Alloy wheels what are they good for...

[guest4283]

I was doing a tire rotation the other day and I noticed that the light silver surface was peeling off in strips from the inside of my alloy wheels. I thought alloy wheels were supposed to be solid alloy all the way through!? Silly me.

My Tyre facts
About 17k miles
Bridgestone (directional) fronts about 3mm, rears 6mm.

[guest4218]

His probably the laquer peeling off this happen because of the wrong allow wheel cleaning products you are using

[eljuero]

Mine are also not in good condition (at least not all 4 of them) but I do have over 100k kms on the clock.
They are not made to last for ever, my opinion.

[guest4283]

...laquer peeling off this happen because of the wrong allow wheel cleaning products you are using

Lord knows what cleaning product was used for first five years of life as I bought second hand. I've just used regular car shampoo. Wheels appear black underneath the silver top coat/lacquer.

[guest1521]

2009 40,000 miles 1.2 SE. These particular OE alloys are of a design so easily cleaned - unlike some. Also, easily polished - so they get 'treated' twice a year. Which is possibly why they're still in great looking nick. But personally, I'd take steel wheels (easycare) any day!

[guest4218]

Alloy wheels are great but a pain to keep it clean especialy mine are multispoke as soon i can afford i will paint my alloy wheels plain black

[guest4283]

Alloy wheels are great but a pain to keep it clean especialy mine are multispoke as soon i can afford i will paint my alloy wheels plain black

Well I wouldn't go quite that far. But I think I'll just paint over the black spots with silver Hammerite as the top coat flakes off. Standards must be up held.

[peteo48]

I think there are firms that will refurb alloys for you. Saw it a couple of times on Wheeler Dealers. Vastly cheaper than buying new ones.

[guest4078]

Our local Honda dealer offers a refurb service for alloy wheels, around £200 for a set of Jazz wheels I think.

[chrisc]

Friend had his wheels powder-coated when they started to look tatty.  Since the powder coating place charges by weight of the product, it was relatively cheap, a lot less than the equivalent of £200

They usually do aluminium window frames, garden furniture, etc.  If you want a colour other than white, you have to wait a week or two

[guest4324]

For cleaning I've only ever used good old soap and water and leather them dry. I've had satisfactory results since more than 25 years now!!
For scuffs and chips there are repair kits available such as Protex alloy repair kit which I think costs about £15.
I don't work for them and I've never tried it so I can't say if they're any good. There are plenty of videos on youtube as well giving tips which could well save you the £200!!

[guest1272]

Stupidly had metal dust caps on my OEM tyres which wouldn't come off, so I took the car to a garage to have them "professionally" removed and the idiots ended up gauging deep scratches in all four (previously pristine) alloys  during the process.
Not only that, but they refused to acknowledge they'd done it  .

Ended up taking them to a place that does bodywork/wheel refurbs and they did all 4 for £60 (was a special offer on at the time). They now look like brand new.

The one thing I'm happy with on the Jazz is that the tyre sidewall bulges out ever so slightly - just enough to prevent them being kerbed , plus they're easy to clean as the "spokes" are flat and broad.