Alloy wheel painting specialists

Hiya, Yes I have used the wheel specialists for my Lupo's alloys and was very pleased. They arent the cheapest but they sure do a great job. I also have a friend who used them for his Octavia VRS wheels and they came back great. They are powder coated not sprayed so they come out very even and to be honest, you wouldnt be able to tell they are not brand new.

Wheel Specialist = AVOID.

My experience:

I gave them a brand new set of VW 18" BBS RC's (warranty replacements on my old Golf GTI Anniversary), these wheels originally had a special polished finish but due to corrosion problems VW got fed up of replacing them so issued painted replacements instead. I didn't like the painted finish so gave them to the Wheel Specialist AKA 'Laptab' and asked for a black chrome finish to replicate the original look.

The finished wheels looked great at first but I could tell they hadn't been prep'd correctly. All of the old paint should be removed during the refurb process but they just painted over the original paint, this is because the wheels were brand new and didn't require any kerb repairs so they thought they could get away with it.

I knew the paint was put on thick because all the BBS and size markings inside the hub (what the centre cap covers) were no longer visible because of the paint thickness!

I then visited them again to have some damage repaired caused by a tyre fitter (cost was picked up by the fitter). I asked for a full refurb not a touch up but again, they just flashed a new layer of paint over the old coating.

Their finish wasn't very durable either, one of my wheels had a small stone chip but moisture had got under it and then bubbled the lacquer, the lacquer would just peel off. Don't tell me this happens to all wheels with clear coat damage because my Dad's Merc with OEM alloys have been kerbed but water hasn't affected them in 3 years.

I would advise you to take your wheels elsewhere, especially if they are new and in perfect condition, they will just paint over the top of them.

Just to add...

I returned the badly refurbed wheels and asked the manager if they were absolutely sure they had been stripped before being painted and if there was anything they wanted to tell me before I embarrased them...they said nothing.

So I told them I took paint thickness readings before and after, once they knew this they made an admission and advised me 'the wheels should not have passed their QC check in this state', they apologised and refurbed again.

Oh, and two of the tyres they fitted incorrectly so the tread direction was wrong.

Complete bunch of muppets.

I've heard similar stories from people I know that have used them too. However, I've heard nothing but good reports about these guys: http://www.lepsons.com/

It might be a bit of a drive to get them done, but it sounds like it would be worth it in the long run.

I've heard similar stories from people I know that have used them too. However, I've heard nothing but good reports about these guys: http://www.lepsons.com/

It might be a bit of a drive to get them done, but it sounds like it would be worth it in the long run.