HELP! Weird Wheel Issues!

[WINKJ]

Guys, in need of some major advice!

 

this stuff is getting progressively worse on my rotas. Is it just a case of getting them a good wheel refurb?

 

if so, can anyone recommend anywhere near Oxfordshire to get this done??

 

 

securedownload by Winkj, on Flickr

 

thanks

[Bockaaarck]

WINKJ, I had the same problem with my Rota GTR's its a bit of a pain. I really look after my wheels, clean regularly, Rim wax them etc, but I still had issues. I have to give a bit thumbs up to the guys at RareRims who swapped over my previous GTR's no questions when this happened.

 

Unfortunately it happened again with the new wheels and I got really frustrated. The issue is that the lacquer either get's cracked or split due to weathering or because of stones / debris bouncing of the rim.

 

There's not a great deal you can do about that, which is a shame as I love the polished rim and I really love the Rota GTR's. All I can say to you is that I have recently had my Rota's refurbed by Platinum Wheel Refurbishment (formerly Lepsons) in Swindon and got them to refurb the whole wheels, without the polished rim. I have to say they have done and excellent job and the guys also really liked the GTRs.

 

I've decided to do this as I don't want to have a polished rim which gets chipped / cracked again, there seemed little point. I am happy with the refurb and I also know they will last a lot longer before needing a refurb without the lacquered / polished rim splitting and cracking.

 

Probably not what you want to hear I'm afraid but I can only tell you I had the same issue twice and the above was my solution.

 

Cheers,

 

Bock

[WINKJ]

WINKJ, I had the same problem with my Rota GTR's its a bit of a pain. I really look after my wheels, clean regularly, Rim wax them etc, but I still had issues. I have to give a bit thumbs up to the guys at RareRims who swapped over my previous GTR's no questions when this happened.

 

Unfortunately it happened again with the new wheels and I got really frustrated. The issue is that the lacquer either get's cracked or split due to weathering or because of stones / debris bouncing of the rim.

 

There's not a great deal you can do about that, which is a shame as I love the polished rim and I really love the Rota GTR's. All I can say to you is that I have recently had my Rota's refurbed by Platinum Wheel Refurbishment (formerly Lepsons) in Swindon and got them to refurb the whole wheels, without the polished rim. I have to say they have done and excellent job and the guys also really liked the GTRs.

 

I've decided to do this as I don't want to have a polished rim which gets chipped / cracked again, there seemed little point. I am happy with the refurb and I also know they will last a lot longer before needing a refurb without the lacquered / polished rim splitting and cracking.

 

Probably not what you want to hear I'm afraid but I can only tell you I had the same issue twice and the above was my solution.

 

Cheers,

 

Bock

 

 

 

Bock, thanks for the comprehensive reply! however its not the one I was looking for , but that's not your fault!!

 

Ok, Well I have mailed the guys at platinum wheel refurbishment and lets see what they say. what was the price if you dont mind me asking>?

[Bockaaarck]

WINKJ, I had the same problem with my Rota GTR's its a bit of a pain. I really look after my wheels, clean regularly, Rim wax them etc, but I still had issues. I have to give a bit thumbs up to the guys at RareRims who swapped over my previous GTR's no questions when this happened.

 

Unfortunately it happened again with the new wheels and I got really frustrated. The issue is that the lacquer either get's cracked or split due to weathering or because of stones / debris bouncing of the rim.

 

There's not a great deal you can do about that, which is a shame as I love the polished rim and I really love the Rota GTR's. All I can say to you is that I have recently had my Rota's refurbed by Platinum Wheel Refurbishment (formerly Lepsons) in Swindon and got them to refurb the whole wheels, without the polished rim. I have to say they have done and excellent job and the guys also really liked the GTRs.

 

I've decided to do this as I don't want to have a polished rim which gets chipped / cracked again, there seemed little point. I am happy with the refurb and I also know they will last a lot longer before needing a refurb without the lacquered / polished rim splitting and cracking.

 

Probably not what you want to hear I'm afraid but I can only tell you I had the same issue twice and the above was my solution.

 

Cheers,

 

Bock

 

 

 

Bock, thanks for the comprehensive reply! however its not the one I was looking for , but that's not your fault!!

 

Ok, Well I have mailed the guys at platinum wheel refurbishment and lets see what they say. what was the price if you dont mind me asking>?

 

I'm running 19's and if I recall the price was about £370 - £380 to get all four wheels done. I appreciate that's not cheap but Platinum / Lepsons have an excellent reputation, as a search on Pistonheads will testify to. They do have a courtesy car which you can use if you're leaving your car and wheels there. However it's booked up for weeks in advance, so bear that in mind.

