MSS Blast Cleaning Services

MSS Blast Cleaning - Alloy Wheel Refurbishing

Alloy Wheel Refurbishing

When it comes vehicles what is the most significant visible aspect to help bring that car to life: That’s right it’s “THE WHEELS”. Wheels come in a whole range of different shapes and sizes, but what is common is their coating, which on a good well looked after car will only have a life cycle of 3 to 4 years (excluding kerb damage etc).

When that coating breaks down the aesthetical look of the wheels will quickly deteriorate and can soon make the difference between a good and poor looking car. So whether you’re buying and selling, a collector, an enthusiast or a general user, then why not bring those wheels back to life without the expense of having to purchase new.

Well here at MSS we have dedicated a whole department and its resources to doing just this, providing an Alloy Wheel Refurbishing service that is second to none, both in quality and service. This department has been designed, laid out and set up for this sole purpose in mind, and goes under the slogan “ WHEEL DOCTOR”.

This department is based on a philosophy similar to that of a production line, so as to enable close monitoring of quality and to provide the level of service that makes us number one in the wheel refurbishing market. The focal points of this department are the upside down conveyor oven, automatic blast machine and specially formulated/designed stripping tanks.

Alloy: The current favourite base material of wheels, its anti rust properties and the ability of casting make it the ideal choice over its competitors. It is still susceptible to corrosion, but this can be minimised with good care and early refurbishing treatment. Newly refurbished alloy wheels carry a 12 months guarantee.

Steel: Steel wheels have a lot of disadvantages over alloy, the main being rust, weld points and its non-casting attributes. However they are still popular on heavy vehicles and off road machines, where strength and balance is paramount. Whilst the process is the same as that for alloys the finish is sometimes not as effective, primarily due to the corrosion factor of steel, and because of coating weak spots around weld points newly furbished wheels do not carry a 12 months guarantee.

Magnesium Alloy: Primarily used because of its lightweight properties and probably most recognised from the mini light wheels, this type of wheel is very susceptible to corrosion and pitting due to its very soft properties. In a lot of cases refurbishment works will highlight this corrosion and pitting problem even more. Newly refurbished magnesium alloy wheels carry a 12 months guarantee.

The Process

Collect the wheel*

Consists of either just picking the wheel up or actually jacking the car up and removing the wheel, and then delivering it back to our premises.
Booking in of wheel

Full documentation of wheel, customer, colour etc is recorded.
Job is given a number for identification.
Wheel is tagged up accordingly.
Removal of tyre, weights and valve*

The wheel must be completely stripped before work can commence.
Acid stripping

The wheel is placed in a stripping tank
Existing coating is either fully removed or loosened
Washing off

Upon stripping the wheel is washed off to remove any stripping agent and loose paint.
The wheel is checked so as to decide whether further stripping required
Blast cleaning and profiling

The wheel is blast cleaned to remove all paint
Surface of wheel is profiled to provide perfect surface for re painting
New coating applied

Wheel is placed on conveyor oven
Three coat system is applied to the colour specified
Refitting of valve, tyre and balancing*

New rubber valve is fitted
Tyre refitted if legal (Old tyres must be taken by customer)
Re balanced if available
Delivery back to customer*

Newly refurbished wheel delivered back to customer
Put back on car if required

Notes

Re Balancing will only be carried out if the wheel and/or car are within the scope of our balancing machine: i.e. High performance car wheels cannot be re-balanced and certain wheels have non-standard hubs.
* above means these operations are optional dependant on service required.

MSS have invested time and effort to bring the ideal Wheel Refurbishing service to you, so why not give that car the boost of life it needs or deserves and give us a call. You will be joining our distinct list of customers, such as Ferrari, Lotus, Lexus, JCT 600, Dixons and many more.

A few advantages of the Wheel Doctor are:

a. Can be up to ten times cheaper than replacements
b. In many cases the new coating is better and more resilient than the original
c. Change of colour and choice
d. Removal of kerb damage