182 cup wheel buckled by pot hole, need replacement

[Summeh]

One of the wheels on my full fat 182 (with cup packs) was buckled the other day. On the back of the wheel it has two part numbers and "silver" or "anthracite sport" written against each part number on opposite side spokes.

I thought it was anthracite so went to renault with this part number and got a new wheel ordered in, however the new wheel (anthracite) is much lighter colour than my original buckled wheel, which i now think is "graphite". its a very dark grey.

Also the inside of my original wheels are painted, the new anthracite wheel was only painted on the outside face. Could this mean my wheels have been refurbished?

In any case, can someone provide me with the part number for the graphite wheel please?

Cheers

 

[W111ALG]

Can you not get the buckled one sorted? I hit a brick on a DC while doing 60mph last year and about 1/4 of my wheel was almost squared. A local engineering firm managed to straighten it out/refurb it for £40.

 

[Neat]

I've got a cup packed 182, iirc the insides are coated pale grey, to the outsides anthracite - so it does seem like yours has been refurbed.

I'm after another one as a spare - can't quite decide whether to buy new or secondhand.

It doesn't sound like you were considering it, but personally I think 'fixing' anything other than a lightly scraped wheel is a bad idea. There are companies out there that'll do it for you - but likewise there are places that won't on safety grounds.

Ok so I'm not a material scientist, but here's my take on it. A wheel is formed (presumably by casting?) to be a certain shape. It's designed to withstand, sometimes fast, temperature changes (e.g. hot from brakes and then splashed with water), vibrations, the odd knock - but all without any permanent deformation.

Once the shape has been changed, surely it can't ever be put back the way it was. Irrespective of whether heat is applied to put it back to the same shape - surely weaknesses have been introduced that can't be sorted. I'm sure the scientists out there will correct me if I'm wrong - but haven't atomic bonds been broken during the process of the wheel being reshaped?

Some may argue that a wheel is strong to begin with, so it hardly makes any difference. I can't honestly say I've heard of a straightened wheel letting go (the government would probably have had the practice banned by now.) For the sake of just getting another wheel, it doesn't seem worth the risk. When components do let go, it's often under high load - the worst possible time.

Also in this case it does seem like the wheel's had some previous work - maybe only refinished, but could have been more.

Maybe I've got out of my depth giving these opinions - but the theory seems sound.

Assuming you get a replacement - does seem like you will need the colour matching as well.

By the way, any chance you can let me know how much these wheels are new, save me having to find out? I'm favouring buying used, but I'm not sure yet and it'd be useful to know either way.

 

[Summeh]

The advice i've been given by a few garages is not to bother with getting the wheel unbuckled, as it'll never be 100% true, and being an enthusiastic driver, I'd be unhappy if I knew it wasn't perfect. So i'll probably just keep the new anthracite wheel i've got and get it colour matched to the others. I could do with getting the others resprayed/refurbed at the same time, so a good oppotunity to get them all done I guess.

Just seems a shame to buy this new anthracite wheel then spray it... Although the graphite grey on mine is much nicer than the anthracite.

 

[Summeh]

it was 175 inc vat for 1 wheel.

 

[Neat]

Cheers for the price.

Once I've sorted a spare (and funds allow) I'm probably going to get all five wheels done at The Wheel Specialist. Not the cheapest, but seems like they do good quality work. I'll probably go with their own shade of grey - which is apparently darker than standard (bit like yours I think), I hope it'll look ok.