Diamond Cut Alloy Misery

tyr92

tyr92

Registered User
Joined
May 1, 2018
Messages
61
Reaction score
28
Points
18
Location
Cambridge
Hello helpful folk,

Last night I ran into an issue with one of my alloys, the issue being a jutting out kerb on a downward spiral and a not enough wiggle room (or concentration) by myself, which led to the attached images. :slapped:

The scrapes aren't particulary deep, they've seemingly just taken the lacquer and then a little amount of the alloy off, but it's an eyesore due to how high up and white it is.

Would this be best repaired by a mobile repair, or is it worth me trying to sand down, polish up and then lacquer myself?

Many thanks... :sadlike:
 

Attachments

  • mXVGBw5.jpg
    mXVGBw5.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 1,774
  • uLGPZrB.jpg
    uLGPZrB.jpg
    775.8 KB · Views: 2,124
Personally speaking, I'd only ever get it re-turned so it's back to how it should be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tyr92
May not be very deep but the marks are over a large area. I don’t think you will get them clear by yourself. I would get a man in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tyr92
I would get a professional repair. I have done the same thing on a spiral ramp in a multi-storey car park. Not all wheel repair firms can do diamond cut wheels as it requires an expensive computer controlled lathe. It is a nuisance (as well as an annoying expense) because you will have to drive around on the spare (which is speed limited) until your wheel is back from repair.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tyr92
I've been quoted £90+VAT for it to be CNC'd back to factory finish, for now I think i'm going to try and buff it a bit and give it a quick spray of lacquer as I get used to the car - knowing myself I'll probably ding it again right after I get it repaired.
 
You will never be able to polish that out to satisfy you, only a professional wheel repairer can accomplish that. All you will do is prevent further damage to the surface of the wheel with sanding and appying lacquer. Also you may do further damage as some of those scratches are deep.
 
I scraped mine back when the kerb was hidden by the snow.. guy came to my house and fixed in less than a hour.. £70.. I think a good job too..

6a1bcb9f4a835d3e911fa7cc9ea8648e.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Tom.H said:
Personally speaking, I'd only ever get it re-turned so it's back to how it should be.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this, but unfortunately in my experience once a diamond cut has been refurbed (and I mean completely stripped back, resprayed, baked, then the diamond cut lathed and then lacquered), the durability is never as good as factory.

I had one alloy fully refurbed after curbing it and I was very happy with the finish. Looked like new. However over time it got a couple of stone chips and it didn't take long for white worm to start...in contrast, the other 3 factory alloys had small chips as well and no sign of white worm.

A mobile repair will just paint the entire diamond face a silver. If they are good, it can look alright, but you will lose that polished face look that make diamond cut wheels look good.

It’s very much form over function with diamond cut. I will happily avoid diamond cut on my next car, but they seem to be everywhere!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tom.H
DrEskimo said:
I tend to agree with this, but unfortunately in my experience once a diamond cut has been refurbed (and I mean completely stripped back, resprayed, baked, then the diamond cut lathed and then lacquered), the durability is never as good as factory.

I had one alloy fully refurbed after curbing it and I was very happy with the finish. Looked like new. However over time it got a couple of stone chips and it didn't take long for white worm to start...in contrast, the other 3 factory alloys had small chips as well and no sign of white worm.

A mobile repair will just paint the entire diamond face a silver. If they are good, it can look alright, but you will lose that polished face look that make diamond cut wheels look good.

It’s very much form over function with diamond cut. I will happily avoid diamond cut on my next car, but they seem to be everywhere!!
Click to expand...

It does seem to be the norm now with a lot of manufacturers, wither the whole face or parts of it.

This will be the first diamond cut wheel I've had to have repaired, my previous wheels have all been painted. Pristine have been going for over 30 years though so I'd like to think they'll do a fairly long lasting job - especially for the ****** price of it :tearsofjoy:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrEskimo
Tom.H said:
It does seem to be the norm now with a lot of manufacturers, wither the whole face or parts of it.

This will be the first diamond cut wheel I've had to have repaired, my previous wheels have all been painted. Pristine have been going for over 30 years though so I'd like to think they'll do a fairly long lasting job - especially for the ****** price of it :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...

It's entirely possible my refurb wasn't as great as I think (hardly an expert!), but it was done by The Wheel Specialist in St Albans, and they went the whole nine yards. I had a pic of before and after, but can't find it now! I was certainly very pleased with the result immediately after. It was about a year later that I noticed the white worm on this wheel around the chips, but nothing on the other wheels with similar chips....

I actually had alloy insurance from Audi chucked in for free when I got the car, and they paid £110 of the £126 bill, so as you say it's not cheap!
Hope it goes OK for you!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tom.H
DrEskimo said:
It's entirely possible my refurb wasn't as great as I think (hardly an expert!), but it was done by The Wheel Specialist in St Albans, and they went the whole nine yards. I had a pic of before and after, but can't find it now! I was certainly very pleased with the result immediately after. It was about a year later that I noticed the white worm on this wheel around the chips, but nothing on the other wheels with similar chips....

I actually had alloy insurance from Audi chucked in for free when I got the car, and they paid £110 of the £126 bill, so as you say it's not cheap!
Hope it goes OK for you!
Click to expand...

