Alloy Wheel Refurbishment

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Two-piece Alloys

Various options are available when refurbishing alloys, these depend on the existing condition and the type of finish required.

Badly corroded alloys or wheels with a poor/flaky existing paint surface will need a full chemical dip and shot blast prior to any refurbishment.
Obviously this will involve tyre removal/refitting, new valves and balancing, etc which adds to the time and cost.

Wheels that are in good cosmetic condition other than surface scrapes and curb damage, can often just have the front face repainted without having to completely remove the tyres or be dipped/blasted. The bead of the tyre can be broken away from the outer rim to be able to fully attend to any curb damage, but not having to fully remove tyres can make the job quicker, easier, and cheaper.

Overall the cheapest option for a full refurbishment is powder coating. We don't carry out powder coating directly, but can arrange it if necessary or can provide contact details for recommended local powder coaters. Powder coating is tough and hardwearing, but may sometimes have a slightly uneven texture depending on the underlying condition of the alloy surface and the conditions during coating.

Powder coating cannot be flatted down to remove surface imperfections or polished - the final baked-on finish is the only available choice. Its use is more suited to intricate wheels with awkward surfaces that cannot be easily sprayed by hand, and also alloys that may be subjected to a hard life and require a tough finish such as 4X4 wheels where an ultimate smooth surface isn't a priority. Colour choice is more limited with powder coating.

The other option is to have the wheels painted / wet-sprayed. This has the advantage of being a better finish. The 2-pack lacquer can be flatted down to remove imperfections and buffed up to a nice gloss. Any awkward to reach areas in recesses and between spokes may have to be left with a 'gun finish' exactly how they were sprayed, but good results can be achieved using paint - particularly on wheels with large flat areas and big spokes that can be worked on easily and polished up nicely. With painting, colour choice is virtually unlimited.

I reality, the best overall results are achieved using a combination of powder coating (for the tough underlying phosphate primer coats) and wet-spraying the finishing coats in a specific choice of colour with 2-pack lacquer, and final polishing. This is the standard route that I use but the actual processes used my vary slightly depending on other factors during refurbishment.

Damaged wheels that are distorted or cracked can sometimes be repaired, but this work is not carried out by myself. Contact details are available on request for anyone requiring this type of work to deal with the specialists direct.

As a rough guide, a front face repaint to a standard 5/6/7 spoke alloy, up to around 16" would start at around £50 per wheel for a set of four. If needed, a full chemical dip and shot blast to the same wheel prior to refurb would add around £40 per wheel to the above cost. This includes tyre removal/refitting, new valves, and final balancing. Costs can vary depending on wheels size, one or two-piece rim structure, intricate design of alloy, required colour, etc.

The pictures show examples of the type of work carried out to various types of alloys. All of the wheels pictured are finished in paint and lacquer.