"Can you repair split rims?"
Chrome wheels and polished metal wheels.
The answer to this depends very much on the kind of wheel, the kind of rims and the finish you wish to end up with. The picture above of a wheel from a Porsche 911 is of fairly typical construction (if maybe a little deeper than most wheels. The central part of the wheel is typical painted alloy, which is the same as most alloy wheels, but the rim is polished metal which is attached by means of a large number of studs (bolts). On many wheels of this kind, the studs will rust or otherwise corrode, look tarnished and tatty. This is especially true of wheels that are not true split rims, but have studs to make them look that way, to enhance the effect, the studs are often black anodised or similar finish which does not offer suitable protection against the elements. Either way, the only way to restore this kind of wheel to it's original condition is to replace the studs.
As for the metal polished rims, at present we are unable to repair and polish metal. This is a totally different process to the bodyshop methods that we apply to alloy wheels with filler and paint. As the finish is polished bare metal, any damage or corrosion needs to be removed by grinding and then polishing on special machines. This is also true of Magnesium wheels which are fully polished metal.
There are engineering companies which can restore your wheels to an original condition by fitting replacement trims - For this please try www.alloywheelrepairs.net or www.lepsons.com. However, we feel that this kind of finish on wheels is more trouble than it's worth for most car owners. Polished bare metal is very vulnerable to damage and corrosion, lacquered metal wheels have no primer to help the lacquer key to the metal, so are prone to having the lacquer peel off or bubble up. And studs also tend to tarnish. All this damage usually occurs within a few years. A painted finish is far more practical and this is what we recommend for most of our customers. We can refurbish split-rims or polished metal wheels by priming, painting and lacquering them. In the case of split rims, we often find that the bare metal rim is severely tarnished but the centre of the wheel is in perfect condition, in which case this is the only time we will paint just the rim. And in such cases it is often possible to use a brighter silver colour to give the two-tone split-rim appearance.
Split rims are the same prices as a whole wheel as the same amount of work, if not more work goes into preparing split rims.
Chrome Wheels
[EDIT - August 2008] We have been contacted
by
chromemaster.co.uk who do
a plastic coating that looks a like chrome.
We have a sample and it does look a lot like chrome, you can't tell
unless you feel the weight. We are informed that the company can strip the
origional chrome coating from alloy wheels and replace it with this stuff.
We haven't tested it on wheels, but we have no reason to doubt their claims
that it is very durable as it seems similar to the coating used on car badges
which last many years. So it could be that a solution is here at last!
Although... they will still show the dirt and be murder to keep clean - so you
might want to follow the advice below.
As for chrome wheels found on some American makes and imports,
we have found that this finish can be too delicate for the British climate
without a lot of care, the punishment that wheels undergo during the winter
months can take a terrible toll and once the reach a certain point they cannot
be cleaned. There is nobody in Europe that re-chromes wheels at the moment
and we were recently told that the machinery for doing so would cost £50
million! So we recommend that this kind of wheel be stripped and refurbished
in a bright silver finish Next time you are at the airport, you may notice
that most of the airport taxi services which use Chryslers have done exactly
this (the alternative may be to buy a replacement wheel).
We have in the past refurbished this kind of wheel in painted silver, but there
are problems painting over chrome, so it is best if this is bead-blasted off
first. Unfortunately we are unable to offer this service, but some other wheel
companies can.
(See our article on chrome wheel care for more infomation)
So in conclusion, although we cannot restore these various
kinds of wheels to their original finish, we can offer a cost effective and
more practical solution as long as corrosion isn't too bad.
 |
| While the painted centre section of this BMW wheel is in good condition, the polished rims have tarnished and show signs of corrosion. |
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| In this photo you can see that the lacquer has been broken when the very edge of the rim has been scuffed, corrosion has crept under this causing the lacquer to bubble up and peel away. |
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| The rim is sanded down using a DA machine to remove the corrosion and the scuffs, and to provide a surface for the new paint to key too. |
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| After masking out the centre section, the wheels are moved to the spray-booth. Here you can see the wheel being coated with primer. |
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| The wheels are next put under infra-red lamps to help the paint to cure. In this photo you can clearly see how the centre of the wheel was masked. This wheel was unusual in as much as it had spikes which protruded over and in front of the rim, making the wheel particularly difficult to work on, so although only the rim was refurbished, more work went into these wheels than would normally go into a wheel that was fully refurbished. |
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| The completed wheel looking as good as new, although not with the original finish. |
"Can you refurbish Diamond-Cut rims?"
As with split polished rims, we can refurbish and paint over diamond cut edges, but you will no longer be left with a diamond cut finish. Diamond cutting is done on a laith and you will need to contact an engineering company that specialises in alloy wheels if you want to reproduce this effect.
"Can you repair leaky split-rims?"
I'm afraid we cannot repair wheels that leak through the split rim, to repair them would involve taking them appart and re-sealing them. Unfortunately we do not have the equipment needed to do this. However, Ace Performance wheel are able to do this (see below).
We have also found out that spray foam won't cure the leak.
Click here to see if your wheels can be done?
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