GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: scanesare on 06 April 2018, 08:59
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So, after months of searching for a used set of 19" Prets in glossy black, and just before deciding to go with an aftermarket option, an immaculate set in Silver shows up, at quite a reasonable price also. My only issue is I am dead set on a glossy black set as I think that glossy black wheels fits the exclusive glossy black Clubsport bits like roof spoiler, sideskirts, front splitter, mirror caps just perfect.
My question is, will an electrostatic painted or powder coated Pret hold up similar to a stock glossy black one? Is it worth doing it (in terms of the paint quality not the looks).
Cheers
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What technique do VW use to create their glossy black ones? Presumably a wheel refurber uses the same technique to refurb them, therefore should be able to do exactly the same to your non glossy black ones?
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There's a company in Barnsley called Metal Magic their work is spot on complete strip back and done from scratch if you leave them with tyres on they refit and balance obviously pends where In the country you are iv had wheels done there in the past and always very good and decent turn round
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Some times I think the black can be overdone. I'd fit them as is and see what they look like. The standard Pretoria colour looks great. Also may depend on the colour of your car.
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I’m not a great fan of gloss black wheels, but it’s good we don’t all like the same things, otherwise life would be boring.
I think that much of the visual detail of a wheel’s design is lost on black wheels. You also have the same challenges with black wheels as you do with black paintwork;
- they’ll show swirl marks more readily than a lighter colour, especially if a proper washing technique isn’t used
- unless they’ve just been washed, they’ll look dirty most of the time from road dirt/ dust and brake dust, when a lighter colour will hide dirt and brake dust for longer.
Agree with Watts, if you buy them, fit them and live with them as they are for a while. If you do decide to go for a gloss black makeover, then I’d suggest you use a reputable company like Lepsons to refinish them for you. To get a top quality result, the process is quite comprehensive, but should last and be as durable as an OEM powder coated finish - the process used by Lepsons is at the link below;
http://www.lepsons.com/how-we-produce-stunning-wheels/
At the end of the day, it’s your decision on whether to go gloss black or not, but I think it’s worth spending some time weighing up the pros and cons of the existing silver finish versus gloss black, and live with the original silver finish for a while before you pull the trigger!
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What is a reasonable price? There is a set of new black Prets on eBay for £1045 inc postage or best offer. Being sold by a VW dealer.
Sorry - just seen they are only 18 inch wheels.
It’s £3k for the 19 inch equivalent!
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So:
I'm in Sweden so UK companies (although appreciated) are not of much use for me, will have to go with some local option and make sure they can do an adequate job.
Car is a carbon steel grey but as I said it's all the Clubsport glossy black bits around that make a glossy black wheel match it well in my opinion.
Trouble with trying them on and see what I think first is that it's going to be an extra 1000sek (~80£) to unmount tires, paint and re-mount tires if i don't like them as much and judging by so many pics of the car that I have already seen i have more or less made up my mind about it.
Regarding what's a reasonable price, the few sets that ever go online usually sell between 1100£ and 1400£, I'm lucky enough to have found one right at the cheaper end of that but problem is i got there second and the seller already has a guy going to take a look at them tonight so I might just miss them in the end...
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The standard Pretoria colour is quite nice in the flesh.
It's quite a dark silvery grey with a light blueish tinge (yeah, that makes no sense whatsoever!)
I think the standard colour of the Prets looks really good in the flesh, less so in photos.
Black Prets on a Clubsport do work well though :drool:
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As much as i've grown to like black wheels, I must admit I do slightly prefer the standard dark silver Pretoria colour on the 19's to the black ones. Especially on a dark coloured car.
I had one of my black wheels refurbished last year, and i'm convinced it's not quite as dark or as shiny as the other three. Nobody else seems able to tell though apart from me so i've left it be for now. Just goes to show refurbing black wheels can be problematic if you're as fussy as me.
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As much as i've grown to like black wheels, I must admit I do slightly prefer the standard dark silver Pretoria colour on the 19's to the black ones. Especially on a dark coloured car.
