Alloy Wheel Refurbishment Guide
This is your ultimate ‘HOW TO’ for getting an Alloy Wheel Refurbishment Company to refurbish your alloy wheels. What you need to look out for and questions you need to ask when making your decision.
- Professional Liability Insurance – This is a big deal and it isn’t just Public Liability Insurance. If a wheel wasn’t attached properly or badly balanced and caused an at speed blow-out and god forbid you or your car was damaged, you’d want to make sure your wheel refurbishment company had this cover.
- Road Risk Cover – While the majority of refurb companies shouldn’t need to take your vehicle on the road, if they are offering a collect & drop-off service. Make sure they aren’t driving your car with third party cover on their own personal policy. Don’t be afraid to ask for evidence of road risk and value of cover.
- Balancing The Wheels – This is almost always overlooked. Shiny wheels are one thing, but find out what happens to your wheels once the tyres are fitted. There are many alloy wheel balancers available on Ebay for £100 or so. If they have one of these, at least they’re getting balanced to some degree. But if you drive your car above 70, they may not be suitable and can be dangerous. We’ll show you what to look out for.
- Powder Coating vs Wet Painting Alloy Wheels – They’re both fine, but one is generally better than the other for many reasons. One even frees up time for your wheel refurbishment company while increasing the quality of the end product.
- Will They Take The Tyres Off – This matters!! This really matters. If you’re just looking for a quick and cheap job, then perhaps not as much, as if a company is competing on price, then they will have to sacrifice quality somewhere and it might as well be in an area that you can’t see. But if your wheels are a few years old, then you’ll want to make sure your tyres seal properly and for that, the tyres must be taken off.
- Matching OEM Colours – Many will tell you that they’ll match the colour. So check they have a mixing scheme. Although, they might buy the paint as and when required from a paint factors, but they will need a set of colour chips to check your original colour. We’ll show you what to look out for.
- Removal of All The Old Paint – Given the choice, would you want the wheel refurbishers to paint over your old paint, or have it all removed back to the aluminium? But it isn’t the old paint that is the issue, it is ‘what lies beneath’, corrosion. You might not see it, but it will be there.
- Warranty – Are they willing to put their money (and their time) where their mouth is? How long will they warranty it for? Is the warranty detailed on your invoice and on their website and what exactly does it cover. And what action are they willing to take should their product fail?
- Cash or Card – This is a sensitive one, don’t we all like a bargain. Small, cash-only companies can do whatever they want with their cash, whether run it through the business or put it straight in their pockets. They can’t spend cash that doesn’t exist on their business, so are they reinvesting to maintain equipment and standards in the business.
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