Wheel refurb

[andmas]

Hi,

I need to get the 108s on my Z4 refurbished. I don't have the time or equipment to do them properly myself so will need to get them done professionally. I don't want to use a mobile company as I don't believe they would be able to do a 'proper' job, i.e. chemical strip, shot blast, powder coat, etc.

I've found a company 'Topgear MS Ltd' in Basingstoke who showed me round their premises (quoted just over £300 with discount) - has anyone used this company and if so would they recommend them or not?

I also visited 'My Alloys' in Basingstoke who were a much bigger operation (they quoted £500 plus £5 for each stud they couldn't undo) - again has anyone used this company and would they recommend them or not?

Thanks in advance

 

[mr wilks]

Hi,

I need to get the 108s on my Z4 refurbished. I don't have the time or equipment to do them properly myself so will need to get them done professionally. I don't want to use a mobile company as I don't believe they would be able to do a 'proper' job, i.e. chemical strip, shot blast, powder coat, etc.

I've found a company 'Topgear MS Ltd' in Basingstoke who showed me round their premises (quoted just over £300 with discount) - has anyone used this company and if so would they recommend them or not?

I also visited 'My Alloys' in Basingstoke who were a much bigger operation (they quoted £500 plus £5 for each stud they couldn't undo) - again has anyone used this company and would they recommend them or not?

Thanks in advance

£500 is way over priced IMO , , you should be able to buy a refurbed set for that then sell your current set for around £180/£200
£300 is a very fair price if they are splitting them , did you not see some wheels on the premises they had refurbed ? Is that wet painted or powdercoated ?

 

[andmas]

£500 is way over priced IMO , , you should be able to buy a refurbed set for that then sell your current set for around £180/£200
£300 is a very fair price if they are splitting them , did you not see some wheels on the premises they had refurbed ? Is that wet painted or powdercoated ?

The £300 included splitting, acid bath, shot blasting & powder coating (the guy showed me the tanks, etc and explained the procedure). I did see some refurbished wheels that they had on display but no customers wheels. I was just wondering if any one else had used the company.
Thanks

 

[Baza]

Sorry not used this company ,have you looked at www.platinumwheelrefurb.com in Swindon about an hour away from Basingstoke .They do an excellent job, not sure how you intend to get the wheels there,they do offer a service of leave your car and they do the rest wheels off tyres off and then refitted . Or you can just take the wheels in. I had a quote for refurb my 18" rims just taking the wheels in without tyres of £204 plus vat. admitted they are not 108's but it may be worth inquiring.

 

[andmas]

Sorry not used this company ,have you looked at http://www.platinumwheelrefurb.com in Swindon about an hour away from Basingstoke .They do an excellent job, not sure how you intend to get the wheels there,they do offer a service of leave your car and they do the rest wheels off tyres off and then refitted . Or you can just take the wheels in. I had a quote for refurb my 18" rims just taking the wheels in without tyres of £204 plus vat. admitted they are not 108's but it may be worth inquiring.

Thanks - i'll look them up - were your wheels split rims?

 

[srhutch]

From memory Perry Gunn uses Platinum at Swindon.

 

[Baza]

Hi No there not 108's or need to be split so you may need to pay more. But I am sure they have handled split rims before.

 

[andmas]

Thanks all for the suggestions - Platinum Wheels wanted £542 for refurbishing the 4 wheels so I think I'll try Topgear Motorsports in Basingstoke (which is local to me) at a cost of £304 (currently on special offer).
As neither company take any responsibility for problems removing the bolts (Platinum advised £18 per bolt and Topgear just said they would call me to seek instruction!) I thought I'd loosen (and re-tighten) the bolts myself so I would know if there would be any problem before taking the car in.
So I found the 8mm double hex drive from the bottom of my tool kit - and found 3 bolts where the splines in the bolt head were gone leaving just a rounded hollow. The previous owner had the wheels re-furbished so this must have happened then.
Question now is how do I remove these bolts - bit worried about trying to drill them out - does anyone know of a company in the Basingstoke area that would do this sort of thing?
Thanks

 

[Baza]

Wow £500 + sounds over the top unless you are really in love with the 108.s then maybe you should consider a previous suggestion ie selling the 108's and buying a new set of wheels. Never having been required to split any rims I cannot offer any advice,but I am sure there are forum members who can put you on the right track.

 

[andmas]

Wow £500 + sounds over the top unless you are really in love with the 108.s then maybe you should consider a previous suggestion ie selling the 108's and buying a new set of wheels. Never having been required to split any rims I cannot offer any advice,but I am sure there are forum members who can put you on the right track.

Agree that £540 is high - now the added cost of getting rounded bolts removed.

Had a thought about buying a new set and selling the 108s. Couple of questions:

1. What's the opinion on these (on a black E85 roadster):
a) http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showro...various-offsets-p-3985?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
b) http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showro...lloys-wider-rear-p-123?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
c) http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showro...-rear-must-seen-p-3143?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
d) http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showro...e-rearmust-seen-p-3142?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
e) http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showro...ve-rears-et3535-p-4081?cPath=51_27_134_46_297

2. What am I likely to get for the 108s as they are (i.e. in need of a refurb)

 

[andmas]

Things have got worse - I've found another 3 nr bolts with rounded heads so can't undo them and despite using PlusGas and WD40 overnight another 2 nr bolts have sheared. The sheared bolts are both on the near-side front wheel - after the second one sheared I stopped trying to remove the remaining 10 nr bolts as they did not move so rather than try more force I left them in case they also sheared.

The Z is my everyday transport to and from work - opinions from engineering people on whether the car is 'safe' with the 2 nr sheared bolts would be appreciated - my gut feeling is that it would be as there are another 18 nr bolts holding the rim together.

