Wheel refurb v's smart repair

[Beavis]

Looking for a bit of advice. After c.20 years of Volvos i've left the stable and purchased an ex-demonstrator suv from another manufacturer.

Have just purchased an ex-demo car.
Noticed some scratches on the inside rim of the front wheels. Dealership has agreed to have them refurbed. Outside of wheels are generally immaculate.
The specialist i've taken to in the past, and where all the top marque dealers go only do complete refurbs and resprays.
They say they can match OEM colours.

Question...
I only want the rims done to prevent future corrosion - as its not visible
Would you opt for a smart localised repair so that i don't run the risk of a tiny mismatch against the other 2 wheels, or as the wheels age a slightly different aging process? (not possible to put the wheels on 1 side as they are staggered rims).

When i have used them before, their work is generally better than a factory new alloy, but just concerned it might show up the 4 month old alloys on the rear and i'll then need to have them all done!
Cheers

[michaelhw]

Good morning - it depends on the wheels and the skills of your repairer i think.

I kerbed my V60 cross country diamond cut front wheel after having it only a few weeks and it was a 7 month old ex Volvo management car - had it fully refurbished and you cant tell the difference now over 12 months later, but the chap that i used was very good.

Michael

[Bob Meadows]

A descent body repair man/company should be capable of doing wheels & matching colours etc.
My son had this done on his car last year (took the wheel to him to save time) but it was a call out paint repair company- results are fine but with all this type of work recommendations are best.
Good luck
Bob.

[Beavis]

Thank you for the comments.

I'd prefer the full refurb as the company produce an amazing finish and have extremely high standard. The last time i had my Volvo T5 split rims done with them they ended up doing the entire set twice as they said there was a tiny imperfection on 1 wheel. So i know their refurb will be excellent.
My concern is that it could show up the original paint job on the 4 month old other wheels, and as they are 21" diamond cut matt paint it would cost another £350 to have those done

So i'm steering towards the smart repair as i know it won't be visible on the rear, but just want it done to prevent corrosion, but struggling to get a recommendation for repairers in my area - Swindon hoping they won't do a poor job

[Forg]

Now I'm not 100% sure of the terminology being used here, but I'm assuming when you're referring to "refurbishing" that's the full media-blast back to metal & then polishing/filling and then re-coating & repainting etc ... and re-polishing if they're polished wheels I guess.
And the alternative is just a patch-up, cleaning back the area & maybe a fill/sand & then refinishing with paint in that small area.

If that's correct ... my experience with "the alternative" was that there's not been any flaking or irregularities like that, however there has been discolouration over time. These are gloss black wheels, and the repainted part faded to a slightly less black version of black, which was annoying.

However ... the way it's been described, you can't actually see it from outside the car? If that's the case, and as has been stated the intention is to just stop it from corroding 10 years in the future, then I wouldn't hesitate to go with "the alternative".

The other way to look at it is how long it might take. You can get A Man In A Van to do "the alternative", and it can be done just about anywhere whenever you want; but if you're getting the wheels refinished, they have to come off the car & be sent somewhere - so you need replacement wheels or the car's sitting there on jacks until they're done. On top of that, the YOLO factor of COVID means every man & his dog is still doing a car project, so hobbyist-aimed places like wheel re-finishers may not be able to get it done for ages ... I called & asked one of the well-respected wheel refinishers in Sydney (if anyone watches MCM they often get used wheels refinished by Barrel Brothers) wanted 10 weeks between me dropping-off the factory one-piece single-colour wheels & picking them up again.

[happy diver]

Ten quid to Halfords for some paint and don't look under there again

I don't care how good anyone is, No one will come close to the original factory finish

They will **** it up

[Forg]

Originally Posted by happy diver

Ten quid to Halfords for some paint and don't look under there again

I don't care how good anyone is, No one will come close to the original factory finish

They will **** it up

If you're talking about the quick repair, agreed ... if you're talking about a complete refurb, that's not quite true. The refurb places are capable of bettering the factory finish, and unlike painting a car where there's just so much panel to make mistakes upon, wheels are relatively small so the chances of them messing-up is very small.

This isn't me saying it's worth getting the refurb; just relaying my experience with the results of refurbs.
But you do need to use someone who knows what they're doing, for example there used to be plenty of powdercoating (as opposed to wheel-refurb) specialists refinishing wheels in the 90's until everyone realised that powdercoat absorbed hot brake-dust & needed to be protected by a clear paint else your freshly refurbed wheels became permanently brake-dusted within 6 months ...

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by Forg

If you're talking about the quick repair, agreed ... if you're talking about a complete refurb, that's not quite true. The refurb places are capable of bettering the factory finish, and unlike painting a car where there's just so much panel to make mistakes upon, wheels are relatively small so the chances of them messing-up is very small.

This isn't me saying it's worth getting the refurb; just relaying my experience with the results of refurbs.
But you do need to use someone who knows what they're doing, for example there used to be plenty of powdercoating (as opposed to wheel-refurb) specialists refinishing wheels in the 90's until everyone realised that powdercoat absorbed hot brake-dust & needed to be protected by a clear paint else your freshly refurbed wheels became permanently brake-dusted within 6 months ...

Agree. My local place - Platinum Alloys - did a job on a previous set of Volvo alloys where the finish was so much better than any new wheel i've seen. The downside though is that as these wheels are both front wheels (staggered setup) i was worried it would show up the factory finish rears (which the dealer won't refurb). So i either need to take the plunge and just get the fronts refurbed, or cover the cost myself for the rears to be done too.

[Forg]

Your roads are probably better than ours, but then they're narrower as well ... not driven that much on back-roads in the UK, but it didn't seem that uncommon to be taking a dive for the road-shoulder because the road wasn't really wide enough for cars going both ways.

My point being ... if there's any chance they'll be kerbed, or pot-holed, or you'll be driving in an un-tarred shoulder, or any of that stuff, then ANY of that stuff's going to happen within two weeks of getting your freshly refurb'd wheels back.

But get a quick spray done in the spot you can't see it for very few ££, and nothing will happen to those wheels - ever.