Mondo

Wheels are now ordered! :biggrin: Keeping schtum for the time being about exactly what I've ordered, mind.... ;)

Well done on getting it all finished, William! :thumbup1: There's definitely a certain amount of satisfaction in standing back and being able to say "I did that!" :yes: Harder than it looks though, isn't it...... :surrender:

If I'm completely honest, I'd love for Gray to sell me his Azev As... but that's a little unlikely.... :(

In all honesty, the only ones I'd consider would be the (I think) Anniversary ones. Not a huge fan of the 6-spoke Rays off the 350 either, mate.

I quite like those, actually - Fran really likes them! I just think they might look a bit tacky when actually fitted though... I have to be honest here; I really like these ones: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19-CALIBRE-CCF-ALLOY-WHEELS-LEXUS-GS-LS-SC-RX-300-400-430-450-/181903777375?hash=item2a5a4f5e5f:g:RZsAAOSwA4dWH7fC Just a plain set of gunmetal 5-spokes with a bit of a concave design to them. I think the available offsets might be a bit crap though...

The whole point of the refurb was to keep the costs down as opposed to outright replacing the wheels with new ones. That worked out well..... Not feeling those myself, Lexx... the JR11s are nice, although a similar look to what I already have....

It looks like Fran has grown tired of seeing me mope around following the debacle that was my wheel refurb, so she's suggested getting a new set and sticking them on her credit card. Bless her! So I'm looking for suggestions please. There are a couple of criteria that ideally need to be filled: 5 spokes please. If I'm buying some then I'd like 5 spokes... but I'm not really after a set of Rotas as they seem to be such a popular wheel these days. 19" ideally. This is so I can keep costs down a little and reuse the tyres that I have on my Team Dynamics currently. Not overly expensive! I know that wheels can be costly but, even using a credit card, there's not a mammoth budget available... So... go!!

To her credit, she actually floated the idea this morning of her getting a loan so I could replace the wheels... but the Zed is my responsibility, not hers, so I vetoed that thought. If they're getting replaced, then they'll get replaced with a nice set of 5-spokes but that is sadly some time away...

Option 3 is vile...!!

I won't be throwing any more money at them now - after how much heat they've been subjected to, I can't say I really trust them anymore so it's time to start saving for some new feet. :(

As I said; you're a good'un! :thumbup1: I debated that, Tom, but then I decided that's a route I just don't want to go down... and perhaps more importantly, I shouldn't have to go down. I'm all for helping small businesses out - hell, I am one so I know exactly what it can be like getting established - but the way he's carried on is absolutely diabolical. But I still don't want to start going down the "my mate's bigger than your mate" route as that'll likely just end in problems... I quite like them, to be honest. They're not ideal, no... but I think they suit it. Or at least they did...! :(

See the next quote.... Dark and raining at the time of collection, JP :( He did say that he'd forward one to me, but I find that spectacularly unlikely now somehow! Me too! I've pretty much accepted that my £250 is gone and it's going to have to be a lesson learned for me, which truly sticks in my throat... that said, I've steered a couple of people away from having work done by him now so I feel a little better for helping friends to avoid the same sort of outcome as I've experienced. :thumbup1: You're a good'un, Rich, but I think I'm going to have to live with these until I can save some pennies to replace them. As daft as it may sound, the effect they have on the appearance of the whole car has had me wondering if I should just call it quits and sell her! Over-reacting, no doubt... but it's sooo disheartening and disappointing at the moment :(

The more I look at these wheels, the more disheartened I get. I've told him that I want to seek legal advice seeing as he refuses to do anything to put them right unless I pay again, and he just said that my standards obviously differ from other peoples.... and, of course, there's a big stumbling block in front of me: he failed to give me a receipt for the £250. Whilst I have every single message that went between he and I, there's nothing that explicitly states that I handed over £250 for the work (butchery) he did. Without that, I think I could be on to a hiding to nothing! There are plenty of messages where that price is quoted though, which could count for something... there's also the record from the bank to show that £250 was withdrawn that evening.... So the upshot is that now have a set of wheels that utterly let down the look of the car, and no spare money to have them put right or, as an extreme, to buy a new set of wheels! Super..... :(

That's the rule for the time being: don't look too closely! :lol:

The "company" in question is called DA Coatings in Hartlepool. Or A & D Coatings, depending on which business card you get, it seems! I think a Facebook search worls if you use DACoatings, and it should bring up two pages for the same place; one under DACoatings and the other under DACoatings DACoatings - don't ask me why there are two.... A chap called Aaron Dixon is who did such a stellar job of my refurb for me. :asshole: In a bid to make myself feel a little better about things (and seeing as nothing is going to be done to my wheels in the immediate future), I thought I'd refit all the rim bolts and add the badges to the centrecaps: They take the sting out a little bit, but still.....

