Alloy wheel scuff repair in N/Kent/SE London

[RLK500]

Hi All,

I am looking for a reputable/quality operator to repair a small scuff on a single alloy. Any recomendations out there ?

TIA

Roops

[domster]

Lepsons is in Kent and would do a great job, but wheel refurbishing is normally done as a set to guarantee a perfect and consistent finish across all four wheels.

[kds keltec]

domster said:

Lepsons is in Kent and would do a great job, but wheel refurbishing is normally done as a set to guarantee a perfect and consistent finish across all four wheels.

Not totaly correct , if the wheels have not be nasty smart repaired before and still have factory finish (which not many cars do have after a year or so on the road) or repaired before hand correctly by good alloy wheel refurb company , then matching wheel colour is not a problem for a company such as lepsons .

http://www.lepsons.com/

Lepsons use well over 10 different silvers , and then add the different types of paint material in use (powder coat and wet system) this covers most car colours , they even keep and use different top coat lacquers as some are more yellow than clear which can and will effect the colour below slightly .


here some pictures of Doms new refurbished wheels by lepsons











Kelly

[Anatol]

kds keltec said:

Not totaly correct , if the wheels have not be nasty smart repaired

ahem!

kds keltec said:

Lepsons use well over 10 different silvers

Kelly, that's actually not an impressive statistic. Almost every manufacturer uses a different silver (or selection of silvers and other colours) for their wheels. A decent repairer (SMART or bodyshop) will have access to a recipe to match the particular paint that was put onto the wheel by the manufacturer - hundreds of different recipes, supported by a variant colour sprayed-paint fandeck.

I know Lepsons are a top-notch operation, one of the very best in the UK for wheels - but a good SMART repairer or bodyshop will be able to get equivalent results - if they've invested in a good paint system and colour support tools. If they're using bulk, cheap paints, that's a different story.

Tol

[kds keltec]

Anatol said:

kds keltec said:

Not totaly correct , if the wheels have not be nasty smart repaired

ahem!

kds keltec said:

Lepsons use well over 10 different silvers

Kelly, that's actually not an impressive statistic. Almost every manufacturer uses a different silver (or selection of silvers and other colours) for their wheels. A decent repairer (SMART or bodyshop) will have access to a recipe to match the particular paint that was put onto the wheel by the manufacturer - hundreds of different recipes, supported by a variant colour sprayed-paint fandeck.

I know Lepsons are a top-notch operation, one of the very best in the UK for wheels - but a good SMART repairer or bodyshop will be able to get equivalent results - if they've invested in a good paint system and colour support tools. If they're using bulk, cheap paints, that's a different story.

Tol

Tol ,

I was referring to some nasty blow in type smart repairs when just a few spokes are painted or just the outer lip/rim of the wheel .

The amount of wheels i have seen in a year where we remove them , properly clean them or send across the road to lepsons must be around 1000+ a year .

In that time we would guess ONLY 20% of the refurbs in i have seen are in the correct colour / finish or anywhere close to OEM and we are talking about even large refurb companys .

The dig was not at smart repair as a general , but more so at the only way to correctly refurb i wheel in my eyes which is of cery high standard is to full strip back the wheels to bare alloy / inspect casting for cracks ,bends and defects . then once all ok alloy weld the faces of the wheel to fill in any damage from curb rash (not repair with fillers and primers) then machine in lathe to produce face uniform alloy surface .

Then the wheels are powder coat primed at 220deg c, 180 deg C alloy temp which bonds and seals the alloy properly , these powder primers are developed so that the next paint/powder stage will bond to the primer coat when the pre baked wheel at (70 deg c) is then base coloured , then finaly at lacquer stage which is mostly with powder coat lacquer is baked once again , might add that all of the process are in a sealed large booth and ovens which once the painting process starts at one end never leave until finished and start hot through out the process .

When i said about the silvers it was meant as the standard silvers for powder coats if you included other dark shades and chromes you and colours would be up at 40 odd choices and then on top of that you have the wet system of thousands of shades at lepsons just like any other bodyshops .

