Wheel refurbishment - Glasgow
 

Guys

I'm going to get mine sorted next week with a bit of luck and I know there have been good and bad experiences around the Glasgow region.

Can anyone recommend a good refurbisher for my 20" FE wheels please?

Chameleon in Renfew if it's just powder coating..

Decent price, and if you can leave the car, same day turnaround for all 5.

Thanks Richard. I think this might have been where Brian had his done and he wasn't over-impressed

It was... Didn't realise he wasn't impressed. They did a good job on the 12-spoke D3 wheels and my mate's X5.

I've had a few disappointments with Chameleon and after the last set I had done there I wouldn't go back to them, never ever... I've tried P&J Powdercoating, Thornliebank, reasonable price but the finish looked a bit heavy, Powdertec, Kinning Park were just ok, they like to do a sparkly finish as it saves them dressing the wheels and IMO doesn't look right. Best so far is ESP, Stronend Street, Possilpark. 0141 336 3800. The place looks a right mess but they have done 3 sets of wheels for me this past 12 months and no complaints so far.


My mate has his own body repair shop in Paisley and he has been restoring a 1980s Mercedes, he wanted the wheels powdercoated and sent them off to Chameleon (local to him and convenient) (this was after I told him not to use them) a few weeks ago. I went to see him last week with my spare wheel to have it lacquered and he told me that he had to strip the face off the Merc wheels and etch prime and spray them as Chameleon had made a right hash of them...


The sad thing about Chameleon is the guy who started it up used to work for ESP many years ago, he was superb at his job and the finish he could produce was second to none. He left ESP and started Chameleon, but he was not a business minded person and ran up debts, so had to sell out.

Thanks 47p2 (need to find a name at the mini meet!). Not far from where I work too. Is it cheaper to take just the wheels (and tyres) in or to leave the car. And do they do same day turnaround?

Just take the wheels and tyres in.

I had the 4x20" wheels of the Jaguar done last week, they had extra work to do on them as the rims had the little bolts around edge which had to be removed and refitted and the price for 4 wheels was £300 total

I did use them and did a reasonable job, however not perfect by any means, theres some imperfections in the finish, but they were cheap as they are not VAT registered. Their 3 - 5 day service was actually 6 days for me.They also spoiled the whole thing for me by simply not cleaning off the soapy stuff they use when refitting the tyres, so my expected shiny new wheels looked like they were covered in sea-gull poo, and I had to clean them, minor I know but lack of attention to detail. I have also had to have the wheels re-balanced since as they were not all balanced properly.

Based on above I wouldnt use them again sorry

Can't see how they are not VAT registered, if they refurb 2 sets of wheels a day, 6 days of the week this would bring them well over the VAT threshhold...Maybe they are 'at it'

I'm gettin a set of 20s done at Glasgow Audi for £200 all in :)

Do Audi do it themselves?

Seems a lot of expense having acid dips, blasting cabinets and ovens for a dealership... Maybe they nip along to Chameleon to have them done

The bodyshop do them onsite, they strip them then spray them. I'm getting a hefty discount though but could get a good deal for members :)

Ah well.. Looks like no more chameleon then :) another mate needs some wheels done so will send him elsewhere

+++++++++

guess they might be OK for those out there with ordinary cars:rolleyes:

What's the catch? That's amazing! I'll give them a call

Can you get me that deal please?

I send about 3-4 cars a week for repairs or servicing :D

Pm'd dude+++

They'll mostly do a standard silver finish on them but They could probably to a polished finish but it wont be at that price as they'll need to send them away.

Well, I dropped the car in to Glasgow Audi bodyshop last night and they said they couldn't do them and recommended Powdertec. I got the impression that all they can do is buff up wheels that haven't been painted before.

So I dropped the wheels off at ESP this morning....


....watch this space

Got the wheels back last night and scrounged some wheel wax from Davids8 - thanks mate!

Fitted them this morning and they look pretty good to me. Nice finish and only one tiny pin prick blemish that I've found so far.

What do you think?

Oh, and just in case you wondered, yes, it's sunny here! :)

Looking good Jim +++
Got any closer shots of the wheel finish?

Looking good +++

But one thing I did notice while I had the wheels in for a refurb and the spare set on, was how quiet is all was. And now I have the refurbed wheels back on, how noisy it is again. I bought the car with Nankang tyres fitted - they are rubbish! The noise is pretty grim at all speeds below 70mph, but at around 60 on a smooth road it sounds like all the wheel bearings have gone!

Can't wait for them to wear out so I can fit some decent tyres.