Alloy wheel repair(VW GTI)-pointless?

cojomo2

looking into getting 4 18'' alloys restored for a vw gti mkv..

rang around, some places don't do the gti ones, the ones that do, working out at 440 for the 4 wheels.

Was just onto a guy from revolution engineering in Kildare..he told me he doesn't do the gti wheels and gave the the name of a place who does.

However he told me that the finish will not last. He said , in order for the finish to last, the laquer need to be applied while the wheels are hot, but he said this is very hard to do, so what happens is the laquer is applied to the cold wheel, which has moisture in it.

He said after 1 winter, the wheels will beging to get horrible white marks all over it (white worm?)...this is pretty dissapointing if true.

Anyone know any more info on this?

cojomo2

Anyone any info on this?

JoeA3

Yeah, the 18" detroits on the GTI are notorious for this problem and by all accounts, the guys in the repair shops who told you that are right - they are very difficult to repair. It's a very specialised job to get that finish on them.
I've been very careful with my wheels but one of mine has some bad marks which originated from a tyre shop. The problem is that the wheel will look fine when the actual damage is done, but over time moisture gets under the damaged lacquer and a nasty looking "whiteworm" develops

If you search on any GTI forum you will see owners complain about this problem. I read that VW UK replaced some people's wheels under warranty. I tried that approach last year but no joy!

I've never come across anyone local to me who'd refurb them properly. Even in the UK I believe only a few places are recommended. The one I've seen recommended a few times is Nuluk in Belfast (??). Whereabouts are the repairers you tried?

A new OEM replacement alloy is around €450 !

cojomo2

JoeA3 wrote: »

Yeah, the 18" detroits on the GTI are notorious for this problem and by all accounts, the guys in the repair shops who told you that are right - they are very difficult to repair. It's a very specialised job to get that finish on them.
I've been very careful with my wheels but one of mine has some bad marks which originated from a tyre shop. The problem is that the wheel will look fine when the actual damage is done, but over time moisture gets under the damaged lacquer and a nasty looking "whiteworm" develops

If you search on any GTI forum you will see owners complain about this problem. I read that VW UK replaced some people's wheels under warranty. I tried that approach last year but no joy!

Edit

Was on to Collins ..they tell me they had problems in the past with the gti wheels and had to stop doing them...but he said they have sourced a special laqer from America that does the job...said I'll have no problems.

Only problem for me is it takes a few days and they don't supply load wheels

I've never come across anyone local to me who'd refurb them properly. Even in the UK I believe only a few places are recommended. The one I've seen recommended a few times is Nuluk in Belfast (??). Whereabouts are the repairers you tried?

A new OEM replacement alloy is around €450 !

Was just on to nuluk there, they said once the process is done, if there are any further scuffs then the wheel will start to go White .

Also said it would take 3-4 days to do, about £135 a wheel!

Wefixalloys (Collins engineering) quoted me 440 euro for 4 wheels... They strip the wheels rite down, same as nuluk so probably much of a muchness.

The wheels ( all 4) are badly scuffed...should I get them refurbished, or just buy replica gti alloys, costing about 550 for 4?

Cyrus

cojomo2 wrote: »

Was just on to nuluk there, they said once the process is done, if there are any further scuffs then the wheel will start to go White .

Also said it would take 3-4 days to do, about £135 a wheel!

Wefixalloys (Collins engineering) quoted me 440 euro for 4 wheels... They strip the wheels rite down, same as nuluk so probably much of a muchness.

The wheels ( all 4) are badly scuffed...should I get them refurbished, or just buy replica gti alloys, costing about 550 for 4?

collins cant do them properly, they cant do normal wheels properly, dont let them near detroits

either live with it or buy new wheels, no one, not even nuluk, can properly refinish diamond cut wheels, the same problem exists with oem BMW m3 19s.

YOu could get the detroits stripped and then polished but you would have to maintain them yourself and there would be a lot of work in that

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

collins cant do them properly, they cant do normal wheels properly, dont let them near detroits

either live with it or buy new wheels, no one, not even nuluk, can properly refinish diamond cut wheels, the same problem exists with oem BMW m3 19s.

YOu could get the detroits stripped and then polished but you would have to maintain them yourself and there would be a lot of work in that

Have you had a bad experience with them? I was on to the a few mins ago..they admitted they had problems with those wheels in the past, and had to stop doing them..buy they guy said they sourced specialist laqer from the states and it does the job properly..

My choices are buy new replicas or get these refurbished..ay advice on which is the better option?

JoeA3

cojomo2 wrote: »

Was just on to nuluk there, they said once the process is done, if there are any further scuffs then the wheel will start to go White .

