Scuffed wheels

[Mrjaffa]

Had my GTI 2 months. After a few days I hit a curb in my local car park after getting a bloody parking ticket (wasn't a good day).



The tyre I'm told is ok. Doesn't need replacing. The scuff not so nice. I was first quoted £80 for a full diamond cut but then whey they saw it said just a polish and spray would do it for £45.

I've not had that done yet and I've just noticed a slight scuff on another wheel. I've no idea how I've done this second one. I'm so so careful and never scuff wheels, apart from that one obvious time.

Anyway. I've now looked at some videos on YouTube to do it myself.

Anyone ever undertaken this task? Do people find with 17" alloys they're are much easier to scuff?

[joe6]

All wheels are easy to scuff. If you have been quoted £45 for a polish and spray then I would go with that. DIY wheel refurb is not easy and to get a decent finish on the one in the picture you are probably talking a day's work and it may not look that good after. I have not tried a diamond cut wheel but an ordinary alloy took me the best part of a day and colour match is always difficult.

[Redline]

Out of interest, where did you get a quote of £80 for a full diamond cut refurb from? I've had prices of around £110-120 in the North East.

Don't think I'd personally want to attempt a DIY refurb on the 'Parabolica' wheels!

They are quite vulnerable - low profile tyres with not a great deal of protection for the rim.

[Mrjaffa]

Hey guys. The only reason I was now thinking of doing it myself is because it's on two wheels. And so double the cost. I'll maybe speak to them and ask if it's any cheaper as they're only small scuffs and not the whole wheel..... Redline. Romax UK in Stockton. Google them. Highly recommended apparently. Start from £70 plus VAT.

[KiwiME]

My Cross Polo has 17s and 40 profile tyres and I've sustained similar damage. What I did was remove the wheel and let the air out of the tyre then use a paint scraper to hold the tyre away from the rim face while I carefully filed off the damage. Sanded with fine wet/dry (wet) till very smooth then masked off and painted with clear.

It's not great but far less easy to notice. I also got a similar chunk out of the tyre, tried gluing the piece back but I think that's a lost cause.

[SRGTD]

I expect the £45 polish and spray that the OP was quoted would be a similar process to the repair that KiwiME has done to his scuffed wheel. The company who quoted the OP to use this method of repair may use an abrasive attachment on a dremmel-type tool to smooth out the damage, and then use wet/dry and/or an abrasive polishing compound to refine the area before applying a lacquer.

Wheel refurbishers such as Lepsons or Pristine Wheels are a couple of companies in the U.K. who refurbish diamond cut alloys (not all wheel refurbishers do). Both these companies get very good customer reviews on other forum sites, and sometimes they offer a free courier service if you're not local to them. They are unlikely to do localised 'spot' repairs on diamond cut wheels, and for the increased cost the OP would be paying for a full refurb, they'd use a process something like this on a Parabolica wheel;

- strip the wheel of all paint and lacquer by shot blasting it
- repair any areas of 'deep' damage by welding in new alloy.
- powder coating the entire wheel; black in the case of a Parabolica alloy
- skimming off a layer of metal on a diamond cutting lathe to restore the diamond cut finish on the face of the wheel, leaving the black powder coating in the recessed areas between the spokes
- re-lacquer the wheel to protect the surface.

Because a full refurbishment on a diamond cut alloy involves removing a layer of metal (so reducing its thickness), there is a limit to the number of times the wheel can be repaired

I personally don't like diamond cut alloys. They have great showroom appeal, but are more expensive than powder coated alloys to repair and they are also susceptible to white worm corrosion if the lacquer becomes damaged (scuffs or stonech damage) and water gets under the surface of the lacquer. If you Google 'white worm corrosion' you'll see examples of what this looks like. I've replaced the diamond cut alloys on my GTI with a set of powder coated alloys; much more durable and easier to look after IMO.