We've ordered a new 105 Lounge and so are going to be selling our lovely 2010 1.2 By Diesel that's never put a foot wrong once since we've had it (not even a bulb.) The only thing wrong with it were the scruffy wheels where they'd been scraped over the years.


So I took it in to a wheel refurbishing company and it turns out that those nuts around the rim are just plastic and break off if you try to remove them. The owner of the refurbishers said he wouldn't be able to bake any paint they did as these plastic bits would likely melt. In the end all they could do was machine out the scrapes to the outer rim and clean them up as best they could. They look 100x better but I would have liked them to be perfect.


I've never heard of alloys with embedded plastic decoration before. Anyone else come across this?

ronmanager said:

We've ordered a new 105 Lounge and so are going to be selling our lovely 2010 1.2 By Diesel that's never put a foot wrong once since we've had it (not even a bulb.) The only thing wrong with it were the scruffy wheels where they'd been scraped over the years.


So I took it in to a wheel refurbishing company and it turns out that those nuts around the rim are just plastic and break off if you try to remove them. The owner of the refurbishers said he wouldn't be able to bake any paint they did as these plastic bits would likely melt. In the end all they could do was machine out the scrapes to the outer rim and clean them up as best they could. They look 100x better but I would have liked them to be perfect.


I've never heard of alloys with embedded plastic decoration before. Anyone else come across this?

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They could be painted with a two-pack paint that doesn't require baking.

Sure but it wasn't just that. It would have meant individually masking every nut and painting round. What I would call bodging it. The labour involved would have made it more expensive than buying a new set of generic alloy wheels. As it was it cost £200.


I wouldn't have minded if they were removable but the one we tried to carefully get out snapped leaving the end in the wheel (and they glued it back on for me.)


Shame because I like the wheels other than this.

ronmanager said:

I wouldn't have minded if they were removable but the one we tried to carefully get out snapped leaving the end in the wheel (and they glued it back on for me.)

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They were probably removable when the wheel was new, but a combination of corrosion on the threads in the alloy, combined with embrittlement of the plastic bolts, means they'll likely break if you try to remove them from a wheel that's been in service.

Plastic is not a great material to make bolts from. In this application, they should have been stainless steel. Better still, they should have been omitted. They serve no useful function and are purely decorative.

Another great example of naff design.

Plenty of companies who refurb wheels would have simply masked the bolts up and painted the wheel, using standard automotive paints. No need for "baking" unless it's a powder coating job.

Cars are often painted in an "oven" buts not gas mark 6 for 8 hours it's merely a warmed room which specific ventilation and filtration. They can paint plastic numbers and all manner of other plastic parts so I'm not really sure why they told you this couldn't be done

AndyRKett said:

Plenty of companies who refurb wheels would have simply masked the bolts up and painted the wheel, using standard automotive paints. No need for "baking" unless it's a powder coating job.

Cars are often painted in an "oven" buts not gas mark 6 for 8 hours it's merely a warmed room which specific ventilation and filtration. They can paint plastic numbers and all manner of other plastic parts so I'm not really sure why they told you this couldn't be done

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My guess is they were concerned about the durability if they'd used a low bake acrylic or cold curing 2-pack; the last thing they'll want is someone coming back in 6 months time complaining about flaking and chipping.

Ideally you'd powdercoat wheels, and as you say, that needs 200C, which most certainly would ruin the plastic bolts.

You could probably restore most anything if you're prepared to throw enough time and money at it. One option, which would take ages, is to remove the bolts by whatever means you have at your disposal (the right solvent might help, if you weren't trying to save them, and you'd still have to carefully drill & tap out any that broke), powder coat & diamond cut the wheels, then fit suitable stainless bolts (I'm assuming you won't be able to easily obtain the plastic ones separately) - but it'd likely be cheaper just to buy new wheels!

Some wheel designs just aren't durable (at least, not in the UK climate) - those on the old model Merc SLK are a good example of ones known to corrode easily. I love the '57 vintage wheels, but sadly think they'd be a nightmare if you wanted to keep the appearance long term.

jrkitching said:

My guess is they were concerned about the durability if they'd used a low bake acrylic or cold curing 2-pack; the last thing they'll want is someone coming back in 6 months time complaining about flaking and chipping.

Ideally you'd powdercoat wheels, and as you say, that needs 200C, which most certainly would ruin the plastic bolts.

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Acrylics are more than enough to last a few years on a wheel, and if you scrape it it get a stone chip they are never going to honour any warranty anyway.

I believe these "bolts" are nothing more than bolts in appearance and they will be bonded in and not threaded, they are after all only decoration and they can easily cast the holes for them in the manufacturing process. Drilling and tapping costs a lot in time and machining which just isn't necessary on a mass produced wheel any drilling or tapping yourself could damage or crack the wheel and fitting stainless bolts could upset the balance.


Essentially all they need is a quick coat of pain and a polish and then sell the car. Which is the industry standard method of sorting out wheels on cars being sold.

I've seen 'bolts' like these before, they weren't threaded they were a simple push fit. Mine came out OK, but if they were more fragile, they could have been pushed out from the backside (I think that's what I did anyway). Electronics suppliers sell nylon bolts that could be painted and used as replacements, possibly with a dab of adhesive/ sealant to help keep them in place.

UFI said:

I've seen 'bolts' like these before, they weren't threaded they were a simple push fit. Mine came out OK, but if they were more fragile, they could have been pushed out from the backside (I think that's what I did anyway). Electronics suppliers sell nylon bolts that could be painted and used as replacements, possibly with a dab of adhesive/ sealant to help keep them in place.

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Correct. These are not threaded nuts, they are pushed into a square hole and probably glued so they don't fall out in use. The one that broke off revealed this. There is no access to them from the rear either. To remove them would be extremely difficult and for any that snapped off, how you would then get the bit stuck in the wheel out I do not know. And are the replacements going to be buyable from Fiat I wonder.


To answer the question about how they could have done it by masking etc, if it was me I too would not have wanted the job because of the work involved and the end result would be questionable.


(Note: The wheels pictured below are not my ones)

Info for anyone interested...
I had mine done at The Wheel Specialist in Burton. I went for the BMW Ferric grey but didn't opt for the diamond cut as it was and extra £150 per wheel and one stone chip would just send the edges milky again.
The bolts were from ebay, 100 for £8 (M6 x 8MM stainless steel cap heads) and they just cut their own thread glued in with Loctite thread lock or you can use super glue.

Total cost = £283
Wheel powder coated referb = £275
Bolts = £8