Hi guys,

Just a quick question.
Am looking at replacing my wheels on my altezza - they're the original 5 spoke wheels that desperately need refurbing.
I have contacted lexus and they quoted about £100 for each wheel to be refurbed which to be honest am ok with. My concern is are the lexus refurbed wheels likely to tarnish again and need refurbing again in a couple of years? also do they warranty the wheels against the tarnishing?

Have found some 11 spoke wheels on ebay which actually work out cheaper than lexus' refurbed 5 spoke ones so not sure whether to just get those.

Any help or advice will be much appreciated! :-)
Just dont want to spend £400 now and then the same again in a couple of years.

Many thanks in advance
Carolyn

I went ot Lap-tab in Birmingham to get my wheels refurbished, cost about £250 (although I did catch them offering 25% off).

They did an awesome job, I got them resprayed in Anthracite, and they look really good (in my humble yet biased opinion).

I am not sure if they offer a warranty on the repair, but everything I heard about the work says they should last a fair while. If it's good enough for Quentin Wilson, it's good enough for me

http://www.lap-tab.co.uk/alloywheels.php

Hi Carolyn,

I wouldn't go to lexus for refurbishing your wheels for two main reasons:

1. Your lexus dealer will be expensive. You should be able to find someone locally who will be cheaper. Google or look in Yellow Pages for 'wheel refurbishment, alloy repairs' etc. A local repairer will charge £60-£80 (in my experience) for each wheel to be refurbed.
2. Your lexus dealer will send (contract out) your wheels to be refurbished by a external company. So it makes sense to go to the wheel refurbisher direct, cut out the middle man, in this case, your local lexus dealer.

As Baldylocks has said Lap-Tab in Birmingham are good, also try Pristine, google Pristine alloys repairs. Failing that, keep an eye on ebay, you may get lucky and find a set of alloys in good condition there.

I was also quoted £100 per wheel from my local lexus dealer when I enquired. I was also told that the price of £100 per wheel doesn't include vat and also removal (of the tyre from the old alloy), refitting and balancing (of the tyre onto the new alloy) was extra. Adding these costs, I was looking at £541 for replacements from lexus! In the end, I found someone local who did the refurbishment cheaper and the quality of the work was excellent. My wheels were refurbished 2 years ago, they still look new.

Hope this helps.

i echo everything the others have said, dont go to lexus....even halfords/frauds do refurbing now at £60 per wheel. or so there display said when i was in there at the weekend

Didn't know halfords have started doing wheel refurbing....will take a look next time i'm in there.

Ok.
Excellent, thanks for all your help!
Feel quite stupid thinking that the quote from lexus wasnt too bad will check out other places and see what they say.

Baldylocks - your wheels look excellent!!! if only i lived a bit closer to birmingham.
was gonna go for darker wheels on mine but wasnt sure if they'd suit a silver car

Thanks to everyone else for your help too.
Hopefully can get some pics up of my tezza once these are sorted.

Thanks again
Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn... I am well chuffed with them, but I have developed an irrational fear of curbs now - you need a taxi to get from the door to the curb when I park up now

Have a sniff in the yellow pages or Yell.com, I am sure someone in your area will do the job. Just make sure they take off the tyres, shotblast and spray the entire wheel before you part with any cash. I think Lap-Tab have franchises now, have a look on their site, you might get lucky.

Have a look in the Gallery here, someone might have dark alloys on a silver car...

That's strange, I know around 2 years ago Lexus Notts were offering a full swap out for 60 quid a rim, think they were using Prestige or Pristine in MK to do all the work and they had a shed load of these alloys, you'd just turn up and they'd take your wheels off and put the new wheels on, job done!

Might be worth trying another dealer to see if you can find another that will offer that level of service nowadays, if not just approach Prestige or Pristine and see if they've got any in as they looked awesome!

theres someone on ebay too who does a full refurb for £170 ( i think) it is. Basically they have the lexus wheels already refurbed and you simply give them yours, pay the cash and they give you new ones.


it was something along those lines anyway, i remeber seeing it a few weeks ago as i need mine refurbing when ive got the cash

Sleeka....as your in Essex i would point you towards these guys: http://www.lepsons.com/ they did mine almost 4 yrs ago and they still look good, they charged me £50 a wheel and were powder coated and polished but they will if you want keep to the natural Lexus look but with a much better finish.

I left mine with them, did a bit of shopping and visited family and were ready at the end of the day!!

Oh and they do a collection and a one day turn around.

You mean PX-Wheels who are based in Blackpool? Yeah they regaularly advertise on ebay, they also have their own website, google px-wheels.

http://www.pristinealloywheels.co.uk/

This is the company Toyota & Lexus use for refurbing wheels,they do do an excellent job but even they will tell you that the diamond cut rims are inherant to corrosion,if getting some done its best to get them done in a plain colour as they do come back when diamond cut.
They even lathe out kerbing etc off your rims & make them look like new,finish is usually perfect.

I had mine done at Pristine in MK a few weeks ago, am very please with the results!

Mine are diamond cut and powder coated and after 3 1/2 years they are still good even after being left in the garden being exposed to all the british weather and they just needed a hose down and are perfect. (was on 18's for 18 months)

If the diamond cut is scuffed then you will get corrosion.

Tip > The wheels may have been refurbed that he exchanges with yours- but do you know the condition they were in before he re-furbed them... I've seen some examples...