Not sure what you mean here? They're basically saying that if you damage them after they've repaired them that the same problem will occur? I wouldn't expect anything else?!

cojomo2 wrote: »

Also said it would take 3-4 days to do, about £135 a wheel!

Yikes - pricey:eek: Did they mention how you'd go about getting the wheels from your car to their shop in Belfast and back again (without damaging them in transit!). This is the main thing that has put me off going that route - the hassle involved in getting the wheels to a proper repairer.

cojomo2 wrote: »

The wheels ( all 4) are badly scuffed...should I get them refurbished, or just buy replica gti alloys, costing about 550 for 4?

No, I wouldn't put GTI reps anywhere near my car - any I've seen look absolutely ****e, not to mention all the other issues that replicas bring you.

If I were keeping my car I'd budget for having them replaced some time down the line (or refurbished properly, if I were confident it could be done right). I'd maybe even consider a set of BBS CH wheels or similar.

Did you buy a GTI in the end or is this just a car with rough wheels that you're looking at? If the latter, I'd consider looking around more and finding a car with less scuffs.

Cyrus

ive had two sets of wheels done there

first set was bmw wheels with a polished lip, lacquer started to peel after a month.

second set were normal silver painted wheels from an audi, they ground a huge amount off to take out the kerbking and also made a mess of the painting of the wheels, very rough finish, despite been given two goes at it.

they will also invariably find a buckle in some of your wheels and charge extra for fixing that

i wont be trying them again, maybe they have improved but i wont be finding out

cojomo2

JoeA3 wrote: »

Not sure what you mean here? They're basically saying that if you damage them after they've repaired them that the same problem will occur? I wouldn't expect anything else?!



Yikes - pricey:eek: Did they mention how you'd go about getting the wheels from your car to their shop in Belfast and back again (without damaging them in transit!). This is the main thing that has put me off going that route - the hassle involved in getting the wheels to a proper repairer.



No, I wouldn't put GTI reps anywhere near my car - any I've seen look absolutely ****e, not to mention all the other issues that replicas bring you.

If I were keeping my car I'd budget for having them replaced some time down the line (or refurbished properly, if I were confident it could be done right). I'd maybe even consider a set of BBS CH wheels or similar.

Did you buy a GTI in the end or is this just a car with rough wheels that you're looking at? If the latter, I'd consider looking around more and finding a car with less scuffs.

Yep I've pretty much done a deal with another boardsie..all good,just the wheels need attention..

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

ive had two sets of wheels done there

first set was bmw wheels with a polished lip, lacquer started to peel after a month.

second set were normal silver painted wheels from an audi, they ground a huge amount off to take out the kerbking and also made a mess of the painting of the wheels, very rough finish, despite been given two goes at it.

they will also invariably find a buckle in some of your wheels and charge extra for fixing that

i wont be trying them again, maybe they have improved but i wont be finding out

That's not on..did you pay full price in the end?

Cyrus

he gave me some discount in repairing the buckling,

im not forceful enough in those situations, but i know i wont be back :rolleyes:

JoeA3

cojomo2 wrote: »

Yep I've pretty much done a deal with another boardsie..all good,just the wheels need attention..

if all 4 wheels are in rough condition, what's the rest of the car like?

Sadly, the finish on GTI wheels just isn't very compatible with Irish roads or your typical Irish drivers. This polished/lacquered finish is even appearing on bog standard cars these days... trouble is, no one knows how to fix them properly as you're finding out.

cojomo2

JoeA3 wrote: »

if all 4 wheels are in rough condition, what's the rest of the car like?

Sadly, the finish on GTI wheels just isn't very compatible with Irish roads or your typical Irish drivers. This polished/lacquered finish is even appearing on bog standard cars these days... trouble is, no one knows how to fix them properly as you're finding out.

So if I was to go down the route of either refurb vs replicas, would you say a refurb?

The car has a full detailed service history, looks perfect( apart from alloys), drives perfect, and am happy with the price which reflects the scuffed alloys.

Atomic Pineapple

JoeA3 wrote: »

if all 4 wheels are in rough condition, what's the rest of the car like?

Sadly, the finish on GTI wheels just isn't very compatible with Irish roads or your typical Irish drivers. This polished/lacquered finish is even appearing on bog standard cars these days... trouble is, no one knows how to fix them properly as you're finding out.

Where I live its scratch the alloys trying to get as close as you can to the footpath or the car will get scratched by passing traffic :mad: could be the same where this GTi resides.

Cant wait to get out of the area and get my wheels refurbished!

JoeA3

cojomo2 wrote: »

So if I was to go down the route of either refurb vs replicas, would you say a refurb?

