Refurbished Wheels

[BruceK]

Not for my Mini, but for my R53 MINI.  I bought the car new more than 19 years ago and the wheels were really showing their age with faded and cracking paint. 

I was planning on stripping them down and repainting them myself, but I looked into having it done professionally.   Estimates ranged from nearly $800 for the 4 wheels to a more reasonable $325, with some companies not even responding with a call back.  I read the reviews and selected a mobile company that was well-rated which comes to your home or place of business and does the work there with the wheels still on the car. 

The guy arrived promptly on time and it took him about five hours to complete the job.  I had already cleaned the wheels yesterday, so the first step was using a pneumatic sander to really cut through all the cracked old paint.  Then he primed, did the basecoat, and put a clearcoat on.  I was able to get a custom color done which was slightly darker than the original.  In one photo you can see the darker rear wheel compared to the original front one.  I was surprised to see that there is a little bit of overspray - but the tech assured me it will easily come off the tires the first time I wash the car.

[MiniDave]

For a long time you could buy S "lights" pretty cheaply, I bought several sets over the years - new take offs - for between $100 and $200 a set.

I doubt they're out there any more tho....although I got lucky and found a full set of JCW take off springs and shocks recently for $50! They have less than 50 miles on them according to the owner - and I believe him cause I know him and I know when he had them done, like the day or two after he bought the car!

Mine are just under 100K and they still feel fine to me, but I'll swap them out one of these cold winter days when I don't have anything to do.....like that will ever happen!  ::) ;D

I can't really see the difference in color - they just look brighter vs faded. At least you didn't go witht he current trend and paint them black!

So he did them on the car?

[BruceK]

Yeah, he did them right on the car.   Seemed strange but it worked.

When I told him I wanted a darker color, he mixed up a pretty dark gray and did a test spray. Way too dark. So I asked him to lighten it back up, and a couple of test sprays and remixes and I settled on a shade a bit darker than the OEM silver.   

Yeah, no way would I consider black wheels. 

[94touring]

Interesting. Looks good. Did he say how long it will hold up?

[BruceK]

They've got a one year guarantee - except for curb damage of course. But he said that he uses the same type of OEM automotive paint that was originally used so they should last as long as any other painted alloy wheels.