Mk7 wheel saga. Opinions sought.

[Gtiless]

I wonder if I can get the thoughts of our members on my situation with my wheels on my car please?

I bought my Mk7, a S/H vehicle from a VW main dealer as a Das Welt used car,in March. It had done 17k and was in great nick all round except for the standard Austin alloys- I first saw the car before the dealer had done any prep at all on it and all the alloys had been curbed by the lady who had owned it-the salesman (who is no longer at the dealership) said  dont worry about the wheels they will all be refurbed.

So about a week later I pick it up and it all looks good,so off I  go a happy bloke.

Due to work etc I never had chance to wash it myself for about 3 weeks and when I did I realised there was brown rustlike fall out on the black painted inner rim and barrel of the wheels-front two were a lot worse than the rears.
I had some dragons breath which I thought would probably shift it without much trouble. Anyway a quick try with that hardly moved it at all. I posted some pics on here at the time and people kindly recommended a couple of products to try,so I tried Iron-X, Sonax full effect the strong Wonder wheels stuff and while its improved it its still not gone- its still got quite a bit on them.

Anyway, I took it back to the dealership and the used car manager had a look a it and agreed they would have a go at them, so again due to work I finally got chance on Friday and dropped it off with them for the day.

Really, they haven't got them any better than I had, in fact I picked a few flakes of lacquer off them when I got back. 

Ironically the wheels look ok when they are not clean-they get a thin layer of brake dust on then and it covers it up a bit.
When I picked it back up he said they had had a right go at them with the the strongest stuff they had and that was the best they could do. Unfortunately. he said. you cant always return a a used cars condition to the same as if you had bought a new one, at the time, as it always seems to it started to absolutely bounce it down so it made it difficult to look at them and speak to him about it.

I washed it again yesterday and really they look fairly rubbish,I am not happy with them I think if I viewed the car to buy I wouldnt have it with them like that.

IMO when they refurbed the wheels prior to when I bought it they have not cleaned the wheels properly on the inside,sorted the diamond cut parts out and lacquered over the crud on the painted parts,hence why it now wont come off.

The sales manager kind of tried to draw a line under it with his comments of the best we can do etc so I wonder what peoples thoughts are on if or what I ought to do next.

Sorry its a bit of a saga and thanks in advance! 

 

[Watts]

If you have exhausted your options via the dealer, why not get them properly refurbed yourself? Sounds like they have only attended to the front face, if it was me I'd get them fully stripped and refinished. In the scheme of things it's not so bad and once it's done you'll be so much happier with your car.

[Exonian]

If you have exhausted your options via the dealer, why not get them properly refurbed yourself? Sounds like they have only attended to the front face, if it was me I'd get them fully stripped and refinished. In the scheme of things it's not so bad and once it's done you'll be so much happier with your car.

Indeed. My thoughts too.
Time to get them refinished to a high standard yourself or personally I'd get some aftermarket wheels.

I'd certainly agree that it sounds like the refurb was a half arsed affair with just the faces being tidied up then the lacquer applied over the damage.

[Gtiless]

Yeah cheers, I had thought about having them refurbed but I think maybe the dealer should sort it as they sold it to me in that state? If I had neglected it from new then fair enough but they have bolloxed it up by lacquering it on.

Whats a refurb about 80 a wheel? Any body know any where good in the Sheffield/ South Yorkshire area?

I do like BBS CH-R in anthracite  19's or Neuspeed RSe14 again in 19's.

Anyone got a nice set of 19's to sell to me?!

[phazer]

Firstly, please take my reply in the spirit it is intended, I'm not having a go 

If you're not happy with the refurb prepare for a lifetime of disappointment of second hand cars. Dealers refurb as a matter of course even if arguably the wheel looks fine without. They do it to remove any negotiating power in relation to the state of the car. The same reason they smart repair everything to within an inch of its life. They do it in the most "cost effective" way possible.

One thing they do with wheels is only care about the face, that's all most people care about and indeed notice. Anything else just costs time and money. Joe Public never ever ever takes their wheels off like we do to clean and seal and so on. Most won't even take it off when the tyre gets punctured, they'll just call the AA or whatever.

Having them have another go is fair enough but they'll keep on doing the same over and over again as they'll pay a bloke (unless a very large dealership_to come in and do his usual.

The only answer is as others have said is to have them done properly at a place of your choosing.

You should see the job Audi did of my wheels....but they'll stay that way until such a time as I *have* to sort them out. The faces look absolutely fine.

[Bungleaio]

The brown stuff builds up pretty quickly,  the only way I find to get rid of it is to clay them. But as you say if it's been lacquered over then it'll never go.

Unfortunately as you have found most dealers won't care. For the sake of the cost of it to get the level of finish you expect then it's worth getting them done yourself. If the diamond cut part is the most expensive bit to do so if you are happy with that it shouldn't be too much to do.

[Pinky1959]

I would find out who refurbed the wheels for the garage and get the sales manager to contact them and complain , if thet doesn't work go to the dealer principal and complain to him , might work but they might just say its the best they can do .You could always get a price to get them done properly  and see if the garage would pay some of it , unlikely though ....
Or as stated get them done yourself .

[Gtiless]

The brown stuff builds up pretty quickly,  the only way I find to get rid of it is to clay them. But as you say if it's been lacquered over then it'll never go.

Unfortunately as you have found most dealers won't care. For the sake of the cost of it to get the level of finish you expect then it's worth getting them done yourself. If the diamond cut part is the most expensive bit to do so if you are happy with that it shouldn't be too much to do.

Ive had a go at them with a clay bar and it didnt realy move it -also a stab with T-cut also no joy which obviously points to it being lacquered on unfortunately.

So what will it cost me to have them done to a good standard do you think? Also any recommendations in the Sheffield/South Yorkshire area?

Anyone got a nice set of 19" wheels to sell me? 

[Exonian]

https://instagram.com/p/BGhIjRaEhIR/

Not sure if that link will work but I saw these advertised 

[Bungleaio]

I would think you would be looking at £200-£300 which isn't all that bad.

Be prepared to kerb your wheels the day after you get them done though, such is life.