I had one of my black wheels refurbished last year, and i'm convinced it's not quite as dark or as shiny as the other three. Nobody else seems able to tell though apart from me so i've left it be for now. Just goes to show refurbing black wheels can be problematic if you're as fussy as me.
Need to do all four then :tongue:
On a serious note, i am just so obsessed with the glossy black option for the Clubsport so... no other way for me :grin: The question was more if according to people's experiences a shop can more or less match the OEM paint quality or whether I would be looking at refurbishing them in say 3 years from now. Seems that depending on the shop it's not impossible so probably need to search for places with good reputation near me.
If I manage to get my hands on those wheels in the end that is... In which case my feather-light Belvederes will be going for sale.
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I love gloss black Prets, but not as much as the oem silver Prets. Mr Ex’s (Exonian) description of them is spot on. They actually a difficult colour to describe, very different to ordinary silver, darker, but not anthracite dark, and it’s that blueish tinge that sets them well apart. Quite simply the colour suits the design beautifully.
I know of a fair few R owners with gloss black Prets and they despair of how dirty brown they look so quickly. Prets themselves, whatever the colour pick up brake dust etc worse than any wheel I’ve had in the past so factor that in when deciding, because black Prets will pretty much look brown a lot of the time.
If you are going to get them powder coated gloss black, as SRGTD suggests, get somewhere very reputable to do the job. Lepsons have powder coat refurbed a couple of my Prets (oem silver) and the finish is noticeably superior to the factory oem finish, to the point I should have had even the unmarked ones done. And their colour match was absolutely spot on, so they should be able to match the oem gloss black without any trouble I would think.
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In my defence :grin: when I was building a Lapiz Blue R back in 2016 I was going to go with Silver Prets as they matched the silvers trim bits of the R very nice! But in the Clubsport those bits are glossy black hence the choice to match them. Let me get the wheels first and there will be time to decide im sure!
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I've gloss black Pretorias on my R, which were factory fitted. I think they look amazing (I'm biased!). I can see where others are coming from saying that they lose detail from a distance and that's fair comment.
They do get very dirty easily and if you're OCD like me then you will be out with your wheel woolies and cleaning them until they shine!
Would I change them for silver Pretorias? Not a chance! I love them and I think they make my car look different from all the other silver Pretoria shod R's out there :laugh:
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Hoorayyyy! My long saga in search of a Pretoria set at a decent price or a similar looking alternative is over :laugh: Now they only need to arrive here and look like in the pictures which are quite mint actually. A set of Clubsport Belvederes will be going on sale (but not before the end of next month.
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Owning a carbon grey CS with 19" glossy black prets I have to agree with your reasoning that they will compliment the glossy black bodywork parts...they do, that and the red callipers really stand out.......yes they need more frequent cleaning as they do dull quickly but imho totally worth it as you don't see that many with them on :cool:
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Owning a carbon grey CS with 19" glossy black prets I have to agree with your reasoning that they will compliment the glossy black bodywork parts...they do, that and the red callipers really stand out.......yes they need more frequent cleaning as they do dull quickly but imho totally worth it as you don't see that many with them on :cool:
No I don't believe anything :grin: But if you showed me some photos.... :whistle:
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:tongue:......oh ok then, taken last month not looking quite as clean just at the moment, was planning on doing it today but its raining again....nice, I do plan on getting one redone in not too distant following a small kerbing incident ... :whistle: on nearside front but rubbed it down and touch up stick is fine for now. I was thinking of using Lepsons as Rebecca mentioned but Metal Magic in Barnsley is a a lot closer for me so probably check them out ....thx gtiaps
I posted a larger image here in detailing section not long after getting it last year, better image of wheels...
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=280782.0
(https://s20.postimg.org/6zkprabf1/Clubsport1.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/9gwgyjvbd/)
(https://s20.postimg.org/ymxf5ergt/Clubsport2.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/f52rpguix/)
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OH MY... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Good thing everybody here is above 18 (i hope) :grin:
Looking gorgeous! Can't wait to receive mine now.