 

I would give them a ring, you'll probably end up speaking to Naomi, who is really helpful. Give her the wheel details, explain what you're after and she'll give you the options / prices. I think if I wanted my wheels with a lacquered and polished rim it was about £430 - £440. They won't guarantee / warranty wheels with a lacquered and polished rim however, for exactly the reasons I mentioned in my first post, chipping, cracking etc.

 

Cheers,

 

Bock

[Oakley350z]

The other option is... To flat back the affected area and re polish the lip? Time consuming and will take a bit of upkeep to keep clean and shiny... But will cost you next to nothing!

[glrnet]

Polished lips do look the dogs doo dahs and that's what I really wanted, however after reading so many stories of grief on here and other places i went one step furte than Bocaaarck. I chose the wheels I wanted form rare Rims which had a polished lip and had them refurbed in my colour choice at Lepsons, I have to say they do a brilliant job. I t seems to me that the only way you have any chance of keeping a polished rim in tip top condition is run winter wheels to avoid salt and muck or do what ^ Oakley350z suggests, neither of those were an option I wanted.

[cs2000]

Polished lips do look the dogs doo dahs and that's what I really wanted, however after reading so many stories of grief on here and other places i went one step furte than Bocaaarck. I chose the wheels I wanted form rare Rims which had a polished lip and had them refurbed in my colour choice at Lepsons, I have to say they do a brilliant job. I t seems to me that the only way you have any chance of keeping a polished rim in tip top condition is run winter wheels to avoid salt and muck or do what ^ Oakley350z suggests, neither of those were an option I wanted.

I also hold this belief, its really impossible to keep a polished lip looking perfect, they have to be used as summer wheels only sadly, or keep having them refurbd.

[WINKJ]

right! I dropped off my Z with Platinum Alloy Wheel refurb http://www.platinumwheelrefurb.com/

 

get her back on saturday morning so I will be sure to let you know the outcome!!! very odd not having my z around

[ChrisB]

Firstly, holy thread revival, but what was the outcome of this process? Was it as good as hoped?

 

I just checked out my 2 year old (and a 1year old replacement ) silver/polished Rota GTR-Ds (dish - rears), and unfortunately I have the same alloy corrosion as above in the lip.

 

I run OEMs as winter wheels and keep the shiny Rotas for the summer. My garage maintains average dryness for storage, and I did clean and wax then before putting away, but last year a major resurfacing of the main part of my commute caused mega stone chipping to the dishes. Stones rattling around have clearly played havoc with the surface clear-coating. Interestingly my 2 year old GTRs (non dish - front) are absolutely fine.

 

I was tempted to try and scratch off the corrosion with grit paper, then metal polish.. tried this on a small area and promptly lost my bottle. Seems a shame to paint them, as an alternative, if the polish could be salvaged (eg diamond cutting), but is costly refurb as good as it looks? Should I persevere with wet/dry and rattle can lacquer? :scare: I can imagine that would not end well.. ..again

[Lexx]

You can refurb yourself.

 

Google it. There are many many guides online. It's not difficult to do. It's just a bit time consuming.

 

I'm doing mine again this summer.

[Jetpilot]

Without teaching anyone to sucks eggs, you can wax/polsih this style of lip as much as you want and this will not be avoided. The lips are lacquered, not polished aluminium. The water ingresses under the lacquer through stone chips etc which then results in "white worming" and the flaking/blistering you see above.

 

You would be better off with bare polished ally and maintaining that with decent wheel sealers and waxes designed for the purpose, at least if you do get a little corrosion with a bit of elbow grease and autosol metal polish they are back to their best.

 

I looked after my polished rims all spring/summer with no more than a couple of coats of sealer and wax at the start of spring after they were freshly polished with no more than a regular wash with the rest of the car! Let them get bad however and nothing but a professional polish will get them back to their best, but even that only costs £80 - £100.

 

You cant beat a proper polished lip personally

[ChrisB]

Hmm.. maybe it's not such a disaster then.

 

I previously used normal hard car wax. Poorboys wheel sealant has been purchased since. It was the fault of the militant vegan cyclist running Bucks highways causing stone damage, honest guv!

 

They look like this:

 

 

Of course in my mind they look like:

 

 

 

I've emailed for a quote from the wheel specialists for a diamond cut via dropping off loose wheels in the mean time..

 

Google does suggest a large box of 3M rubbing paper and a lot of polish.. but various commentary suggests easy to massive PITA. :)

 

My choice I guess.

[Lexx]

You do not need them diamond cut.

That looks like corrosion underneath lacquer.

In which case the lacquer needs removing, and then the rim polishing up using grades of wet and dry and then polishing compound. Finished off with a sealing wax.

