Unsatisfactory wheel refurb...

[.Ben.]

What would you do? How would you expect this to realistically be resolved? Do you think I'm being too picky? :S

The fact that 2 of the wheels were returned in perfect condition (they were all hideously corroded when I sent them away) leads me to believe that I have a point.

2 wheels have cosmetic imperfections. One came back with a perfect finish, but a minor, cosmetic dent on the inner edge:

The other came back to me looking like this:

It's almost like this wheel was the last one on a Friday afternoon and they just dusted over the corrosion. :dead:

I've sent these photos to the refurbisher in an email outlining the problem, but they keep deflecting my calls...

 

[Beef-Mc]

That's almost as poor as the renault attempt.

Give the ppl who did it a phone and see what they say, or email with the pics. Hopefully they'll sort it out for you.

 

[TimR26]

Take them back. You've paid good money so they should do a good job. Where was it done out of interest?

 

[cat171]

I'd sent them back, the second one is awful !

 

[Rob]

As above, take them back, say all four wheels were in the same condition when you sent them, yet some seem to have much more effort put into them than others.

 

[Dangerous_dave]

thats pretty shocking tbh mate, where did you get that done?

tell them your really not happy and sort it out...
they look like they are goin to bubble bad...

 

[Vicky.]

If you're unhappy best thing to do is take them back and say you want them redoing. Got mine done and the "wheel refurb" company forgot to tighten the wheel nuts! This made huge scores in the back of the wheel so I took them back and they gave me all my money back. Tbh I'd ask for my money back due to an unsatisfactory service.

 

[.Ben.]

I got them done by BJV Engineering in Kent. They have a pretty good reputation as far as I can tell?

My problem is that I can't be without my car for another week (the Elise is at the bodyshop being painted and a work colleague that I was getting a lift with whilst this job was being done has a death wish and I have a young family! ).

Argh!

 

[Dangerous_dave]

I got them done by BJV Engineering in Kent. They have a pretty good reputation as far as I can tell?

My problem is that I can't be without my car for another week (the Elise is at the bodyshop being painted and a work colleague that I was getting a lift with has a death wish and I have a young family! ).

Argh!

got some 14'' steelies you can borrow if it helps...dunno if they will fit mind!

 

[.Ben.]

LOL - Thanks for the offer Dave, not sure they'll fit over the brakes? :S

If they do, can anyone confirm? Would be *really* useful!

 

[dannyjenks]

I got them done by BJV Engineering in Kent. They have a pretty good reputation as far as I can tell?

My problem is that I can't be without my car for another week (the Elise is at the bodyshop being painted and a work colleague that I was getting a lift with whilst this job was being done has a death wish and I have a young family! ).

Argh!

A WEEK???? Dont they only take a day?

 

[Bluebeard]

LOL - Thanks for the offer Dave, not sure they'll fit over the brakes? :S

If they do, can anyone confirm? Would be *really* useful!

If its a 2.0 Clio, they need 15's to go over the brakes.

 

[.Ben.]

Cheers for confirming that Daniel!

A WEEK???? Dont they only take a day?

Its a collection on Tuesday and re-delivery on Friday service.

 

[cat171]

I got them done by BJV Engineering in Kent. They have a pretty good reputation as far as I can tell?

My problem is that I can't be without my car for another week (the Elise is at the bodyshop being painted and a work colleague that I was getting a lift with whilst this job was being done has a death wish and I have a young family! ).

Argh!

I've not heard of them before (I live in Essux) i've heard of Lepson's in gillingham though a few rate them.

 

[sideways danny]

Pristeen Wheel or dont bother TBH.

 

[Dangerous_dave]

If its a 2.0 Clio, they need 15's to go over the brakes.

lame...

 

[Rob]

I have some awful wolfrace 17's with tyres that are just legal you could borrow?

 

[Dangerous_dave]

wolfrace wheels vs. lift with death wish driver hmmmmmm decisions decisons haha

 

[.Ben.]

Cheers Robbos!

Will chase them tomorrow and see how they account for themselves!

 

[cup-sy]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for the lot to get refurbed? And did they completely get rid of the pre-existing laquer by bringing down to bare metal? or did they just sand them down and repaint?

Kent might be a way off, but there's a place in Canvey Island that I've heard does a good job, they're called JP Polishing.

 

[rich_1989]

borrow the 14 inch steel rims then walk back into the refurb place holding one of the steel rims up shouting "look what u have done!"

 

[.Ben.]

I paid IRO £200.

Their process (verbatim, from their site):

Stripping the Wheel
All of the wheels delivered to BJV Engineering are chemically stripped to remove the existing finish. The chemical we use has been designed specifically for use on alloy wheels and provides the most effective means of paint stripping without damage to the wheel.

Blasting the Wheel
After stripping, all of the wheels are then media blasted to remove any remaining debris or corrosion within the wheel and to provide a good key for the new finish.

Preparing for Paint
Wheels are then checked for damage, straightened and welded where required before being prepared for painting. Whilst we endevour to remove all damage it may not be possible / cost effective to remove all heavy corrosion, especially in detail areas such as between the spokes. Please also note that we do not, unless absolutely necessary, use any fillers other than alloy welding.

Painting
95% of all wheels finsihed by BJV Engineering will be done so using Powder Coat. This is the strongest most cost effective finish that can be applied to your wheels. A small number of wheels will be finished with either a combination of solvent and powder paint or automtive car paints in order to achieve the required finish.