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They do look the nuts. The dealership I bought from had a Grey R with gloss black pretorias and it looked fantastic. IMO, they look even better with the GTI's red accents.
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On another note, is ceramic coating worth it on wheels? Does it help clean them more easily for instance? I have been hand-washing my current Belvederes so far but like the detailing amateur that I am one can spot swirls when looking from the right angle under strong light. And even if I dry them well they don't like so "glossy" (even though they are).
So since I am picking up the Prets soon and powder coating them for a fresh start, I'd like to know if ceramic protection will offer any benefits.
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On another note, is ceramic coating worth it on wheels? Does it help clean them more easily for instance? I have been hand-washing my current Belvederes so far but like the detailing amateur that I am one can spot swirls when looking from the right angle under strong light. And even if I dry them well they don't like so "glossy" (even though they are).
So since I am picking up the Prets soon and powder coating them for a fresh start, I'd like to know if ceramic protection will offer any benefits.
I use CarPro CQuartz on my wheels, it’s very easy to apply & top up, i find it keeps the wheels cleaner & easier to clean - for me it’s worth it, I use it on my summer & winter wheels
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Personally I think its worth doing them with some coating (be it ceramic or other) but I'm certainly no detailing expert, only having had these done with Gtech along with the rest of the car makes me think they're a lot easier to clean and that the brake dust/dirt doesn't stick as much.
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Rims have arrived and i honestly can't believe how mint they are. They really do look brand new, not even a suspicion of a dent/scratch and no sign of dirt anywhere :shocked:
Turns out they came off a totaled R only 3-4months old, the guy (actually running a Leon Cupra not a Golf) bought them off the R owner even though it was winter tire season as he only asked for a mere 1000£ (apparently unaware how much they usually sell for in the 2nd hand market) but he never got round to put them on his car as his wife did not like the looks of them (yep, sounds crazy i know)
Anyway, they are now with me and off tomorrow to the powder coating shop. I'll be away for a week which syncs perfectly with the delivery time of around 7-10 days. I'll post some pics of when i pick them up.
They all look like this:
(https://i.imgur.com/5dqtBjZ.jpg)
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Maybe it’s just the photo but they don’t look like the oem R colour.
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I was thinking the same, but I guess it's just the photo.
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To be honest, their condition was so good (as if they'd never been on a car) that I kind of started having suspicions. I've confirmed that they weigh exactly as much as they should: 9.6kg and they have the vw part number embedded in the back so at least they original Pretorias to begin with and not some replicas.
Now if say one (or more) had been scratched/damaged and all were refurbished to this i can't really know as the guy who sold them to me bought them like that (and of that I am sure because we have a common friend). So if something like that had happened, can't do much about it now. In the end the price i paid would be great even for a refurbished set and the color will change very soon.
But just because i started looking at photos online, do the silver Pretoria look so different depending on light and angle? Because I came across two photos from shops that sell them (genuine ones) and they looked quite different. One looking like a darker, more metallic tone (guess that's what people refer to as oem colour?) but the second one looked exactly like mine, a lighter silver with a glossy finish.
(https://i.imgur.com/tU0Xu8c.jpg)
Does anyone have a photo or have seen the back of the wheel where part number and specs are? In mine it seems as the letters are half-sunk in the paint but i have seen similar results in other painted items in the past (not wheels) just not sure if Pretorias are meant to have that exact finish...
(https://i.imgur.com/rPvSWhg.jpg)
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Just found another guy with a R with silver Prets and he is also of the belief these have been painted. I mean i would be fine if they have just been refurbished because of scratches considering i did not intend to keep the oem silver colour but if any of them had more serious damage then it's a worry. But the original owner never let the next guy know about it so... At least my seller apologized and offered to buy them back if they have any problem when i told him what's the case so off to a tire shop to see if there are balancing issues or anything and take it from there. Arrrgh, this is why i don't usually buy used...