The car has a full detailed service history, looks perfect( apart from alloys), drives perfect, and am happy with the price which reflects the scuffed alloys.

Yep - replicas belong on RS4 TDI's. I wouldn't put a replica alloy within a 100 yards of my car.

rickyjb

cojomo2 wrote: »

Yep I've pretty much done a deal with another boardsie..all good,just the wheels need attention..

Congrats, anymore details you'd like to share, did you get the leather/dsg combo you were looking for in the end??

The lady who owned my car previously wasn't too mindful of footpaths either, the passenger front is badly scuffed and the driver's front is not perfect either. And to my shame I added slightly to it at the weekend with a moment of carelessness:o

I haven't looked into doing anything about it much but I don't think there are too many options regards getting them refurbed. BBS CH Blacks from here maybe?:D

JoeA3

rickyjb wrote: »

BBS CH Blacks from here maybe?:D

Those BBS CH's are a beauty alright, they look fantastic on VAG cars.

Nonoperational

The reps arn't too bad. Alloy-weeels.ie do bbs CH reps and you really wouldn't know the difference. Ive seen good detroit reps too. But reps are generally heavier and weaker than the genuine article. It's a trade off. A set of genuine BBS would be 5x the price of the reps. You could buy a new set of reps every year for 5 years and still pay no more than a genuine set.

cojomo2

rickyjb wrote: »

Congrats, anymore details you'd like to share, did you get the leather/dsg combo you were looking for in the end??

The lady who owned my car previously wasn't too mindful of footpaths either, the passenger front is badly scuffed and the driver's front is not perfect either. And to my shame I added slightly to it at the weekend with a moment of carelessness:o

I haven't looked into doing anything about it much but I don't think there are too many options regards getting them refurbed. BBS CH Blacks from here maybe?:D

No leather but has dsg..

I'm thinking of sending the wheels up north...crazy question :

Would the wheels on my e60 fit on the gti..just to keep me mobile while the gti ones are being repaired? They are 16" I think, not low profile...but both the gti and BMW wheel use 5 locking nuts...

Cyrus

they wont

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

they wont

Ahh crap.

From what I can tell , nuluk are the only place to send the gti wheels...but it's a logistical nightmare..getting the 4 wheels up to them...pain in the ass, not to mention costing a fortune...

JoeA3

cojomo2 wrote: »

Ahh crap.

From what I can tell , nuluk are the only place to send the gti wheels...but it's a logistical nightmare..getting the 4 wheels up to them...pain in the ass, not to mention costing a fortune...

Did NuLuk offer any suggestions as to how/what people typically do? Maybe they offer a collect/return service or something like that.

Cyrus

cojomo2 wrote: »

Ahh crap.

From what I can tell , nuluk are the only place to send the gti wheels...but it's a logistical nightmare..getting the 4 wheels up to them...pain in the ass, not to mention costing a fortune...

FOr what NULUK will charge id be looking on ebay for an unmarked s/h set

plenty of people on bmw-driver.net have had nuluk refurb diamond cut wheels and the finish hasnt lasted, for the price and hassle it would want to

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

FOr what NULUK will charge id be looking on ebay for an unmarked s/h set

plenty of people on bmw-driver.net have had nuluk refurb diamond cut wheels and the finish hasnt lasted, for the price and hassle it would want to

What do you mean by s/h set?

I'd be worried buying from eBay incase you get a replica set/ buckled set etc, no?

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

FOr what NULUK will charge id be looking on ebay for an unmarked s/h set

plenty of people on bmw-driver.net have had nuluk refurb diamond cut wheels and the finish hasnt lasted, for the price and hassle it would want to

I know a guy selling AEZ wave alloys ( painted gloss red:eek:).. But selling very cheap. If I bought these, is it a simple case of off with the old, on with the new( tyres already on the new ones) , or do I have to bring to a garage to get balanced or something?

Cyrus

cojomo2 wrote: »

What do you mean by s/h set?

I'd be worried buying from eBay incase you get a replica set/ buckled set etc, no?

second hand

with ebay there are risks in buying anything, buy the seller

of course there are other alternatives, vag drivers.net, the uk MKV forums those kinda places

i dont know what the red wheels are but please dont put the on it

Matt Simis

At least buying from eBay offers you several levels of protection, buying from a forum may offer you none. I buy lots of stuff online and the times Ive been screwed over the most were from forums.

