Alloy wheel refurbishment guide: four wheel types (split-rim, standard silver, diamond-cut, coloured), mobile vs static repair methods, when each is appropriate, and the lease-return recharge reality (£60-80). Get the car inspected before spending on wheels.
Gary runs through the four types of alloy wheel you are likely to encounter, how each is refurbished, and the honest advice on whether it is worth spending money on wheels before handing a lease car back.
Four types of wheel
The first is a split-rim. These have studs around the rim and the wheel itself comes apart into two or three pieces. They are usually found on high-end sports cars and need to go to a specialist who will unbolt and dismantle the wheel before refurbishing it. They are expensive wheels; the work is worth doing, but it is a big job.
The second is the standard silver wheel. This is the most common type by a long way -- fitted on everything from Ferraris to Fiestas. For cars up to about four or five years old, mobile refurbishment is perfectly good. The mobile operator compresses the tyre without removing it, does the face and rim, and leaves. They can do all four in less than a day. Balancing is not affected because the tyre is never taken off the wheel. Two-pack paint finish; very similar to the paint on the car body.
The third is diamond-cut. These are bicolour wheels: the wheel is finished in one colour (often dark grey or black) and then a lathe cuts the face, leaving a bright machined silver strip. You cannot do this with a mobile unit; a lathe cannot fit in a van. Diamond-cut wheels go to a static specialist.
The fourth is any other solid colour -- anthracite, black, custom colours. These can usually be done by either mobile or static operators depending on the condition of the wheel.
Mobile vs static refurbishment
Mobile is convenient and quick, and the finish is excellent on newer wheels. The limitation is corrosion. If the wheel is six to ten years old and the back of the rim is corroding, the mobile operator cannot deal with that; the whole wheel needs to come off, the tyre is fully removed, and the wheel goes into a dipping tank where an acid solution dissolves the corrosion. That is static-site work. The process takes longer -- sometimes a day between stages -- so you can be without the car for two to three days. Cost difference between the two methods is not dramatic; choose by the age and condition of the wheel.
The lease return question
Gary's advice here is clear: do not rush to refurbish the wheels before a lease return without getting the whole car checked first. The recharge for scuffed alloys at lease return is typically around £60 to £80 per wheel. That is similar to the cost of having them refurbished. The risk is that you spend the money on the wheels and then get charged for something else you did not notice -- a gouge under the bumper, a crack in the roof, something that costs far more. Get the car inspected first; then decide what to spend money on.
See our alloy wheel refurbishment page for details, and our end of lease car inspections page if you are preparing to hand a car back.
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