Alloy wheel refurbishment for kerbed, scuffed and corroded wheels

What a refurbishment can fix

• Kerb damage. The outer edge of the rim ground or gouged against a kerb, usually on the passenger side after parallel parking.
• Scuffs and scrapes. Lighter marks on the rim or spokes that haven't gouged into the metal.
• Corrosion. White or grey bubbling under the paint, often starting at the rim edge, around wheel weights or wherever a chip has let water in. Winter road salt speeds it up.
• Peeling or cloudy lacquer. The clear coat lifting in flakes or going milky, which is common on diamond cut wheels.
• A new colour. A refurbishment is also the time to switch to black, gunmetal or another shade, where that finish is available.

What alloy wheel refurbishment involves

The exact process depends on the finish and the damage, but a full refurbishment generally runs like this:

1. The wheel comes off the car and is checked for cracks, buckles and bead seat damage.
2. The tyre is removed, or for a small repair on one spot it can sometimes stay on and be masked.
3. Old paint and lacquer are stripped, so the new finish isn't sitting on top of corrosion.
4. Kerb gouges are filled and sanded back to the shape of the rim.
5. The wheel is primed and painted, or painted and then machined if it's diamond cut.
6. Clear lacquer goes over the top to protect the finish.
7. The tyre goes back on, the wheel is balanced, and it's refitted to the car.

Diamond cut or painted?

A painted alloy is colour all over, sealed with lacquer. It's the simpler finish to refurbish: strip, repair, prime, paint, lacquer.

A diamond cut wheel has a bright, bare-metal face with fine circular lines across it, often with painted sections between the spokes. That face is made on a lathe, which skims a very thin layer off the metal before it's lacquered. Refurbishing one means painting the wheel and then cutting the face again. Each cut takes a little metal away, so a diamond cut wheel can only be recut a limited number of times. The lacquer is the weak point: once it's chipped, moisture gets underneath and corrosion spreads in cloudy, wandering lines.

We refurbish both. If you're not sure which you have, send a photo and we'll tell you.

Changing the colour of your alloys

A refurbishment is the obvious time to change the colour, because the wheel is stripped back anyway. Silver wheels can go gloss black, gunmetal or another colour, and diamond cut wheels can have the painted sections between the spokes done in a new shade while the face is cut back to bright metal. Tell us what you have in mind when you ask for a quote.

When a wheel shouldn't be refurbished

Refurbishment makes a wheel look right. It doesn't make a damaged wheel safe, which is why the checks come first.

Cracks are the serious one. They're usually on the inner barrel, out of sight with the wheel on the car, and a slow puncture that keeps coming back can be the clue. A buckle is a rim bent out of round, often by a pothole, and you may feel it as a vibration through the steering wheel at speed. The bead seat is the ledge inside the rim where the tyre seals; if that's damaged, the tyre may not hold air properly.

If a wheel is cracked, we won't refurbish it. Buckles and bead seat damage get assessed, and the wheel may need replacing rather than refurbishing. Either way, we'll show you what we've found. Our guide to kerbed alloy wheels: refurbish, repair or replace goes through how to decide.

Kerbed alloys and lease returns

Wheels are checked at lease return like the rest of the car. The BVRLA fair wear and tear guide, which lease companies commonly work from, accepts scuffs of up to 50mm in total around the rim. Go beyond that and you can expect a charge. Damage to the tyre sidewall isn't acceptable at all, and that's a tyre problem rather than a wheel one. Your lease company's own terms are what count, so check them, then get a price from us and compare it with what they'd charge. For everything else on the car, see lease return repairs.

Pothole damage

Potholes tend to buckle or crack a wheel rather than scuff it, so the safety check matters even more. You may be able to claim the cost from whoever looks after the road: Essex Highways for most roads around Basildon, Kent County Council for most of Dartford, Lewisham or Bromley councils around Sydenham and Beckenham, Transport for London on red routes such as the A205 South Circular, and National Highways for the M25, A2 and A282. Councils can defend a claim if they inspected and maintained the road reasonably, so not every claim pays out. Photograph the pothole with something for scale, note exactly where it is and keep the repair invoice. Our guide to pothole damage claims in Essex, Kent and South London has the detail.

Alloy wheel repair at our three branches

Our Basildon bodyshop is on the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate off Courtauld Road, close to the A127 and the A132. From Wickford it's about 3 miles, roughly 7 minutes down the A132. From Billericay it's around 15 minutes via the A129 and the A127. It's the nearest branch for alloy wheel repair if you're in Basildon, Wickford, Billericay, Pitsea or Rayleigh.

In Kent, Newbridge Dartford is on London Road in Stone, a few minutes from Dartford town centre, Greenhithe and Bluewater. In South London, our Sydenham site is on Kangley Bridge Road in Lower Sydenham, handy for Forest Hill, Catford and Beckenham.

You can read our Basildon reviews on Google, along with those for Dartford and Sydenham. For a price, send us photos of each damaged wheel: one of the whole wheel and one close-up of the worst part.