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Couple of pics of mine for you, these are the 8 x 19 option offered on CS same as those. I'd probably say that those you've got have been repainted mainly for the fact the stamped lettering looks a lot more defined on mine, but like you say so long as no major damage under the surface with you getting them powder coated should be fine, fingers crossed.
(https://s20.postimg.cc/jpefel4xp/Prets1.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
(https://s20.postimg.cc/e184npnql/Prets2.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
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Couple of pics of mine for you, these are the 8 x 19 option offered on CS same as those. I'd probably say that those you've got have been repainted mainly for the fact the stamped lettering looks a lot more defined on mine, but like you say so long as no major damage under the surface with you getting them powder coated should be fine, fingers crossed.
Thanks deltarikk, yes the stamped lettering seems more sharp but anyway, there are some updates already on this:
So my seller said he had no idea and besides offering to accept them back if i wanted said he'll ask the R owner that bought them from why they had been painted as they know each other from work. Within 10 min (power of FB!) original owner says that yes they had been refurbished because one was curbed so did all 4 for color matching. He also offered to buy them back (the original R owner! - the good bits of dealing with people that know each other i guess) as he was again in the market for a used Pretoria set for his Passat and was 100% positive that damage was purely aesthetic, no major/structural hit whatsoever.
I will be checking them at my tire shop today anyway but right now seems they are going to be fine. It would have just been a bit easier for all parties involved if the R owner had disclosed that information from the beginning. Let's see how they will look on the balancing machine.
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No probs, sounds all good :wink:
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A bit late now but have a read of this thread with pics of the backs of the spokes stamped. Some pics missing due to stupid Photobucket but some still there.
https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/14809-how-to-identify-a-genuine-19-inch-pretoria-alloy/
They can look very different in certain lights. But something about the coulor and finish of your newly aquired Prets looked a little odd but now you know the truth about them being refurbed but they don't look the oem colour. It's probably irrelevant but if you have access to Flickr there's loads of pics of my Prets in varying lights (on the car). In later pic the two Lepsons refurbed ones exactly match the originals except the finish is a higher quality that the factory finish! https://www.flickr.com/photos/booth11/
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Thanks for that, would have maybe helped if I had come across it a bit earlier and so could bargain the price a bit since they were refurbished. Wheels are genuine though.
Not a real issue now as I just came back from the tire shop. So 3 wheels needed between 20-25gr. of weights to be balanced, which I think is well within limits for non damaged wheels and one was absolutely perfect (lol, could that be the curbed one?). Obviously we didn't put any weights on but since we confirmed no issues were present I took them straight to the paint shop. Should be ready in a couple of weeks.
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After 3 weeks I got the wheels back, sand blasted and powder coated:
(https://i.imgur.com/LvG7dHT.jpg?3)
(https://i.imgur.com/XfUum37.jpg?1)
They look ok i think, not as glossy as I expected (in the photo they look glossier due to the light) but on the inside cylindrical area from close enough one can notice an "orange-skin" pattern (more visible in last photos. Somehow it's more in the looks than in the actual texture, that one feels rather flat. And on the contrary, the spokes are very flat, weird.
I also checked their authenticity according to Booth's instructions in the link above, they seem legit, "Borbet", "VW" all the other markings are there:
(https://i.imgur.com/koAY2Pa.jpg)
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Are you happy with them? They look very orange peely. Even the spokes have the orange peel effect to a lesser degree. They’ll match VW notorious orange peel bodywork paint.
If they were mine, I would not be happy with that finish at all.
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Are you happy with them? They look very orange peely. Even the spokes have the orange peel effect to a lesser degree. They’ll match VW notorious orange peel bodywork paint.
If they were mine, I would not be happy with that finish at all.