Buckled wheels are easy to fix btw cojomo2 (and cheap, EUR35 a wheel) and selling a replica set as genuine would be outright fraud (and not that easy as you would simply ask to see the OEM PN stamped into the wheel if not shown on the auction).

cojomo2

ok,

I was on to tallaght powder coating there:

he said that basically no1 can do a proper job on 18'' detroits as the laqer used isnt up to the job.

he said what he can do, is strip the wheels back using chemicals, then blasting etc, then repair and then instead of using a laqer, he could spray them silver, which would keep the finish on the wheels way better than the clear laqer, but the wheels would obviously be a different colour.

what do people think? Can get this for under 400

he also gave me the name of a guy who is a wholesaler of alloys, said he may sell me a set of replicas direct if I tell him the story...So I did, and I can get them for 70+vat a piece.

pleeeaassee advise me!heads wrecked..

Matt Simis

cojomo2 wrote: »

what do people think? Can get this for under 400

I think Detroits looks nicer in either shiny reflective "metal" (as original) or gunmetal, anthracite etc than sprayed silver. They just look kinda cheap in regular wheel silver.

Atomic Pineapple

As long as the car is driving perfectly then cosmetic issues like this should be a secondary thought, buy the car if its what you want and worry about dealing with cosmetic issues like the wheels then.

Personally I wouldn't go for replicas, I'm in the same issue as you my wheels are destroyed and for the price of one genuine alloy I can get 4 reps but I just cant do it.

But get them repaired and over time save up for replacement ones?

Gary ITR

Those detroits look the business in anthracite grey. I used www.wheelwizards.ie to do mine and was fairly chuffed with the results

cojomo2

Onkle wrote: »

Those detroits look the business in anthracite grey. I used www.wheelwizards.ie to do mine and was fairly chuffed with the results

thanks Onkle.

I take it anthracite grey is not the stock spec yeah?

So, what did you have done, the whole wheel stripped down, repaired and then painted in anthracite grey?

expensive? Cheers

Atomic Pineapple

cojomo2 wrote: »

thanks Onkle.

I take it anthracite grey is not the stock spec yeah?

So, what did you have done, the whole wheel stripped down, repaired and then painted in anthracite grey?

expensive? Cheers

Its darker, looks great though!

cojomo2

draffodx wrote: »

Its darker, looks great though!

Ok, but am I correct in saying that the stock detroits are not painted any colour as such? Its just polished metal with a clear coating over it?

Whereas the anthrcacite grey is actually paint, that would be sprayed on instead of the clear coat?

any link to anthracite grey detroits would be brill

Gary ITR

It's not the stock spec on mine, slightly darker but I love it. The wheel was stripped to bare metal, treated, primered and sprayed.

What colour is your car? Any pics?

cojomo2

Onkle wrote: »

It's not the stock spec on mine, slightly darker but I love it. The wheel was stripped to bare metal, treated, primered and sprayed.

What colour is your car? Any pics?

hi onkle,

im buying a 06 gti in a couple of days. They have original 18'' detroits on the buy are fairly badly scuffed. The car itself is silver. So you think the best thing to do is have them stripped down, repaired and sprayed anthracite grey?Cheers.

edit:
I know this is asking a lot..but any chance of a pic of your gti with the anthracite grey? I rang them there, will most likely go ahead, just need to decide on a colour that suits a silver gri...dont want anything too dramatic/boy racer though.
Cheers

Gary ITR

cojomo2 wrote: »

hi onkle,

im buying a 06 gti in a couple of days. They have original 18'' detroits on the buy are fairly badly scuffed. The car itself is silver. So you think the best thing to do is have them stripped down, repaired and sprayed anthracite grey?Cheers.

The colour is totally up to you. If it was me I know I wouldn't be happy with a sub standard repair so I'd probably have them painted a different colour. I'm not sure what colour would suit a silver car though and it really depends on what kind of look you are going for

cojomo2

Onkle wrote: »

The colour is totally up to you. If it was me I know I wouldn't be happy with a sub standard repair so I'd probably have them painted a different colour. I'm not sure what colour would suit a silver car though and it really depends on what kind of look you are going for

any chance of a pic of your detroits:D

Gary ITR

cojomo2 wrote: »

any chance of a pic of your detroits:D

Sorry for the confusion mine aren't the Detroits! I have a completely different car, I saw them on a car

Cyrus

cojomo2 wrote: »

hi onkle,

im buying a 06 gti in a couple of days. They have original 18'' detroits on the buy are fairly badly scuffed. The car itself is silver. So you think the best thing to do is have them stripped down, repaired and sprayed anthracite grey?Cheers.

