Amazing alloys

colin129 · Mar 15, 2005

I have decided to try Amazing Alloys, where PCGB members receive VAT free prices, for my alloy wheel refurbishment which is long overdue. [&o] It seems considerably cheaper than I have seen advertised before, even without the discount. The guy I spoke to said that he does around 3 Porsches a week, though I was slightly surprised he had not heard of Design 90 (as seen on my 944S2 and also on 964s).

Has anyone had any experience with Amazing Alloys? I guess it is cheap because it is a mobile service so that they do not need large premises.

colin129 · Mar 15, 2005

£40 a corner plus polishing and laquer another £8 or something, instead of that price plus VAT.

As regards seeing their work, I guess this was the point of my original post, to see if anyone had any experience with them.

Over to you guys...

sawood12 · Mar 15, 2005

Colin,

This place rings a bell - i'm sure i've seen something about them in Porsche Post a few month back.

I got my wheels polished and re-laquered for £40 a corner at a local tyre place. The job was OK but nowhere near as nice as when I got my Golf's alloys powder coated and laquered. The powder coated finish was flawless and far superior to the polished and laquered finish i've got at the moment but that was £75 a corner for 14" wheels so your probably looking at £100 a corner for 17" wheels.

Alpine · Mar 15, 2005

a mobile service is never going to be as good as sending them off for powder blasting and repainting

i think you'll get what you pay for

danmason · Mar 15, 2005

While we're on this subject, if anyone can recommend someone suitable for refurbishing my forged alloys, I'm all ears. I tried Amazing Alloys too (having seen they were booked in for the Club's "Get Ready for the Summer" event) but the chap didn't seem too sure.

colin129 · Mar 15, 2005

For those of you interested, here is a link to the website:

http://www.amazingalloys.co.uk/

Guest · Mar 15, 2005

Dan,

www.spitandpolish.co.uk

Diver944 · Mar 15, 2005

I was going to try Amazing Alloys just for an £8 respray on my forged wheels before I sold them. They don't need a full refurbish, but the paint has a few light scratches and I was hoping to get more if they were sold as 'mint'. Amazing Alloys are at the April open day at Cornbury house but annoyingly I have to work so can't check them out fully [

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richthomas · Mar 16, 2005

Funilly enough I called the guy from amazing alloys last night too, about whether he would be doing any work at the open day or if it was just to take bookings. He surprised me by not knowing what Design 90 alloys are too[

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He said he won't be doing any work on the day, just promotion, but also said he doesn't normally cover the midlands area, he's just coming because it's Porsche HQ. He's based in Reading, and said he would charge about £50 on top for travelling that far.

Diver944 · Mar 16, 2005

That sounds fair. To courier them to him and back would cost more than that and to drive down there and back twice (to drop off and then collect) would probably cost more in petrol, and only if you had a spare set of wheels [

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944turboS · Mar 16, 2005

Could be another group buy oportunity & split the £50 between you & give him a full days work in the carpark at Cornbury House or some other convenient location.

richthomas · Mar 17, 2005

That's actually not a bad idea.

I'm still wondering how he strips the old paint off. When I was talking to him he said a lot of the time he doesn't even have to remove the tyre, only if the valve has to come out for the painting. I'm after a full strip and repaint, and while it seems thats what he does, I'm still not sure how it can be done in a van.

Guest · Mar 17, 2005

ORIGINAL: richthomas

That's actually not a bad idea.

I'm still wondering how he strips the old paint off. When I was talking to him he said a lot of the time he doesn't even have to remove the tyre, only if the valve has to come out for the painting. I'm after a full strip and repaint, and while it seems thats what he does, I'm still not sure how it can be done in a van.

I got mine done recently by a guy up in glasgow, the quality of the work cannot really be faulted. They remove the tyres, and dp the rims in acid for 24hrs. They are then shot blast and checked. Then primed and painted. The guy has done both mine and 944 S2's wheels. He used metalice pint on mine which i wasnt happy with but atleast the shade is correct and it actualy matches the car which is metalic black..

Alpine · Mar 17, 2005

[/quote]

I got mine done recently by a guy up in glasgow, the quality of the work cannot really be faulted. They remove the tyres, and dp the rims in acid for 24hrs. They are then shot blast and checked. Then primed and painted. The guy has done both mine and 944 S2's wheels. He used metalice pint on mine which i wasnt happy with but atleast the shade is correct and it actualy matches the car which is metalic black..

[/quote]

I was going to send mine off but wasn't quite sure how to leave the car without any wheels. What did you do?

944turboS · Mar 17, 2005

For stripping the wheels Jon Mitchell has posted elsewhere that Mr Muscle oven cleaner does a great job, no I'm not joking.

Phil when I had the wheels of a 924 done years ago I just left the car sitting on axle stands.

Guest · Mar 17, 2005

ORIGINAL: Alpine

I got mine done recently by a guy up in glasgow, the quality of the work cannot really be faulted. They remove the tyres, and dp the rims in acid for 24hrs. They are then shot blast and checked. Then primed and painted. The guy has done both mine and 944 S2's wheels. He used metalice pint on mine which i wasnt happy with but atleast the shade is correct and it actualy matches the car which is metalic black..

[/quote]

I was going to send mine off but wasn't quite sure how to leave the car without any wheels. What did you do?

[/quote]

My car has been in the garage on axle standa all winter, the wheels have been sitting under the car for month, the last thing i had to do was to put them back on last sunday and drive the car out the garage.

There is bound to be someone pretty close to you who can do the job.

Alpine · Mar 28, 2005

i had some minor corrosion on my alloys (not bad enough to justify a full refurb) but i spent yesterday touching it up with hammerite.

hammerite "silver smooth finish" is a perfect match for the colour of design 90s so i thought it might be useful for you guys to know.

you have to undercoat though with hammerite alloy primer first.

Fen · Mar 28, 2005

Humbrol number 11 enamel is also an exact match.

Guest · Mar 28, 2005

I'm bone idle and took the easy way out. I part-ex'd the old ones at Jasmine. I was impressed with a presentation he did. He already had some Design 90's which he got refurbished for me. He rang me when they were ready. I just went up and he swapped the tyres for me. (Michelins with 6mm of tread) Although if my tyres had have been a bit more worn out I would have changed wheel size and design.

Rodders

Guest · Mar 28, 2005

ORIGINAL: 944turboS

For stripping the wheels Jon Mitchell has posted elsewhere that Mr Muscle oven cleaner does a great job, no I'm not joking.

I would steer clear of oven cleaner for striping. Yikes! Or a 24 hour acid bath. You can have all sorts of things going on, including hydrogen embrittlement. You want catastrophic failure of the rim?

Get some aircraft paint stripper. That is made to take paint and such off aircraft where having the alloy stay structurally safe is important so you don't fall out of the sky.

I'd also be a little concerned about powder coating and the heat cycles. Have them spray painted.