Been quoted £290 for new rear pads, discs and 2x Toyo Proxes T1R's (205/45 R16) for my 2004 Fabia vRS (TDI PD 130) but needing new tyres has got me thinking about alloys again. I've still got the original ones fitted but the silver paint is chipped and flaking, been thinking for a long time about having them refurb'd and maybe going with black to hide the brake dust. Was quoted £240 on a 3 day turn around (plus another £40 if I want to change colour) or £380 for a new set of 16" Fox FX004's or if I go for new alloys when the pads, discs and tyres are done they'll do the lot for £550 including an alignment and adjustment if necessary, in my mind that brings the alloys down from £380 to £260, a saving of £120 sounds good but I haven't shopped around so don't know.

Having now searched photo's of other red vRS' with black alloys I think I prefer the look with silver alloys, but that means continuing to live with them looking dirty 5 mins after cleaning them.

So questions now are:

1) Are Fox FX004's any good? Can't find much on them, only 1 person moaning they look cheap & nasty.

2) Is £260 a good price?

3) If it is, do I go with silver or black?

4) If I get new alloys could I sell my old ones? If yes, do they sell for enough to cover the cost of refurbing them?

I like the look of the FX004's but I don't really want to go for new alloys and be left with a set hanging around which are going to cost more to refurb than I could sell them for because in that case I might as well refurb them and put them back on my car.

Car is booked in for Thursday for tyres, pads and discs and I've got to let them know tomorrow if I want the Fox alloys so they can order them.

What should I do? Opinions/comments please.

It's all economics...

 

Check your insurance for fitting different wheels. They may want their pound of flesh!

If you go for it, you've then options : Refurbing your existing alloys or selling them on eBay.

 

Check the prices they go for on eBay. Sold individually, they're not cheap.

 

J.

Cheers for that, never occurred to me that it might affect my insurance.

I did a quick search of completed listings on eBay for "Skoda Fabia vRS alloys" and an original rim minus the tyre seemed to fetch £40-£50 which even before eBay took their cut wouldn't cover the cost of refurb. My primary objective isn't to make money on them (although it would offset the cost of new ones) but I definitely don't want to be losing money.

I did the red car black wheel think and it does work; I'm just not sure black wheels work.

You go to al the trouble of buying something only for it to instantly become almost invisible and serve no purpose other than to show up how non-black your tyres are.

You avoid having to clean them as often but will spend loads more on tyre black

 

I'd stick to light wheels if it was me.

 

With regards to your questions

 

1 - fox are a big manufacturer and halfords seem to love them - so quality shouldn't be an issue

2 - it truly depends on what tyres you're getting. I'd go for a pair of Toyo's over 4 brand new ditch finders (and at that price they can surely only be budget cheapo crap tyres)

3 - see my first papragraph - i've also done a quick shop below

4 - yes you can sell your original alloys. there is plenty of people looking for them and as you say they generally fetch £40-50 each on ebay. Not sure why you are trying to cover the cost of a refurb if you are selling them though.....

 

Or you can refurb your existing wheels for about £50 if you DIY it yourself.

Does mean having another set of wheels to use temporarily though.

 

Or maybe plastidip them? Temporary recolour while you decide what else to do

If you can get someone to lend you some donor wheels, you could refurb your current alloys yourself?

 

Some good threads out there.

 

Mr Pasty's is just one of them.

 With regards to your questions

 

2 - it truly depends on what tyres you're getting. I'd go for a pair of Toyo's over 4 brand new ditch finders (and at that price they can surely only be budget cheapo crap tyres)

4 - yes you can sell your original alloys. there is plenty of people looking for them and as you say they generally fetch £40-50 each on ebay. Not sure why you are trying to cover the cost of a refurb if you are selling them though.....

 

Or you can refurb your existing wheels for about £50 if you DIY it yourself.

 

Thanks guys.

PastyBoy - the £260 is for the FX004's not the tyres. I'm getting 2x Toyo T1R's fitted but that's included in the £290 price with new discs and pads.

I'm only thinking about refurbing mine to sell them because the paint is flaking (and one is kerbed - Doh!) Are people buying them as is at £40-£50 then? Cause if that's the case then I'm much more inclined to change.

Not really up for a DIY job, I sprayed my motorbike a few years ago and although it saves money and is satisfying it's a time consuming pain in the arse and (to me personally, when I've done it myself) it never looks as good as a professional job.

Thanks for the photo, seeing that I think you're right and lighter wheels look better. I like the black on red but think they look better with the black grill surround, fog surrounds, under skirt and with the pillars painted black etc none of which I'm currently planning on doing.

Actually I've just been out & looked and mine aren't as bad as I thought, the kerbed one is just scuffed and the paint is only bubbled in couple of area's on 2 of them, the other 2 are fine. I hadn't looked in detail at the ones on eBay but some have been selling for just under £100 and are marked/scuffed. It looks like as long as I take photos and state the defects in the description people will buy them as is, which means anything I get for them goes towards the cost of the new ones (as long as I'm right?)

In which case if £260 is a good price for the FX004's (and still need to ring my insurance) then I'm thinking I should go for them but in silver not black.

ah yea misread - through it was £290 for the bits and tyres or £380 for bits and wheels and tyres - making them some super cheap wheels!!

 

If you do swap pay you're £12 join freedom an advertise them on here.

they should fly out if in decentish condition and you won't get raped by eBay's fees

Noooo!!!! Discovered the FX004's come in Gloss Black with a polished face and had almost 100% convinced myself to go for it until the garage said their supplier (main importer) only has black in stock. I can get them online but not for £260 fitted so bang goes that idea. :'(