As I said I merely find them ok, meaning that even though I'd like a better finish obviously, I can accept them on car. Biggest issue is I'm abroad in a region where I have not any "inside" info about shops and their quality or people that are usually into this kind of stuff to give any tips so, going somewhere else (if I ever found something else close) i could end up with a similar result. And honestly, all that effort I've made sourcing the rims, the shop, arranging everything using time I couldn't normally spare has made me become fed up all-together with the whole subject to bother any more. I now just want my summer tires to finally arrive, mount them without any further issues and drive the car with something stickier and more exciting than my winter Michelins which have been on since November...
Should have sticked strictly to glossy black offers but they were just not available for so many months so when that silver set showed up i thought i could get the same result more or less by powder coating. Lesson learned and life moves on, i think when tires are mounted and on the car it will be much less noticeable.
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A blind man on a galloping horse probably wouldn't notice them but if they were mine I wouldn't accept them. Could always run with them and see how they go and get them redone at a different place.
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A blind man on a galloping horse probably wouldn't notice them but if they were mine I wouldn't accept them. Could always run with them and see how they go and get them redone at a different place.
Lol, i like the comparison, shoot! :sad:
They didn't look as bad in the painter's premises although that was inside not the brightest room. When I got back and put them under direct light in the garage it's where all the weak areas showed up clearly. As I said, I would probably put them on the car and I feel they'd look ok especially when fully mounted with tires on but right now I might pay the painter another visit on Wednesday and see what they have to say and if they think they can do any better this time
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You might find when the tyres are put on that the edges of the rims might chip or flake. Put some more pics up after you get your tyres fitted.
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You might find when the tyres are put on that the edges of the rims might chip or flake. Put some more pics up after you get your tyres fitted.
With such a thick paint layer I doubt it :grin: but I will post the final pics with tires on of-course. Took them out in normal daylight yesterday and in up-right position for another inspection and their look was much more palatable, those photos directly under my garage spotlights really exaggerate the weaknesses so we'll see how the end results looks like.
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Finally... Michelin PS 4S arrived and fitted without extra issues, and once on the car it's exactly as I thought, I have already forgotten about the orange-peel.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, Clubsport with Prets is a dream come true" :grin: Excited is an understatement...
(https://i.imgur.com/HrnmTwW.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/kDCCsqZ.jpg?2)
(https://i.imgur.com/X8vz4xI.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/PiI1OLJ.jpg?2)
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Finally... Michelin PS 4S arrived and fitted without extra issues, and once on the car it's exactly as I thought, I have already forgotten about the orange-peel.
Looking very clean! How do you like the PS 4S so far?
I'm thinking about getting them when my Bridgestones are worn out.
Have you missed my reply in your JB4 sale thread? :)
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Finally... Michelin PS 4S arrived and fitted without extra issues, and once on the car it's exactly as I thought, I have already forgotten about the orange-peel.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, Clubsport with Prets is a dream come true" :grin: Excited is an understatement...
(https://i.imgur.com/HrnmTwW.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/kDCCsqZ.jpg?2)
(https://i.imgur.com/X8vz4xI.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/PiI1OLJ.jpg?2)
Looks awesome :drool:
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Thanks guys, absolutely love it, i'm in love with the car like the first day i bought it...
@Calle: About the PS 4S check below, I've written about my latest findings :drool:
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=283428.0 (http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=283428.0)
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Looks lovely. cant make up my mind to fit black or gun metal prets to our white GTi btw does the GTi come with GTi on the brake callipers as ours didn't?
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Looks lovely. cant make up my mind to fit black or gun metal prets to our white GTi btw does the GTi come with GTi on the brake callipers as ours didn't?
Can't be very objective on the colour question :grin: but in terms of the calipers lettering it should say GTI if it's a PP (Performance Package).
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Looks lovely. cant make up my mind to fit black or gun metal prets to our white GTi btw does the GTi come with GTi on the brake callipers as ours didn't?
Can't be very objective on the colour question :grin: but in terms of the calipers lettering it should say GTI if it's a PP (Performance Package).
Fair enough :laugh: