Repair or Replace – New Alloys vs Wheel Refurbishment

After an incident with an errant curb or one of the UKs seemingly unending potholes it can often seem that the only response is to purchase a brand-new replacement alloy wheels to maintain the pristine nature of your premium automotive pride and joy. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be your only choice. Revive! are here to help you refurbish your kerbed alloys and return them to the condition they were in before they had an unfortunate meeting with the side of the road.

There are varying degrees to the damage which Revive! can repair. Revive! focuses only on cosmetic repairs, if the overall structure of the wheel has been damaged, you may indeed have to replace your alloy with a new one. Typically, if your wheel is severely cracked, chipped, smashed or buckled, even a specialist wheel repairer will struggle to return your alloy to its original condition and in some cases, it may not make economic sense to repair the wheel anyway, depending on how common your alloy wheels are.

Alloy wheels take the brunt of their damage to the face and edge of the rim. This part of the wheel is particularly important to many drivers as it’s the area that are most visible. Many deem those with scraped and damaged wheels as bad drivers and poor parkers. However, alloy wheel damage can occur during everyday driving and can be caused by any number of things completely unrelated to the quality of a person’s driving, including potholes, debris in the road, speed bumps, snow/salt and much much more.

When it comes to repairing damaged wheels, our technicians can either remove the wheel to perform the repair or repair the wheel in situe. If the technician removes the wheel he will often break the bead of the tyre to give additional room to manoeuvre and to ease the masking process prior to painting.

Firstly, the technician will sand down the damage to ensure the area is as smooth as possible, before adding a specialist wheel filler that will fill any cracks or chips that appear in the damage.

The technician will then prime the area with a spray primer designed to adhere to the alloy wheel. Then begins the painting process, the technician will match the colour of the paint as closely as possible to the original paint on the wheel, reducing the level of blending required to maintain an unrecognisable finish. The wheel will then be treated to a layer of lacquer to protect the new paint and bring forward the factory shine that matches the rest of the alloy wheel. The wheel will then be left to dry with the aid of Revive!’s specialist heaters.

Another advantage of getting your wheels refurbished is price, Revive! average price for a wheel repair in 2023 was £86. This is in comparison to a new alloy wheel which can range from anywhere between £150 to over £500 for a single new alloy. If you chose to go for a second-hand wheel, you can never guarantee the history, (if it was involved in an accident) the quality, or even the colour of the wheel as each will age differently depending on the conditions its kept in. Whereas with a Revive! wheel repair our technicians will make every effort to match the colour of your alloy to the paint we use.

Booking in for alloy wheel repairs can increase your car’s sale value and will also help you to avoid penalties when returning your car to a lease company, so don’t hesitate to request a free quote from Revive! today.

If you are interested in our alloy wheel repair services, please get in touch with our team now!

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