Had a quick search of this forum for a thread on getting the standard vRS wheels refurbished.

Two of mine are now nicely curbed through driver error and minor mishaps and as It bugs me that they are curbed I wondered how easy these types of wheel are to refurbish.

I asked one of the guys at skoda about returbs and they said as the wheel was polished it's quite difficult but seemed more like they were trying to fob me off.

I'm guessing a referb will be far cheaper than the £300+ per wheel new.

Prices, experience and before/after pics welcome.

Had a quick search of this forum for a thread on getting the standard vRS wheels refurbished.

Two of mine are now nicely curbed through driver error and minor mishaps and as It bugs me that they are curbed I wondered how easy these types of wheel are to refurbish.

I asked one of the guys at skoda about returbs and they said as the wheel was polished it's quite difficult but seemed more like they were trying to fob me off.

I'm guessing a referb will be far cheaper than the £300+ per wheel new.

Prices, experience and before/after pics welcome.

i scraped one of mine a few weeks ago, got quoted nearly 150 for a repair,but as it was quite a deep score, i didnt think that the wheel could be machined and look like the rest,as it cannot be filled as its diamond cut finish,so i ended up buying one just short of 300 quid, and as the car needed front tyres, got a new tyre fitted,kept the scraped one as a spare instead of the bicycle wheel that it came with, with the legs and wings trimmed off the jack carrier it fits inside the wheel in the spare wheel well,and only protrudes upwards about 3/4 of an inch

Alloys will always attract kerbs and it generally costs as much to refurb originals as it would to purchase new after-market alloys. I recently purchased a set of ATS Radial 17's @ £320 for my VRS (for winter tyre use) but I actually prefer the looks versus the stock Geminis. Both wheels look very similar with the ATS being a slightly darker single-tone shade of anthracite. The higher sidewall of 17's will also reduce the likelihood of further kerbing, increase ride comfort, and for the most corosive 4-5 months of the year the Geminis will be safe and sound.

In case you are interested I got my alloys.here http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/alloy-wheels/ats/radial/?d=17

Alloys will always attract kerbs and it generally costs as much to refurb originals as it would to purchase new after-market alloys. I recently purchased a set of ATS Radial 17's @ £320 for my VRS (for winter tyre use) but I actually prefer the looks versus the stock Geminis. Both wheels look very similar with the ATS being a slightly darker single-tone shade of anthracite. The higher sidewall of 17's will also reduce the likelihood of further kerbing, increase ride comfort, and for the most corosive 4-5 months of the year the Geminis will be safe and sound.

In case you are interested I purchase my alloys here http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/alloy-wheels/ats/radial/?d=17 The size required to fit VRS hubs perfectly is 7.5x17" 5x112 ET50. A full set of new nuts and spigots are included with the wheels.

Edited 2 January, 201511 yr by Orville

Luke,

 

I grazed the R/N/S alloy of my vRS at the end of November on a high kerb, it wasn't deeply scored but noticeable nevertheless. I made use of The Wheel Specialist ( http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk) - albeit the Birmingham branch that I went to would be a bit of a trek for you, it looks a though they have franchises all over the country. They sorted mine out for £55 and I can't fault the job they did. 

Please excuse botched edit above. Only noticed after it was too late to change things...

Many of the 'smart' repairers like Chipsaway offer wheel refurbs too. I don't know what the outcome is like but might be worth giving them a call.

In my regular rant about this issue. I have never to my knowledge had such badly designed rims or mismatched tyres on a new car.just putting a straight edge across the wheel will show that the tyre wall is too flush with the rim. In some towns the road side parking bays are getting narrower, and if you have a wheel over the line, it's a parking ticket. So you naturally try to get as close to the kerb as possible. This is usually how most of the damage is done. I had 2 L&K's over 4 years without problem because the tyre wall was way past the rim.So come replacement tyre time ask about this at the tyre supplier.

In my regular rant about this issue. I have never to my knowledge had such badly designed rims or mismatched tyres on a new car.just putting a straight edge across the wheel will show that the tyre wall is too flush with the rim. In some towns the road side parking bays are getting narrower, and if you have a wheel over the line, it's a parking ticket. So you naturally try to get as close to the kerb as possible. This is usually how most of the damage is done. I had 2 L&K's over 4 years without problem because the tyre wall was way past the rim.So come replacement tyre time ask about this at the tyre supplier.

Mine came with Bridgestone Potenza's fitted - these have absolutely no rim protection at all. At least the Continental SC2's have a modicum of protection, the rims seem to stand slightly proud with the Bridgestone (this may be my imagination of course). Still, seeing as mine is the diesel vRS it'll only be a few thousand miles until they need replacing and I can put Goodyears on it.

There's a Wheelspecialist in Garforth, Leeds

 

http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/locations/leeds/

Yep bridgestones on mine. Goodyears on a family members Focus ST, and they have a really good rubber edge rim protector.

Think it was Dunlop's on my mk2 L&K's

In my regular rant about this issue. I have never to my knowledge had such badly designed rims or mismatched tyres on a new car.just putting a straight edge across the wheel will show that the tyre wall is too flush with the rim.

The Geminis on mine look to have pretty much the same rim depth to tyre as any other low profile wheel I've ever had on a car. I really don't see how its anyone's problem but the owners if they decide they don't like the fact the tyres don't have a fairly useless little bit of rim protector rubber on the tyre.

I thought the Bridgestones on my new vRS looked 'under-tyred' for the rims compared with MkII vRS rims and it was one of the sticking points in for me buying the new model.

 

Continental tyres had a nice rim protection on them and although this won't prevent kerb damage they will help stone/gravel damage being thrown up from the abysmal roads we pay to drive on.

Depends how much of a perfectionist you are, the smart repairs look ok at a distance but can not replicate the machine polished rim correctly. If you want it done as good as new look at Exelwheels.co.uk.

If the repair costs and frequency that the alloys have been damaged, going by the people on this site. So far after 8 months the Allogattors I had fitted have saved me a fortune. But they are a bit chewed now. Before the sarcastic ones reply, I have been driving over 40yrs without this problem. I used to choose after market wheel trims that sat within the rim in the dark ages before alloys.