Oz 8's from Ebay a few weeks back, they were on an Escort, silver powdercoated. (£50)..
I have had these D/Cut and laquered by BJV engineering. £120 cash for the 4.(I did drop them off & pick up). TBH the D/Cut process is a bit hit & miss, depending on the quality of the alloy when they were orignially cast, you can get varying results from the Cut... Mottled surface prior to laquer is typical. They are still nice and shiney but not mirror silver.
I intend using these wheels sparingly or even sell them on...
The wheels on the car... I intend to get them back to BJV or similar to get them powdercoated. The Black Chrome is most likely route. You can get different levels of black, as they spray a black over a high silver during the process. I will probably get them pretty dark....!
Advice....
If you have had a set D/Cut, keep an eye on the laquer finish for the first 6 months, or contact the finisher to see what they offer as far as warranty..
I've given up on Chim alloys idea at the mo'. I will probably source some Griff 500 alloys later this year with the car on top if all goes well.
Dave
Dave
Had 2 refurbed by Spit N Polish as part of an insurance claim...
7 months down the line... Pitted, flaking and corroding. A call to S&P confirmed that the D/Cut is only covered for 6 months... Doh..!
NOTE.... Most places will resist doing repeated refurb on Diamond cut. Even though they take a very small amount off on the lathe, they are always removing much needed material.
I bought another set of Oz 8's from Ebay a few weeks back, they were on an Escort, silver powdercoated. (£50)..
I have had these D/Cut and laquered by BJV engineering. £120 cash for the 4.(I did drop them off & pick up). TBH the D/Cut process is a bit hit & miss, depending on the quality of the alloy when they were orignially cast, you can get varying results from the Cut... Mottled surface prior to laquer is typical. They are still nice and shiney but not mirror silver.
I intend using these wheels sparingly or even sell them on...
The wheels on the car... I intend to get them back to BJV or similar to get them powdercoated. The Black Chrome is most likely route. You can get different levels of black, as they spray a black over a high silver during the process. I will probably get them pretty dark....!
Advice....
If you have had a set D/Cut, keep an eye on the laquer finish for the first 6 months, or contact the finisher to see what they offer as far as warranty..
I've given up on Chim alloys idea at the mo'. I will probably source some Griff 500 alloys later this year with the car on top if all goes well.
Dave
Dave
doddze said:
how much did people pay to get them powder coated as in the pics above if you don't mind me asking
my opinion only stay away from diamond cut as they seem to degrade and need a lot of looking after
i had mine done and sweeney and sherlocks
www.sweeneysherlock.co.uk/
black chrome is referred by them as high powered silver
prices on web site
>> Edited by spivvy on Friday 6th May 13:31
doddze said:
how much did people pay to get them powder coated as in the pics above if you don't mind me asking
I do mind , cos I'm sure you will all think I paid too much.
I spent a long time trying to decide what to do, often people said nice car shame about the wheels.
I looked at after-market stuff ,I really like the ones tatty head has on his S, but didn`t really want to have low profile tyres and adjusting the offset with spacers just put me off. (I am sure its OK if you know what you are doing)
Also keeping the OE seems the correct thing to do with these cars if possible, the price of OZ 8s seems to be a point for debate and the thought of selling them and having money to spend on the car was tempting.
In the end I decided to refurbish and had read Dave's thread about Diamond cutting not lasting without lots of care ( still think its the best option if you can keep them A1 )I had also seen pics of RichardR`s car with the powder coated wheels and his comments about easy cleaning clinched it.
BJV Eng seemed well recommended and I spoke to them (very helpfully )but they were a bit far away for me , didn`t fancy sending my wheels by carriage and 2 half days off work to take and collect pushed up the price , I also wanted to see some examples before committing BJV had just moved and had nothing to show me.
I found Alloy Wheel Repairs (Melton Mowbray) on the Internet, the price includes removal of Tyres , strip down ,refinish , refit tyres and balancing also two wheels were damaged they were repaired in the price
of £80 per wheel. Plain Silver was £50 per wheel but I liked the most expensive finish he did.
I could have got new ones for that price , but I`ve done it now , and I think they look fantastic.
I don`t want to put the centers back cos they are too tight and if I damage the finish I am sure wet will get in and flake it off , so stars the hunt for something to go in the center, could take a while.
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