edit:
I know this is asking a lot..but any chance of a pic of your gti with the anthracite grey? I rang them there, will most likely go ahead, just need to decide on a colour that suits a silver gri...dont want anything too dramatic/boy racer though.
Cheers

wheel doctor is correct no one will refurb the detroits properly, no matter what they claim

spraying them is likely to look rubbish, because oem they are diamond cut and lacquered with the inners painted anthracite, that provides a contrast,

if you spray them all the one colour you lose a lot of the detail of the wheel.

id try and get a set of BBS CHs personally

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

wheel doctor is correct no one will refurb the detroits properly, no matter what they claim

spraying them is likely to look rubbish, because oem they are diamond cut and lacquered with the inners painted anthracite, that provides a contrast,

if you spray them all the one colour you lose a lot of the detail of the wheel.

id try and get a set of BBS CHs personally

scroll about half way down this link, to the red gti with sprayed detroits, what do you think? Nice enough
http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=726.0

Cyrus

Wouldn't be my choice but it's your car and choice

That will look pretty bland on a silver car imo

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

Wouldn't be my choice but it's your car and choice

That will look pretty bland on a silver car imo

Fair enough , maybe so ..apart from buying a new set( originals crazy money,been advised to avoid replicas) what do you think?

Maybe bring them to nuluk or Collins engineering and get them restored to original? I know the finish won't keep perfect, but neither will the finish on new genuine vw ones..thats just the nature of polished diamond cut alloys is it not ?

tossy

gpf101 wrote: »

It's a trade off. A set of genuine BBS would be 5x the price of the reps. You could buy a new set of reps every year for 5 years and still pay no more than a genuine set.

Thats a terrible analogy!

cojomo2 wrote: »

Ahh crap.

From what I can tell , nuluk are the only place to send the gti wheels...but it's a logistical nightmare..getting the 4 wheels up to them...pain in the ass, not to mention costing a fortune...

Nu luk have a pick up and drop off deal James Collen crash repairs in Tallaght ask them about it.

kdevitt

You could have the wheel sprayed black and then have a silver or shadow chrome finish applied to the outer sections? It'll look close to the original, and will last longer.

Or just buy original BBS wheels from eBay.de - they'll only cost 1200 or so.

cojomo2

tossy wrote: »

Thats a terrible analogy!



Nu luk have a pick up and drop off deal James Collen crash repairs in Tallaght ask them about it.

Thanks for the tip, but he no longer does this:(

cojomo2

kdevitt wrote: »

You could have the wheel sprayed black and then have a silver or shadow chrome finish applied to the outer sections? It'll look close to the original, and will last longer.

Yeah was thinking of this option...do you think doing this to the wheels will make the car harder to sell when the time comes?

If so, I may just try Collins engineering ..they have assured me they have sourced a new laqer from the states, and this has sorted any peeling problems they previously had..550 euro though!

kdevitt

cojomo2 wrote: »

Yeah was thinking of this option...do you think doing this to the wheels will make the car harder to sell when the time comes?

Don't think so - as a buyer, if I a choice between scruffy OEM wheels, badly repaired OEM wheels, replica wheels, or clean painted OEM wheels - I'd go for the latter. The next person along might be different though. I'm keeping an eye out for wheels for my GTi at the moment and might end up going for the R32 zolders (or BBS CK's) - I really don't want the hassle of polished wheels (and they weren't an option over here anyway - so they're around $2k a set)

cojomo2 wrote: »

If so, I may just try Collins engineering ..they have assured me they have sourced a new laqer from the states, and this has sorted any peeling problems they previously had..550 euro though!

The feedback I've seen is that their prep work was particularly lazy, nothing to do with the materials they used. I know of someone who got polished M3 wheels repaired, and they just lacquered over the damaged areas - preserving the evidence of bad parking skills for all eternity

Cyrus

cojomo2 wrote: »

If so, I may just try Collins engineering ..they have assured me they have sourced a new laqer from the states, and this has sorted any peeling problems they previously had..550 euro though!

if your not fussy you might be happy enough

if you are dont say you werent warned

cojomo2

Cyrus wrote: »

if your not fussy you might be happy enough

if you are dont say you werent warned

well, at the minute, the wheels are in a bad way, once you look at the car, your eyes are drawn straight to the wheels.

I'm aiming to get them looking close enough to new looking..not worried about a few small marks that may still be showing after the repair...but what I dont want is a wheel that looks like it was obviously in bits but got a repair job...do you think that too much to expect from them?

cojomo2

Rang a place there that does 2nd hand alloys....

said he currently has a set of 18" detroits(or monzas? -both the same?) for GTI..prices at 380 euro..but they have been powder coated....

Told him I was after the original finish, he said he think he will be getting a set next week..same price.

Question is, what is the easiest way to know if they are originals or replicas? He said they were original, but that seems too cheap does it not?

Any pointers appreciated.