Following John Pring’s interesting description of the work undertaken to
recondition his allow wheels in the USA, is there a lister in the UK who can
recommend a firm which will do similar work over here? Yes, I know I can
easily get the wheels blasted and recoated, but this destroys thediamond-cut
finish on the ‘Kiwi’ type design. I want mine machined before
coating.
Any thoughts and suggestions of likely costs?
Steven Corbett
Hi Steve,
Sometime last year there was a good article in either Jaguar Monthly or
Classic Jaguar World magazines about a place in the UK that refurbishes
alloy wheels. They seemed to be a very professional outfit and I’m sure
they could do what you require. I’ll have a look through the mags tomorrow
and see if I can find their name (it’s a bit too late here to be rummaging
through the archives). If nobody else has given you the name by the time I
find it, I’ll let you know.
Regards,
David Orr,
Auckland, NZ,
92 XJ6 3.2>Following John Pring’s interesting description of the work undertaken to
recondition his allow wheels in the USA, is there a lister in the UK who can
recommend a firm which will do similar work over here? Yes, I know I can
easily get the wheels blasted and recoated, but this destroys thediamond-cut
finish on the ‘Kiwi’ type design. I want mine machined before
coating.Any thoughts and suggestions of likely costs?
Steven Corbett
Actually, normal paint remover takes off the clear coat quite nicely. If you
have corrosion, you can buy a dremmel tool to touch up spots like diamond
cutting if you are careful The dremmel are very small light had have scads of
bits in any hardware story for under $50. A can of clear coat enamel really
looks great if you spray it carefully indoors in a dust free area.
I did my own and they look like new for under $70. I had a lot of corrosion
under the coating on the inside and outside. Oh yes, strip the inside and clean
corroded areas. Then be sure to have the whole setup rebalanced.
Jay 90 Majestic
thecorbetts wrote:> Following John Pring’s interesting description of the work undertaken to
recondition his allow wheels in the USA, is there a lister in the UK who can
recommend a firm which will do similar work over here? Yes, I know I can
easily get the wheels blasted and recoated, but this destroys thediamond-cut
finish on the ‘Kiwi’ type design. I want mine machined before
coating.Any thoughts and suggestions of likely costs?
Steven Corbett
As promised, I spent ages searching through every copy of Jaguar Monthly
that I own (ie. every issue since it started), and eventually found the
article that I was looking for. It’s amazing how difficult it is to find an
article that you know you’ve read somewhere.
The place that they visited was Wicked Wheels in Milton Keynes, but as it
turns out, I think they mainly do paint and lacquer finishes, rather than
diamond turned. The article is in the September 2001 issue. They have
franchises and mobile workshops across the UK. Their phone number is 0800
298 54 54, and they also have a web site at www.wicked-wheels.co.uk .
There was another article in the August 1998 issue about a company called
Diamond Styling, located in North West London. They use a copy lathe with a
diamond tip tool to machine the alloys, so they can probably do what you
want (assuming they are still in business). Their phone number is 0181 969
9690.
Hope this helps you out,
Regards,
David Orr,
Auckland, NZ,
92 XJ6 3.2>Following John Pring’s interesting description of the work undertaken to
recondition his allow wheels in the USA, is there a lister in the UK who can
recommend a firm which will do similar work over here? Yes, I know I can
easily get the wheels blasted and recoated, but this destroys thediamond-cut
finish on the ‘Kiwi’ type design. I want mine machined before
coating.Any thoughts and suggestions of likely costs?
Steven Corbett