Alloy Wheel Repair

[Stuarted]

I have a damaged alloy wheel - hit sharp kerb, ruined tyre, scraped rim, possible other wheel damage.  (Not a Skoda wheel, but that's irrelevant!)

There have been several threads on here about getting rims repaired, but it's not clear whether these were just cosmetic (repairing scrapes and dents) or whether the repairers were also able to check and rectify any imbalance or running-out-of-true.

Can anyone recommend a good repairer who can  do such checks / repairs, please?

If it makes any difference, I live in Hereford - on the Welsh border, mid-way between South Wales and Birmingham.

Thanks in  advance for any advice / recommendations / links.

 

[silver1011]

Posting a picture of the damage will help people to make recommendations.

 

Saying that there are lots of lots of alloy wheel refurbishment companies so it should be easy to find a local one.

 

Good set-ups are able to check for alignment and will have the equipment to remove and replace tyres and balance them too.

[philbes]

There is one just off the M5 at the Tewksbury junction (J9) if that is not too far away for you.  If you are interested I will dig out their card and post the contact details.  Send them a photo and they will give a yes/no on if a repair is possible and if so a quote.

[brisk]

I've had all four 18" on my vRS refurbed by My Alloys  (no affiliation). I took mine to a branch in Bristol but I think they can do a courier collection back to their main place in Basingstoke . All were well scraped and two had to be made round again as well. They took the tyres off, put them back on, balanced and even fitted them (I was running on winter's at the time). Now they look showroom quality! Not super cheap, but I'm happy with the results.

 

Just gotta watch out for those darn kerbs now.

[Jamesfts]

As mentioned above I can recommend Reinventing The Wheel in Tewkesbury. I smacked a wheel on my Alfa into one of Herefordshire's fine selection of huge potholes, tyre was wrecked and had a large flat spot on the inner edge of the wheel. 

 

They'll give you a a good idea if they can fix it if you send them a photo, price was reasonable and they did it very quickly (less than a day). 

 

http://www.reinventingthewheel.co.uk

[ethel]

Hello

I had a 17" RS alloy - standard design (2006 mk 2, pre-FL) replaced the other day as it was bent by one of the many thousands of potholes around our way apparently.

I doubt it's mend-able but would it be worth anything as scrap I wonder?

Has anyone here ever taken an alloy to a scrappie..sorry, reclamation specialist & if so, how much did they give you?

[Kerans]

Alloys can often be repaired if they are buckled by being squashed, but not if they have been twisted around the hub.

 

I recently had 3 Neptune 18" alloys flagged up as being buckled when I got new tyres. You could tell as well, the whole car vibrated at anything over 65mph. There were loads of balance weights on them but the wheels shook from side to side and up and down.

 

I took all 3 to Wheel Works in Crawley, they tested them and found one to be repairable but two to be twisted and not repairable. The one they repaired at a cost of £40+VAT is actually better balanced than the two brand new alloys I bought from Dennis Horton/Skoda Shop at £180 each.  It only has one single 5g weight on it.

 

Your best bet is to take the alloys along to a wheel repair place, they can usually test them immediately which should be free of charge. It's quite easy to see if they're twisted, they wobble from side to side (not just up and down) on the machine.

[ethel]

Hmm, ta for that - I was led to believe that it was fit only for reincarnation as Coke cans so I'd definitely be interested in getting the opinion of an expert in these things..!

Cheers

[Kerans]

No problem. Wheel Works were very helpful if you can get there, although you are at the other end of Surrey.

 

The Internet seems to think scrap value of a single alloy is about £5-10. Less if the tyre is still on it.

[philbes]

Hello

I had a 17" RS alloy - standard design (2006 mk 2, pre-FL) replaced the other day as it was bent by one of the many thousands of potholes around our way apparently.

I doubt it's mend-able but would it be worth anything as scrap I wonder?

Has anyone here ever taken an alloy to a scrappie..sorry, reclamation specialist & if so, how much did they give you?

For a 16" Renault alloy wheel that could not be straightened the local scrap yard gave me £14 (the tyre had been previously removed).  I think the price paid was based on the weight of the wheel.

[CHRIS ELLIS]

As said my alloys Basingstoke or Bristol 4 sets done now top notch company.

[ethel]

Cheers all, shall do a bit more research - apols for the slight thread hijack..