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What to do about 'skuzzy' alloys??By:
Mike Bressington
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| Deep kerbing ! | Brake dust and grime |
All along the edge of the rim the previous owner had managed to leave some rather deep kerb marks on several of the alloys (see closeup pic below to see just how deep), and I get the impression that the guy had never really bothered to clean the brake dust off the front wheels either - ever! As I am sure that you are aware the lattice type alloys are a nightmare to keep clean, on my car I even have the dust arrestor disks between the wheel and the brake disks and they still manage to get stinking dirty.
I have tried numerous
‘car superstore’ type alloy wheel cleaner products and I have
even spent many an unhappy hour trying to get the dirt off the hard way
with a toothbrush! – all methods not really producing any satisfactory
results. I have also looked into changing or replacing the wheels for
another style but was put off by the hefty price, the option of obtaining
brand new alloys of the same style is also out of the question as the
original TVR alloys are no longer produced. I had heard of getting the
wheels refurbished and had decided to investigate this option.
Simon from Leven Technology
offered me a refurbishment deal for all four alloys. He promised to take
the wheels away, work his magic and then return them in a week or two
to a ‘like brand new’ standard. I decided that this was the
best option and went about organising the operation – as always,
easier said than done!
Problemo number one:
My TVR is very tight fit in my garage, and I would not have the space
to jack the car, get the wheels off and put the car on axle stands whilst
the alloys are away being worked on. I could not leave the car out either
as the local thieving pond life would have had a field day!
I called upon my friends
in the South Wales TVRCC and put in a request to borrow three (I had one
already) space-saver emergency tyres from other wedge owners. Mike Bowen
(400SE), Jeff Morgan (420SE) and Mike Owen (280i) kindly came to the rescue
and lent me the necessary spare tyres. A quick change over on the drive
later and I had four ‘scuzzy’ TVR alloy wheels ready to have
the rubber removed, and the car was returned to the safety of the garage.
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| Kerbing close-up | Sexy (not) spacesaver fitted |
On close inspection
of the wheels the rims were deeply kerbed in several places on two of
the wheels and the brake dust had sort of ‘eaten’ through the
lacquer on the front pair. The inside of all four alloys were also not
a pretty sight, to top things off the lead tyre balance weights had also
been put on with a sledge hammer and had deeply scored the rims.
The next job I had
to do was to get the tyres off which brings me onto problemo number two:
After a few phone calls around the various local tyre dealers, to my dismay
many of the larger franchised tyre depots refused to remove the rubber
unless they had originally supplied the tyre to be removed and quoted
that it was ‘against company policy to do that sort of thing!.’
Eventually I found a more sensible independent dealer who was all to happy
to remove the tyres and promised a very good price when it came to re-balancing
them and putting the tyres back on. This restored my faith in this Country’s
ability to offer good customer service!
After jet washing
the wheels of any loose brake dust and road muck I boxed up the alloys
and delivered them to Leven. I had toyed with the idea of having the latice
section of the wheels painted mica blue to match the car whilst keeping
the rim standard. I ended up deciding to have the entire wheel painted
titanium silver with a mica fleck to give it a bit of a ‘sparkle’
in the sun.
The wheels were duly
taken away, they were then shot blasted back to bare metal, the kerb damage
and scratches were then built-up and repaired. The wheels were then spun
up on a lathe to ensure that it is ‘true’ and to remove any
bumps. Later, after several layers of the chosen paint finish had been
applied the wheel was then laquered and then baked in an oven to permanently
harden the finish.
After a phone call
from Leven I picked the wheels up. After a close inspection I was astounded
at how different the alloys looked. The wheels were spotlessly clean and
the paint finish can only be described as excellent. The pictures of the
finished alloy (which I took on my bed duvet - don't tell the missus!)
really do not do the job justice. Outside in the light the hint of mica
in the paint make the wheel sparkle – they did as promised look like
new.
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| Spotlessly clean - click HERE to enlarge | Outside - click HERE to enlarge |
I was advised to clean
the alloys thoroughly and to polish the inside and outside with Autoglym
car polish. This would help to keep the wheels clean longer by not letting
the brake dust and road crud get a good hold. This done, I returned down
my local tyre merchant to get the tyres put back on.
After carefully explaining to the nice gentleman doing the work that I had just paid to have the alloys re-furbished and to please handle with care (call me paranoid) the work was done. I also had inner stick-on tyre weights fitted so as to not spoil me new wheels.
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| Finished wheel - click HERE to enlarge |
I refitted the wheels
to the car with some bright new shiney chrome wheel studs. After all the
effort the job was done. I am delighted with the results please check
out the pictures to see for yourself (just got to sort something with
the wheel centres now). Thanks go to Simon at Leven and to Mike Bowen,
Mike Owen and to Jeff Morgan for the loan of the spacesavers – cheers
boys.
For more information on wheel re-furbishment please contact Leven Technology direct on 01633 484844 or check out their website.
Article by: Mike Bressington - TVR Wedge Pages
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