Due to the above I'm more certain that a new set of wheels is the way to go to give me time to sort out the 108s. Any thoughts on the wheel options I linked to on my last post or any other opinions (car is a 3.0 SI roadster in black).

Thanks

 

[mr wilks]

They can be a bugger especially if a set thats seen some miles & age ?
Are you using the right spline to remove them ?
Wouldn't be too concerned on using them with a few bolts sheared , many other 2 part BBS wheelsets use less bolts to secure them than 20 per wheel so doubt you would ever notice or have a problem .
What you have done however is made the set very difficult to sell as is & time consuming & therefore potentially expensive to retrieve to a point of them being worth the refurb expense :wink:
Every set of 108s are a gamble to initially get apart then to get powdercoated without any orange peel to outer rim then finally bolt back together

 

[andmas]

They can be a bugger especially if a set thats seen some miles & age ?
Are you using the right spline to remove them ?
Wouldn't be too concerned on using them with a few bolts sheared , many other 2 part BBS wheelsets use less bolts to secure them than 20 per wheel so doubt you would ever notice or have a problem .
What you have done however is made the set very difficult to sell as is & time consuming & therefore potentially expensive to retrieve to a point of them being worth the refurb expense :wink:
Every set of 108s are a gamble to initially get apart then to get powdercoated without any orange peel to outer rim then finally bolt back together

I'm using a 8 mm double hex drive on a standard socket wrench. I thought that the 18 nr bolts remaining would be sufficient but good to get confirmation.
Although I have the problem with rounded and sheared bolts at least I have the car at home and still usable rather than at a wheel re-furbishers, where they would have had the same problems (and in the case of Platinum would be charging me £18 per bolt).
I have decided to get a new set of wheels so that I can continue using the car and have time to find a company to drill out the sheared and rounded bolts and then either get the wheels re-furbished or sell as needing a refurb.

So any suggestions on what wheels looks best on a black Z4 roadster - current size is 18" with 8" wide on front and 8.5" wide on rear.
I see that others on here have increased to 8.5" on front and 9" or even 9.5" on rear - don't these increased widths cause problems with wheel arch fouling and the 'feel' of the car (as well as an insurance premium increase)??

 

[mr wilks]

Of your 4 choices above my 1st would be these as they look great & the offsets+widths will suit your car to perfection http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showroom/product_info.php/new-lrn-cyclone-alloys-deep-concave-rearmust-seen-p-3142?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
Rough value you on your 108s ? i wouldn't pay more than £120 for them as they stand now

 

[andmas]

Of your 4 choices above my 1st would be these as they look great & the offsets+widths will suit your car to perfection http://www.bmautosport.co.uk/showroom/product_info.php/new-lrn-cyclone-alloys-deep-concave-rearmust-seen-p-3142?cPath=51_27_134_46_297
Rough value you on your 108s ? i wouldn't pay more than £120 for them as they stand now

Thanks Mr Wilks - do you think the 108s would be worth much more if a got them split and replaced the sheared & rounded bolts? I assume that the bolts atre available from somewhere??

I do like the LRN Cyclone wheels you suggest - any idea where these wheels are made and if they have TUV approval.

Also any other wheel suggestions (not just the ones I linked to in my earlier post)

 

[Stuartt]

Hi
I had a set of 108's that needed a refurb and due to the cost and the fact I wasnt a lover of them I bought some 107's got them refurbed swapped the tyres then sold the 108's as they were got £150 for them to a guy on here that owns a wheel refurb company up Birmingham way, but wasn't flooded with requests for themTBH.

My advice if you like them is there is a company on eBay that are in East London that has 108's refurbed ready, you drive in they swap the tyres you drive away with a nice set of newly refurbished wheels and from memory they are about £400 I think but you would need to check that on their listing.

Unfortunately for the reasons you don't want to refurb yours neither does anyone else so you are not sitting on a goldmine

Hope this helps

Stuart

Just had a look and they only seem to have 1 set and they want £745 fo them.

Perhaps see if MrWilks has anything on sale as he might take your 108's as px?

Stuart

 

[Baza]

I will be selling my 18" staggered BMW 293 wheels soon as I will be putting on a set of BMW 295. they are in pretty good condition but for perfection would need a refurb. Not sure what they are worth thinking around £300.00 but no doubt Mr Wilks will be able to advise.

But if you add a refurb then you are up to price of a new set albeit Not OEM BMW

 

[andmas]

What's the view on replica wheels - most seem to be made in Taiwan by gravity casting rather than low pressure casting as done by the European companies such as Wolfrace, BBS & the OEM's.

A warning on ebay advises not to get replica wheels as the manufacturing process means that they are weaker and more likely to fracture over potholes, etc.

Would spending more and going for wheels that are VIA, JWL and/or TuV certified be a better option - or going for refurbished BMW wheels (although not 108s!) ?

Opinions gratefully received.... :?

 

[andmas]

I will be selling my 18" staggered BMW 293 wheels soon as I will be putting on a set of BMW 295. they are in pretty good condition but for perfection would need a refurb. Not sure what they are worth thinking around £300.00 but no doubt Mr Wilks will be able to advise.

But if you add a refurb then you are up to price of a new set albeit Not OEM BMW

I don't think the 293 wheels will fit my 2007 E85 ??

 

[mr wilks]

I don't think the 293 wheels will fit my 2007 E85 ??

They would fit E85 E86 & look better in the arches than the 108s or similar fitment wheels do .
Great offsets as shown here on my last Z with a set of 296s (although 19inch same offsets as 293 )