I have heard of The Wheel Specialist, I know they're meant to be good at what they do. Nothing worse than the dreaded white worm though. I had a 2001 Polo GTi that came with BBS RXII's which suffered with it, I had the rim polished when I had them refurbed.

Cheers, hopefully all will be OK!
 
Leaving these will only give you the dreaded “white worm”. Save money now and get them repaired. Google it if you don’t know what white worm is.
 
I used Pristine some years ago on the A4 QTS we had at the time.
Very pleased and ( maybe lucky but... ) they were just begining to show the 'white worm' again about 8 years later (when it was being part exchanged after 17 years very reliable/happy motoring !! )
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tom.H
DrEskimo said:
It's entirely possible my refurb wasn't as great as I think (hardly an expert!), but it was done by The Wheel Specialist in St Albans, and they went the whole nine yards. I had a pic of before and after, but can't find it now! I was certainly very pleased with the result immediately after. It was about a year later that I noticed the white worm on this wheel around the chips, but nothing on the other wheels with similar chips....

I actually had alloy insurance from Audi chucked in for free when I got the car, and they paid £110 of the £126 bill, so as you say it's not cheap!
Hope it goes OK for you!
Click to expand...

Doc, that price seems low for a complete refurbishing of a diamond wheel finish...I had one done recently and it was over 200 quid. A bargain in comparison to the cost of an Audi new wheel.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrEskimo
Seriously considering getting mine fully painted now, as close to OEM colour as possible. Sure they won't catch the light as nicely but a) they should last longer (no white worms) and b) they should be more easily repairabe at home should that become necessary. Also I've noticed more new Audis on the road with similar wheels that are all so all painted out of the factory. Maybe diamond cut is becoming less of a thing anyway...
 
  • Like
Reactions: tyr92
Flying Scotsman said:
Doc, that price seems low for a complete refurbishing of a diamond wheel finish...I had one done recently and it was over 200 quid. A bargain in comparison to the cost of an Audi new wheel.
Click to expand...

Ah really. It's possible, but I did try a few places and don't think many were that high....although this was a 19" Rotor, and was about 2 years ago? Not sure I would pay quite that much personally...! As I say, they did everything you would want for a full refurb...all very professional.

Wibbly said:
Seriously considering getting mine fully painted now, as close to OEM colour as possible. Sure they won't catch the light as nicely but a) they should last longer (no white worms) and b) they should be more easily repairabe at home should that become necessary. Also I've noticed more new Audis on the road with similar wheels that are all so all painted out of the factory. Maybe diamond cut is becoming less of a thing anyway...
Click to expand...

I did this with a set of 20" Rotors on my previous A5. I wanted the Hyper Silver look you get on the RS5, but thought the diamond cut would be unnecessary, since the polished edge would look very similar to the silver paint. Also, as you say, would be more durable.

42297948911_3f7a14e0d4_b.jpg


Didn't have the concavity I wanted, so sold them on (they were off an A6), but they looked good to me otherwise!
 
Just got an accurate price for mine £142.80 all in, that's fully stripped and refurbished (re-cut and painted)
 
Having kerbed my front left (the scrape's about a foot long lol) I'm considering just buying new wheels - the rear right also had some kerbing. I'll be getting Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres on them as they come with a rim protector which has served me well in the past.
 
Agree about the Goodyears, no scrapes on the B6 since I've been running them ( at least 7 /8 years) and they are very quiet.
The S3 came with Contis and they have virtually no protection/are noisey.
About another 2 mms to go !
 
Jai said:
I'll be getting Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres on them as they come with a rim protector which has served me well in the past.
Click to expand...

This the Asymmetric 2 or 3? The 3's appear to have less rim protection?
 
Wibbly said:
This the Asymmetric 2 or 3? The 3's appear to have less rim protection?
Click to expand...

They were the 2's, I think you can still get them rather than the 3 though, at least in some places.
 
Ah . think mine are the 2 as well.
May have to use the Alloygator :blink:
the B6 now only does about 3k a year so it takes a while to wear them out !
 
Alloygators are not recommended for diamond cut wheels according to the manufacturer.
 
I paid £90 all in per corner to fully refurb diamond cut 19’s with gloss black painted inners. This was a place in Kent, the finish was as good as factory to my untrained eyes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
audi upgrades
JDHOWELLS said:
I scraped mine back when the kerb was hidden by the snow.. guy came to my house and fixed in less than a hour.. £70.. I think a good job too..

6a1bcb9f4a835d3e911fa7cc9ea8648e.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Can see there where they have flatted it back, isn’t as polished.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

HB14
Diamond Cut alloy repair.
Replies
11
Views
2K
RichardT
RichardT
Daveotto
DIY diamond cut alloy refurb
Replies
70
Views
33K
N90
N
chrisb72
Diamond Cut Alloy Repair Hertfordshire
Replies
2
Views
855
cuke2u
cuke2u
Zache
Diamond cut alloys
Replies
65
Views
9K
ACWKGYTO
ACWKGYTO
desi112
Facelift Diamond Cut Alloy Wheel Refurbishment Leicester
Replies
7
Views
2K
desi112
desi112
Top
Back