Diamond cutting wheels

[SprintMWU773V]

Dropped off 4x wheels on Saturday to The Wheel Specialist in Burton. They've run them on the CNC lathe but reckon they're too wobbly to cut so I need to pick them up again.

All rather annoying as I was hoping to use these new wheels on the car. Not sure I have a plan B at the moment. The other set of wheels I've got were cut and refurbished back before I got the car and would need refurbing again but there's a limit to how many cuts you can do, plus they have the advantage of having tyres on and holding the car up!

Wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem? I wonder whether they're just being too cautious and maybe it's worth trying elsewhere?

[mbellinger]

Mark,

When I had the wheels for the Redtop Toledo diamond cut and polished the work was done by a firm that Mike Barker put me in contact with. They were actually based down here near me, but had a reciprocal arrangement with a company up your way, which is how Mike had come to use them. The work was excellent, and they collected the wheels and delivered them back afterwards for a very modest charge which would not even have covered my fuel.

I did have one wheel which they refused to refurbish on account of its lack of integrity but I had other spares with the same date stamp and managed to swap it so, in short, In have had a similar occurrence.

As you know I sold the car nearly five years ago now, but I saw it at Goodwood just recently and the wheels still looked excellent.

I have searched in vain for the details of the firm but I am sure that Mikey B will still have it, and that of the sister firm closer to you.

[SprintMWU773V]

I think it might have been Spit and Polish or maybe Lepsons, both down your way. I did contact S&P a few weeks back but was drawn to someone just down the road for convenience. I think they're just being overly cautious but it's a bit annoying as I was hoping it'd be another job done.

Thing is these are brand new wheels in a box, I imagine none of them are that well made thought from what he said a lot of modern wheels are also pretty awful.

[Flyfisherman]

Mark

Give these people a call or drop in whilst your passing on your way to work.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 7LU2x96AWg

I had some Vauxhall Cavalier LXi alloys refurbed by them - well pleased (not diamond cut) one wheel was buckled and they straightened it - need to get my Octy Vrs wheels to them for refurb.

Paul

[SprintMWU773V]

They did some winter wheels for me about 4 years ago. Have to say the finish didn't last at all, very disappointed.

[new to this]

They did some winter wheels for me about 4 years ago. Have to say the finish didn't last at all, very disappointed.

Was that because they sprayed clear lacquer on them ?

[SprintMWU773V]

They did some winter wheels for me about 4 years ago. Have to say the finish didn't last at all, very disappointed.

Was that because they sprayed clear lacquer on them ?

No they stripped them and powder coated them. At first the finish looked good but after just 1 winter corrosion set in on the wheels despite them not being damaged and regularly cleaned with a pH neutral wheel cleaner. Wife's wheels were the same.

[cliftyhanger]

I was with a chap on teh 10CR who had a stag. He had to ditch the original stag wheels as they were not round when checked. He found this out soon after he bought the car (he is a pukka garage owner so trust him to know his stuff) He said fitting some alternative aftermarket wheels, though not cheap, sorted the issue.
If the brand new wheels are not round, no point in getting them refurbished. Most important thing is the wheels are round and true! In fact I thought it was commonly known that some of the NOS that is/was available was factory reject stuff....

[sprint95m]

All rather annoying as I was hoping to use these new wheels on the car

Since they wheels are new and not fit for purpose surely the supplier should replace them?




Ian.

[SprintMWU773V]

Alas bought in good faith from a private seller along with a load of other bits. I've got another wheel in the garden and I'm going to see how that compares when I pick up the wheels on Saturday.

[xvivalve]

About 15, (maybe 20!) years ago when new wheels were starting to become scarce, a batch of new old stock hit the market that transpired to be original 'reject' quality, but still in GKN branded factory boxes. I bought some and later returned them as one proved impossible to balance through having been dropped or some other fate that caused it to be slightly elliptical in shape! The place I bought them from was north midlands based but is no longer trading, but might you have picked some of them up?

[SprintMWU773V]

It's entirely possible that they are from the same batch. They are all boxed and 'as new' with a 79 date code but clearly not quite the right shape so cannot be cut on the CNC machine. The only consolation is that actually I didn't pay a huge amount of money for the wheels. I might have to seek out a decent set of used for refurb.

The chap I bought them from was based in South Manchester and had amassed a large quantity of spares, some new, some used and he was having a clearout. I'm not sure where he got them from, I'm not in contact with him now.

[PaulB]

I wonder if it depends on how they setup the wheel to do the machining. With Stag wheels and I suspect Dolomite as wheels should be balanced by holding the wheel by the holes that mount them on the hub. This is because the hole in the 'center' is not used the mount the wheel and is not guaranteed to be in the center of the wheel.

If the company mounted the wheel for diamond cutting used the center hole, I can understand why they have trouble.

[Flyfisherman]

I wonder if it depends on how they setup the wheel to do the machining. With Stag wheels and I suspect Dolomite as wheels should be balanced by holding the wheel by the holes that mount them on the hub. This is because the hole in the 'center' is not used the mount the wheel and is not guaranteed to be in the center of the wheel.

If the company mounted the wheel for diamond cutting used the center hole, I can understand why they have trouble.

Considering the diameter of the wheel 13" and the speed that wheel will be rotating at to achieve the polished finish - only an idiot would consider machining these wheels using the centre hole, even if they made a boss like the wheel hub and mounted the wheel to that is wrong. Anybody with any engineering back ground knows the only way to machine a wheel is to mount the wheel in a four jaw chuck (three jaw chuck wont open wide enough unless you turn the jaws around) and set the wheel up within the chuck using a DTI.

Mark

Plain and simply those people do not want your wheels, even states on the website that they can straighten alloy wheels - shop else where.

Paul

[SprintMWU773V]

To end the wheel saga I picked up the wheels from The Wheel Specialist on Friday. I didn't bother to ask how they were mounted in the lathe but he had marked one box and chalked on the wheel 'twisted'. I'm not entirely sure what he means by that but I did note that when placed in a flat surface it looked fine so it wasn't like it was an odd shape. I've decided to seek a second opinion and then if that fails I'll look at sourcing another set of wheels for refurbishment.