Yeah, received that - thanks Pete :) If you have experience in powdercoating, can you tell me whether the surface should be heated before the powder's applied, then heated again to cure it...? He's now stopped replying to my messages so his final word (thus far) is that I can either pay him to have them done again, but in a single colour... or I can just live with them. So there's no initial option of a refund, or even a partial refund, as he's made it blatantly clear that my job's already cost him more than he bargained for. He showed that by trying to get an extra £75 out of me which, ironically, would still have left me with this finish anyway! I honestly think that the hammered effect to the finish is down to the primer (powdercoated) not curing uniformly and so leaving a lumpy surface. He's said that they really needed flatting completely by hand, but that apparently wasn't an option as it would eat too much time for him... WTF.... All in all, I find myself rather unhappy and disappointed today. I'd hoped that the refurbed wheels would pretty much finish the exterior off but, instead, they just ruin the whole look of the car now. The guy's approach to "happy customers" is somewhat grating, to say the least...

I could, and it is something I'm looking into. Cash in hand, Russ. I have the facility to leave a review on his FB business page, which is what I'm going to do. I've already cost him one customer as Lexx was considering using him for his refurb, but not now! As he's said, he'd be happy with the outcome if they were his wheels based on the cost... even though he's admitted to knowing there were defects and admitting that he didn't put the required prepwork in, but still saying that a cheap price doesn't necessarily equal a cheap-looking end result...

Apparently my options now are as follows: I can either pay again to have them stripped and powdercoated in a single colour... or I can just live with them... That's it. Nothing more. Just those two choices...

Time for some LOLs.... I've just asked him if he would be happy with the finish they were his wheels... and his reply was "for the price compared to what other places would charge, yes".... I think that tells me everything I need to know........

He's just told me that, due to the size of the wheels, the blasting process apparently left a finish that ideally needed flatting down by hand. Which he didn't do. And he's now saying that he can understand why other firms are asking £350+ for a similar job. Although he set the price, not me. Bad times, really. I can tell they've been rushed through and they look terrible! I'd have been better off doing them myself with rattlecans...!! Also, the powder-coating process itself: I always thought that the powder was "charged" electrically to make it adhere to the surface, then the whole thing cured so it melts into a uniform finish. That sound like the right way to do it...?

He quoted me £250 to have the wheels acid-dipped and blasted, primed, painted in two colours and lacquered. The price included having the tyres removed and refitted. He set the price, not me. I didn't haggle whatsoever. Just sent him some pictures now so it'll be interesting to see what his response is.....

Mondo's up bright and early and, sadly, there's no love in the air for him this morning... in the cold light of day, they look terrible! :( As you can see, I've gone for two colours: Mazda Titanium Grey for the centres and a nice bright silver for the dishes. Here they are from a couple of feet away: And here's some nice close-ups: The centre caps have turned out really nicely, but that's it. See what I mean about the pitted-looking finish? There are runs and poor spraywork everywhere, and these are just the two wheels (driver's side) that I can get to at the moment! If I had to guess, I'd say that the cause of the pitting effect is the powder primer not being cured enough, so it hasn't melted into a smooth, uniform surface. I can honestly say that, as scuffed as they were, they looked better before I had them refurbished...! There's not just me that thinks this finish is appalling, is there...? Am I being too picky...???

I wouldn't care but, when I went to inspect the initial finish on them (where the heat bled the colour out of the dish), the finish itself was superb; really smooth and crisp. :) As I say, he's blatantly rushed them through so he could get shot of them and get back to jobs where he doesn't have to rectify any issues, and my god it shows! He admitted tonight that he was sort of learning as he went with my wheels as he'd never done a two-colour job before. I'll get some pictures in the morning so everyone can see what I mean. And I'll send them to him as well and see what he comes back with......

I know, mate... they're gonna have to wait a while to be sorted though as paying for this refurb has taken all my available pennies :( Live and learn, I guess....

Well, I've been out with a torch and my first impressions are not good...! The finish all over is very rough and pock-marked - almost has a Hammerite texture to it. I'm going to go ahead and assume that the powdercoat primer didn't end up with a smooth finish, which has of course transferred itself to the paint and lacquer... On the dishes, I can see quite a few areas where the primer seems to be showing through the silver paint!! It's beginning to look like the recommendation to take them to this "business" wasn't worth anything as it seems like the guy just rushed through them, presumably because he wanted them done and out of the way so he could get on with other work. :( Overall, I'm very disappointed with pretty much the whole experience... from him asking for more money to correct his errors to the final finish on my wheels, it all seems incredibly amateur to me. And the wheels are definitely going to require some remedial work before I'm even halfway happy with them. The question is, do I send them back there? Or just find someone else to sort them out...? Unhappy Mondo.....