Re-lacquering them will just lead to the same issues in a few winters as stones chip the lacquer and water gets underneath.

[ChrisB]

^^ Thanks Lexx/Jetpilot.

 

Looks like I just need to man up and get rubbing (and save money in the process). I suppose with enough elbow grease and perseverance I can't make it any worse :) I will have a look for boxes of multigrade grit on eBay/Amazon pronto.

 

My comfort zone is more electro/mechanical than making things look pretty (rubbish at art/craft)

[Lexx]

There are some really good guides online to do it DIY.

 

[Jetpilot]

^^ Thanks Lexx/Jetpilot.

 

Looks like I just need to man up and get rubbing (and save money in the process). I suppose with enough elbow grease and perseverance I can't make it any worse :) I will have a look for boxes of multigrade grit on eBay/Amazon pronto.

 

My comfort zone is more electro/mechanical than making things look pretty (rubbish at art/craft)

^^ Thanks Lexx/Jetpilot.

 

Looks like I just need to man up and get rubbing (and save money in the process). I suppose with enough elbow grease and perseverance I can't make it any worse :) I will have a look for boxes of multigrade grit on eBay/Amazon pronto.

 

My comfort zone is more electro/mechanical than making things look pretty (rubbish at art/craft)

 

Personally i would try a little Nitromors paint stripper on the lacquered lip first, being careful of the painted spokes, you might get lucky, sometimes it lifts it off with ease, sometimes it doesnt touch it usually the case if its a clear powdercoat.

 

If that works, it will be a doddle as the polished lips underneath will be pretty good and just need some really fine wet and dry (maybe even just a metal polish), apart from the areas of corrosion.

 

Keep us posted

[ChrisB]

Gulp..

 

Well, I'm currently rocking a rather fetching brushed aluminium look with wheel number 1. I think it should be a must have for this season

 

I must admit I missed your last responses and had got cracking straight away with some Oakley superflex medium which we had left over from house decorating..

 

My god, the surface lacquer scratches easily! So, the corrosion comes off readily enough (although quite a bit of thumb pressure was required in some cases). I went in with both feet...

 

 

Here is where perseverance will need to set in to retrieve the carnage!

 

So far it's not looking too desperate - and if I end up with a polished but uniformly scratched brushed look, that maybe a good bail out. (well that will be my story)

 

I need to now buy some fine grade stuff.

[Jetpilot]

Try some paint stripper to get that lacquer off, it may just make your life very easy

[ChrisB]

Try some paint stripper to get that lacquer off, it may just make your life very easy

 

I agree, the white streaks and powder from rubbing lacquer is annoying, but looked around the house for some for 20mins and couldn't find any.. Anway the lacquer eventually stood no chance against the grit paper!

 

Well, brushed effect is good. That is quite enough of that for today Polishing and fine grit can wait. Managed to run a wheel over tube of autosol, so that is now in the lounge carpet. (the wife is away today :) )

 

 

Already 100 times better, regardless of bad photos. Cheers guys.

 

[ChrisB]

Well I'm happy..

 

OK, the dishes are not totally polished/mirror finish (cba tbh), but I like a soft brushed metal effect anyway. This photo was after wet/dry but before ocd and metal polish:

 

 

And, for a total outlay of £3.64 for 3 sheets times 3 grades of wet and dry from eBay (of which I only used a single sheet of P600 wet), after polish I now have..

 

 

I already had some B&Q P80 grit (which was way too fierce in hind sight) and frogtape, plus Autosol, Megs Metal polish, Poorboys wheel sealant and a million microfibres which was part of Precious' wheel/exhaust/headlight cleaning kits anyway, so didn't count as outlay.

 

The wheel refurbishers never reponded to web-email (no doubt too many Audi's to do in St Albans than deal with aftermarket Nissan ), but by all accounts 2 wheels would have been £160 ish.

 

Works for me Will swap them for the winters in the next couple of weeks if this fine weather holds.

[Lexx]

Good effort.

Personally I would have went up to 1500 grit, but whatever works best for you.

 

Remember you will need to keep on top of them with polish (especially if it's wet out) otherwise they will quickly corrode and look like crap again

[Stutopia]

Nice job, great turnaround.

[Jetpilot]

Good work, as Lexx says, get something like this to look after them

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Poorboys-World-Car-Wheel-Sealant-2-FREE-APPLICATOR-PADS-/281212414760?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

[Jixaman]

I bought a couple of bars of the rubbing compound from the Bay, I'm not up on this stuff so I can only describe it as the brown and blue ones. The brown does all the roughing and the blue makes it mirror perfect... You use a felt wheel on a drill or dremmel, easy really but takes time... Theres a Youtube vid about it...