BBS wheel refurb advice please

[tintinmt]

I have recently purchased a staggered set of 18 inch BBS RG (one piece) alloy wheels.

The wheels have been refurbished at some point in their life.

I took them to a local company that I have used before but due to the experience today I have not yet let them proceed.

Things started badly when the member of staff said something along the lines of 'they're horrible aren't they'.

He picked one up and said they are not genuine otherwise they would be stamped on the back.

I said that on these wheels they are marked under the 'waffle plate' bolt covers.

'Oh'....yes. Now we acknowledge that they are genuine.

My optimistic view is that the centres are OK to leave, as these will go on my daily.

I want to address the issue of the corrosion under the lacquer finish on the polished rims.

The adviser told me that the rims are originally diamond cut and in his opinion the best thing to do is power coat the entire wheel.

He said that the amount of metal to be removed to erase the imperfections caused by pitting and kerb damage make painting the better option.

I don't necessarily disagree - especially as I am not an expert - however, as above I am not so sure of his expertise.

It seems possible to rub down the rims only and then polish them to a good finish.

I would protect with a wheel protect chemical rather than lacquer.

I'm pretty sure this will involve a shed load of graft.

Any suggestions please?

[Annabella]

See what people say on here or google other refurbers in your area and get another opinion, without mentioning you've been somewhere else.

[rider]

They are the same BBS alloys my Supra has been running for almost two decades. First thing is take care of the centre caps. There are three parts to those and the plastic will be brittle so tyre change numpties need to be told to handle with care. You cannot get replacements except for very occasionally the centres (20+ year old ones) will come up on the US eBay.

 

When I bought my car in 1999 the wheels had a polished lip. These get ugly black stain corroded with time especially with water getting under the lacquer around the valve. I've had my wheels refurbed twice in 18 years. First time I had them diamond cut and polished back to where they were when I bought the car. Second time gave up on the polished lip and had the whole wheel powder coated. If you want to be getting the wheels done every 5 years or so then go for the diamond cut, otherwise its a lot less maintenance to get them powder coated. Had mine done must be 8 years ago now and still good.

 

If you use surfactant chemicals to treat/protect the aluminium rather than lacquer you'll be needing to re-apply on a very regular basis. It also wouldn't look as polished as a shiny lacquer appearance would. I'd go with the recommendation you have been given, its cheaper too.

[tintinmt]

Thanks. Did you paint the lips a different colour to the centres? I would prefer to keep them as original as possible.

[Dnk]

I'd give Ibrar at Speedwells a call

[tintinmt]

Thanks Dnk - I hope to find a solution a bit nearer to home.

[KamaSupra]

They look identical to my old Supras Volk Racing wheels, I had the same problem when I bought my old aero. The wheels were in a real bad state and the wheel refurbers said to powder coat them for reasons as said above in other posts.

As you can see I just got them powder coated in sliver, with a slight sparkle to the paint which you can't see in the photo.

 

 

[tintinmt]

They do look good.

[rider]

Thanks. Did you paint the lips a different colour to the centres? I would prefer to keep them as original as possible.

 

I have a white car so I wanted to make the wheels darker. I elected for the two stage BMW shadow chrome (black base, silver coat) and the caps are slightly darker then the rest of the wheel. I have linked a picture, copyright Jake showing the fully painted wheel in a slightly darker slightly reflective chromed silver.

 

You'll see the centre cap (not the ring around the cap) is quite a bit darker than the rest of the wheel. I prefer that colour over the original silver but that's probably purely because the wheels are on a light coloured car.

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=215694&d=1479225807

[ScottC]

Try Diamond Styling in Sevenoaks. They did a great job on my BBS's

[tintinmt]

I agree about the contrast with the car colour. In my case they are going on a black car so my situation is reversed. The centre caps on mine are in the original colour which is silver/bronze or to my mind Champagne silver. I rather like the colour and also the contrast with the polished lips.

[tintinmt]

Try Diamond Styling in Sevenoaks. They did a great job on my BBS's

 

I'll have a look, thanks.