To keep costs down, I chose a an unexceptional, vanilla silver finish, to match the OE centre caps and to retain the OE look.

 

[Dangerous_dave]

I paid IRO £200.

Their process (verbatim, from their site):

Stripping the Wheel
All of the wheels delivered to BJV Engineering are chemically stripped to remove the existing finish. The chemical we use has been designed specifically for use on alloy wheels and provides the most effective means of paint stripping without damage to the wheel.

Blasting the Wheel
After stripping, all of the wheels are then media blasted to remove any remaining debris or corrosion within the wheel and to provide a good key for the new finish.

Preparing for Paint
Wheels are then checked for damage, straightened and welded where required before being prepared for painting. Whilst we endevour to remove all damage it may not be possible / cost effective to remove all heavy corrosion, especially in detail areas such as between the spokes. Please also note that we do not, unless absolutely necessary, use any fillers other than alloy welding.

Painting
95% of all wheels finsihed by BJV Engineering will be done so using Powder Coat. This is the strongest most cost effective finish that can be applied to your wheels. A small number of wheels will be finished with either a combination of solvent and powder paint or automtive car paints in order to achieve the required finish.

Machining
BJV Engineering diamond cuts customers wheels on a copy lathe using processes and techniques that have been developed over the past 20 years. We have over 600 wheel profiles on the shelf.

b******s have they done all that no way in a million years on the last two pics...look lumpy and bubbley as hell....almost like they just boshed over the top of everything!

maybe you just got their worst refurber on a bad day...

 

[Lee-182]

I wouldnt be happy one bit

 

[.Ben.]

The sh!tter is that the other 3 are 'as new' - aside from the minor dent on the 3rd wheel. Push came to shove, I could live with that because it's hidden by the tyre and on the inner rim.

Glad to hear that I should be keeping on at them about this!!

 

[rich-6]

Sorry but their arse is covered, They say they dont use filler! TBF though it'd have taken all of about 2 minutes to sand that out!

Whilst we endevour to remove all damage it may not be possible / cost effective to remove all heavy corrosion, especially in detail areas such as between the spokes. Please also note that we do not, unless absolutely necessary, use any fillers other than alloy welding.

 

[.Ben.]

Sorry but their arse is covered, They say they dont use filler! TBF though it'd have taken all of about 2 minutes to sand that out!

Exactly! Hence my dissatisfaction with the service. I'd have thought filler wasn't needed to remove the old finish?

 

[rich-6]

Depends how pitted and buggered they are though! bad pitting would ideally need it, I have a suspision they wont use it because if you hit a kerb where the filler is it'l just crack and look gash and i dont think the powder would take to it.

I'm, not up on my powdercoating but if they were painted, High build primer would have got rid of that! I dont know what they lay down on them when coating.

 

[Revels]

The fact the other two are perfect means they aren't complete clowns.

Quote some law at them and mention trading standards. That usually gets people moving! Lol

 

[rory182]

yeah the powder coating would only work on metal so they'd have to weld and grind probably before coating and I imagine they'd have charged extra for the privilidge.

Did you point out the damage before they did they work and they say they'd sort it?

 

[.Ben.]

Quote some law at them and mention trading standards. That usually gets people moving! Lol

I'm going to give that a go! Probably f*ck it up though!

All of the wheels were equally horrid and riddled with corrosion. I'm bewildered that one out of the four should remain so poorly finished. Fingers crossed tomorrow gets things sorted!

 

[Nick172Cup]

Bloody hell, thats not good Ben... BJV Engineering are normally really good! When I first looked at the pictures it looked like a WikidWheels job!

 

[H182]

I could live with the third wheel, even the small mark on the spoke but that rim is unacceptable.

 

[Budgie]

The first two pics I could live with, but the last two are shocking.

I had mine done at BJV in Watford, and they all came out spotless. Decent service from them.

 

[DMS]

TBH it looks like they've done a really good job with the finish. It's just a massive shame they haven't filled the dings on wheels 1 and 2 or sorted out the corrosion on the third wheel.
I'd keep getting on at them about it if I were you. Hopefully they'll eventually get fed up of you, and take them back off your hands and do it properly to shut you up.

 

[.Ben.]

The resolution is that I should contact them at the start of January to have the imperfect wheel sorted.

Apparently, the orange-peely wheel had such bad corrosion that without re-facing the wheel, that was the best finish they could achieve. He said that they would have to charge lots more than they do if every wheel needed as much work as that one did!

As a good will gesture + a nominal (read: £20) fee from me - I think to cover carriage, they will collect, strip, reface, refinish and return the problem wheel.

Finger's crossed it goes well.

 

[Jaff]

tbh, if they stripped the wheel and the corrosion was as bad as it sounds, they should have called and advised this and gave you the option of trying the power coat and getting a possibly unperfect finsih or to pay a bit more and get it mint.

 

[Marky_]

Sounds like a decent outcome as long as it's acceptable when you get it back.

I had a poor refurb earlier in the year and didn't bother taking them back. Now i'm annoyed whenever i look at my wheels.

 

[TimR26]

Should have spoken to first if that was the case.

 

[Fred@BTM]

turinis are a nightmare, the surface corrodes hence the pitting, we've found a way to get rid of it, but it costs due to the labour time

i always warn people first with turinis, once they're stripped if they're found to be badly pitted there's 2 options, have them filled and done properly, or just wollop a load of powdercoat over them (which is what they've done here)