Alloy Wheel Refurb

[BenG]

Hi guys.

Last week I had my wheels refurbished at the Wheel Repair Centre in Preston, they have done a fantastic job i'm really pleased with the results. They were shot blasted and powdercoated in Anthracite, they are not an exact match as the original paint but are very close, maybe a shade darker. It cost me £315 which included the removal/re-fitting of tyres and balancing.















Ben

 

[Mossyv6]

Top job Ben, have been looking into having my wheels done but worried about the colour being too dark but they look just right

 

[Matbrown]

They should have masked the mounting faces up.

 

[BenG]

They should have masked the mounting faces up.

Yes they should, I went to fit them last night and they were a bit tight, still went on ok though.

 

[liam1610]

I find the same with most wheel refurbishment places they all paint the center hub facings, if you pop a bit of copper slip in the hub center its self them pop the wheel on and off a few times will fix that issue of sticking.

Where did you get the stickers from if you don't mind me asking.

 

[j333evo]

As has been pointed out, the inside face should have been masked off, though I've had a few wheels refurbished in my time most seem to do this, but after melting the paint on the face before while only doing 5 laps of Silverstone, which resulted in wheel creep and then the bolts coming loose, never again.

I know remove all paint from the mounting face to ensure a good clean contact.

Another factor I have come across, is slight wheel wobble on painted mounting face, as the paint was not perfectly even across surface.

Wheels when new never come with paint on the mounting face, they should be kept like this.

 

[BenG]

Good point, I will look at removing the paint from the mounting faces then. Thanks for pointing that out .

What is the prefered method for removing the paint?

Where did you get the stickers from if you don't mind me asking.

Gib#244 was selling these on here a while back, i'm not sure he has any left.

 

[liam1610]

Cheers for that i have checked out the guy from cs so will be grabbing a set from there.

As for removing paint i would just fit, remove then refit and torque, then drive the vehicle for a few days and check torque settings and recheck in a weeks time. Torque settings for 182 road wheel bolts is 105nm if you needed to know.

 

[BenG]

The wheel bolts are 90nm according to the F4R workshop manual.

I think i'll remove the paint after hearing j333evo's story :shock:

 

[liam1610]

Yer thats what i thought as i had only workshop manuals for the F4R 730 (172) engine and lately i have now got a list of torque settings for the F4R 738 (182) and the wheel bolt settings have changed to 105 nm, i only got this torque setting as i was having issues with one of the wheels coming loose after around 2 weeks of driving, then i found out that on the 172 models with 15" wheels the torque setting was 105 nm not the 90 nm and the 182 models were all 105 nm torque settings for road wheel bolts.

 

[BenG]

yep, that was from the 730 manual. I normally do mine at 100nm, might crank it up a notch next time then.

 

[j333evo]

Never over torque wheels bolts, common misconception to do this even in motorsport. But as metal & alloy expand at different rates you can get the bolts/studs stretching & then they come off get torqued up again etc & eventually they can snap, at least 2 of the Abarth 500 Trofeo race cars did this last year when mechanics thought the 85nm as recommended by Abarth was too low.

I'd just use some wet & dry on the face on a flat rubber block & the paint should come off with ease to expose a nice machined alloy face.

 

[BenG]

I've removed the paint from the faces now, it took me about 2 hours and I must have lost a pint of sweat!

I bought some new wheel bolts as the others look old and ruin the look. The standard ones from renault are around £20, the ones below were £2.50 each, madness really for some wheel bolts, I was drawn in by the pretty colours .

 

[hodgy21]

Nice, where did you get those from if you don't mind me asking?

 

[felix]

Hi Ben. Wheels look very nice. Colour matches well with center cap.

No locking wheel nut?

 

[BenG]

Hi Ben. Wheels look very nice. Colour matches well with center cap.

No locking wheel nut?

Thanks Felix. I'm really pleased with them. The center caps are very slightly lighter.

I put all 4 wheel bolts in purely for the photos, I have just managed to source some locking bolts the same style. (see below)

Nice, where did you get those from if you don't mind me asking?

Wheel bolt....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300455846121&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Locking wheel bolt...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TPI-polarised...Wheels_tyres_Trim_Nuts_ET&hash=item45fafa574d

 

[stormduck]

Nice work...but surely they're £2.50 for a reason? I'm curious... :?

 

[BenG]

TPI call them racing bolts and state they are made from a material called SCM 440, heat treated, I guess that means they are tougher. They are more corrosive resistant too.

 

[Dan493]

Nice work...but surely they're £2.50 for a reason? I'm curious... :?

Looks like they make it up on the locking bolts :lol: but seriously they do look good though, very tempted.

I had my wheels refurbed a while ago and i was a little dissapointed with the centre caps not matching very well is there any way to sort this?

 

[Matbrown]

Get them to spray the centre caps...