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Styling Grande Punto ruined 17" Alloys

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Styling Grande Punto ruined 17" Alloys

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foxesgoldencrunches

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Looking for some new alloys on my 1.2 Active. I adore the stock 17" alloys, matches the silver amazingly well.

Only thing is they are screwed, pealing and bashed to hell. Even went to a refurbishment place and they said just buy some new/used ones. Thing with those wheels new are £1000 and used have the same damage as mine.

Anyone with the same rims found a shop that'll rescue them, or what kind of rims would you recommend? I'd prefer to keep the 17", probably around £200-£300 budget. Will look sick with some shorter springs.
 

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Only thing with a refurb is getting the colour right, I'm pretty sure they'll need blasting to get anywhere near salvageable, and I have no experience with spray painting.

Might even get some money back if I sold them, not sure how much they'd go for though
 
Trust, why anyone would pay £1000 for stock wheels.

There must be a set of fairly decent in a salvage somewhere. Thing with the GP they're a bloody myth up north
 
Are you referring to Reading as "up north"?

Even if you do have some buckling, you should be able to get them put right if not too bad, got one of mine done before refurb.

Cheers
 
I am relatively new to this forum...but I have contributed to others, mainly Alfa ones...

I had some tatty S/H BMW E36 17" alloys refurbished by The Wheel Specialist in Durham ( they are a franchise so have places all over the UK I believe)

They have all the gear to repair/straighten/ sort out alloys, so may be worth giving them a try.

I dropped my car off at 9am, collected it at 5pm and the wheels were all done and back on the car, balanced etc. They really looked like new. They have a streamlined process that is designed to turn the job around in a day, and they were very professional.

I would definitely use them again.

IIRC it was about £54 per alloy and they were done in standard silver, although obviously other colours are available !!
 
Img_1294.jpg

Not the greatest picture to show you...

These alloys have been painted DIY before I bought the car....they are OK from about 20 feet away, but the paint is all peeling off and they actually are awful !!

I have sprayed wheels before, but they were Alfa Teledials which were a lot simpler to do that these would be !

I just bought the paint/primer etc from Halfords,and rubbed the existing OEM paint down to let the new paint key. IIRCI used 'Scotchbrite' ( green plastic domestic scouring pads with white spirit to clean all the grease etc, and wet & dry sandpaper for the more stubborn bits of corrosion. ( To be fair the Alfa wheels were not too bad )
Then a wipe with white spirit, followed by a couple of coats of primer, 2 of silver acrylic and finally several of clear lacquer. If I had more time I would have given them more lacquer coats but I think they look fine even though I say so myself.
As in all these things, the more time you spend on the preparation, the better the final result.

I may well have a go with the Punto 17's like yours, but I think they would take some time with all those spokes !!
 

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PRJ S4 said:
I am relatively new to this forum...but I have contributed to others, mainly Alfa ones...

I had some tatty S/H BMW E36 17" alloys refurbished by The Wheel Specialist in Durham ( they are a franchise so have places all over the UK I believe)

They have all the gear to repair/straighten/ sort out alloys, so may be worth giving them a try.

I dropped my car off at 9am, collected it at 5pm and the wheels were all done and back on the car, balanced etc. They really looked like new. They have a streamlined process that is designed to turn the job around in a day, and they were very professional.

I would definitely use them again.

IIRC it was about £54 per alloy and they were done in standard silver, although obviously other colours are available !!
Click to expand...
That's a shout, I'll email them with a few pictures see what they say, thanks!
 
PRJ S4 said:
Img_1294.jpg

Not the greatest picture to show you...

These alloys have been painted DIY before I bought the car....they are OK from about 20 feet away, but the paint is all peeling off and they actually are awful !!

I have sprayed wheels before, but they were Alfa Teledials which were a lot simpler to do that these would be !

I just bought the paint/primer etc from Halfords,and rubbed the existing OEM paint down to let the new paint key. IIRCI used 'Scotchbrite' ( green plastic domestic scouring pads with white spirit to clean all the grease etc, and wet & dry sandpaper for the more stubborn bits of corrosion. ( To be fair the Alfa wheels were not too bad )
Then a wipe with white spirit, followed by a couple of coats of primer, 2 of silver acrylic and finally several of clear lacquer. If I had more time I would have given them more lacquer coats but I think they look fine even though I say so myself.
As in all these things, the more time you spend on the preparation, the better the final result.

I may well have a go with the Punto 17's like yours, but I think they would take some time with all those spokes !!
Click to expand...
Definitely considered refurbing myself, had a look at one of Chrisfix's vids on DIYing it. Looked at getting all the kit for it, dremels and ****.

But as you say, there are so many spokes all closely spaced, getting a smooth sand in the crooks is something I won't be able to achieve, not even considering the spray job. Not impossible but I'd never achieve I good finish compared to a shop or just some new rims.
 
Yeah it's all cosmetic, just a shame they've got to this state.

From the small bit of research I've done it seems like a very common issue with these wheels, bad batch, poor maintenance, cheap manufacture, god knows.

Think the best investment is finding something similar aftermarket

thanks!
 
I was in the same place a few months back. Was looking at a set of Riva DTM that were a perfect fit and would have looked great but I really like the OE wheels. One was buckled so thought my only option was to change however, I managed to get it sorted and a refurb for half the cost of new rims. Previous owner had a run in with a couple of kerbs and the spokes as well as rims were scuffed and the finish was bubbling and flaking.

Happy with results
 

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Haven't read the full thread (so sorry if someone already wrote about this).
I have exactly the same 17" original FIAT on my GP T-jet 120 and 2 of them have a few short stripes of corrosion.
Asked a repair shop if they could fix this and he said that these particular wheels have a thin layer of glossy film on it and he would not be able to copy this effect. So if he fixed them they would no longer be as glossy.
 
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