These are from a close to lepsons alloy wheel refub company who have been going over 20 years

you decide before







after







oh this is using wet car body paint and the befores are meant to be the same colour as the afters .

this is the smart repair that i mean tiny repair and blow in on the outer rim




after proper refurb







bentley wheels after refurb by dealership just before good customer of mine picked up the car from dealership , what do think smart repair ??





after proper refurb





or how a bout brand new wheels form lambo with a finish like this







then compare to lepsons after refurb (better than new form Lambo)











Kelly

Edited by kds keltec on Saturday 13th February 13:24

[kds keltec]

Another example that says it all

Smart repair guy left these like this for owner to deal with







after refurb




and on lepsons FaQ's

a little about why they dont smart repair

http://www.lepsons.com/faqs.phtml#6

I could post dozens more bad jobs when it comes to wheel refurbs


you decide who you want to use really

Kelly

[Anatol]

Interesting pics. Suggesting that a bare metal refurb is the only good way to repair wheels is a bit like suggesting like a bare metal restoration is the only good way to repair bodywork though.

We refurb wheels - but wheels off the car, breaking the bead, fully refurbing the damaged front face, and painting and baking in a booth. Where the front face is the only damaged part of the wheel, more than this is overkill IMHO.

We have a very tight environmental policy, and there's a lot of energy wasteage and chemical use in acid or blast stripping and completely overcoating a wheel if only the front paint has been scraped off on a kerb, so I couldn't support it unless the whole finish needed to come off because it had degraded (we do use subcontractors who offer this service, but only when the condition of the wheel calls for it).

At one stage we had a lathe for regrinding and polishing wheels too, but very low demand for it meant we weren't recouping the investment and got rid of it.

This wasn't meant to be a comparison of one business model against another - just pointing out that using "more than 10 silvers" as you said in your initial post sounds like a bit of a joke to a refinisher who knows how many different finishes are out there and might need precise matching.



Tol

[domster]

I know Tol always champions smart repairers, but IMO he is probably the ultimate smart repairer in the UK in terms of his approach and quality (given the obvious restrictions and lower price point). There are good and bad operators in any industry and having used bodyshops and smart repairers before, I can say that a Tol smart repair can be far better than a poor bodyshop job.

But I think Kelly is right that a wheel repair or refurb needs to be treated with caution and there are some very poor operators doing wheel repairs (smart or otherwise). The flaking lacquer on my old Merc C240 is testimony to how heat attacks the finish of a wheel far more than on bodywork and a quality job is imperative. There is still a 'rattle can' mentality with wheels!

Depends on budget and requirement, ultimately. Lepsons isn't the only place to refurb wheels and smart repairs can be very successful. But if you get a good smart repairer you could save money and get a lovely job at the end (not so if you get a bad smart repairer)... whereas that risk is somewhat removed if using a large specialist like Lepsons, although I am guessing you may pay a tad more for the privilege? It's just a shame that Tol is only Cambridgeshire based and not national as his unique passion for smart repairs would travel well for many customers.

[Anatol]

domster said:

whereas that risk is somewhat removed if using a large specialist like Lepsons, although I am guessing you may pay a tad more for the privilege?

Actually, in all fairness, probably not.

Wheel refurbs with powdercoat are, compared to body spraying, not highly skilled work. If, as the big wheel places have, you set up a big production line getting through vast volumes, the prices charged can be much of a muchness because a (relatively) cheap labour force can be employed to do the work.

Slight caveat - quite often the prices the wheel refurb production lines start at are for bare wheels supplied, and starting with a wheel and tyre actually on a vehicle can ramp things up significantly.

The big USP of the mobile or local service is one of time and convenience. Many people simply can't be without their wheels or vehicle for a few days.

Tol

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Anatol said:

Wheel refurbs with powdercoat are, compared to body spraying, not highly skilled work. If, as the big wheel places have, you set up a big production line getting through vast volumes, the prices charged can be much of a muchness because a (relatively) cheap labour force can be employed to do the work.

Walk into Lepsons and you won't find Tony ( the owner ) in a suit or office, more often than not you'll find him boiler suit in the spray booth or in quality control etc. I very much doubt you will find that at other large organisations. This is probably one of the reason Lepsons have gained their reputation for top quality work.

Anatol said:

Many people simply can't be without their wheels or vehicle for a few days.

This is why Lepsons can supply a courtesy car if required.

Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Sunday 14th February 10:31

[Anatol]

is there an echo in here?

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Sorted