The Process
At Cornwall Wheel Repairs we offer a full refurbishment process. We do not do any smart or spot repairs.
Full refurbishment is a 2 - 3 day process, dependant on finish
Vehicles are dropped off is between 8:30 and 11:00 am on the day of your booking.
Your wheels will be removed from your car, tyres wheel weights and old valves removed from the wheels
They will then be thoroughly inspected for any buckles or cracks (If we find any defects with your wheels, we will contact you and discuss your options).
Next, they will be media blasted to break down previous coatings to allow the chemicals used to work at their best.
We use a chemical hot bathe tank to strip your wheels completely back to bare metal, to start from a fresh substrate.
Once completely stripped the wheels will be re checked for any more damage, hand prepped, with removal of curb rash, etc
they are then media blasted for a final time giving the wheel a uniform finish ready for the coating stage.
Painting / Powdercoating
After the wheels have completed the preparation process, they are then mounted onto our track system using securing hooks through the valve hole, this allows us to get full coverage of the wheel and also means that, once the wheels are mounted onto the system we do not have to touch them until they are fully cured.
They are then put into our industrial high bake oven to preheat them.
Once the wheels have heated to optimum temperature they are removed from the oven into the spray booth, ready for paint or powder application.
When powder is being applied to the wheels they are negatively charged with electromagnetic current, this allows the powder to be attracted to the wheel to help with adhesion.
If the wheels are painted, base coat is applied via a gravity fed spray gun until required coverage is achieved.
The wheels are then put back into the oven and baked for the required curing time, this can vary based on finish.
Once the paint or powder has fully cured we then lacquer the wheels to achieve the desired finish and the wheels go into the oven for the final curing cycle.
Diamond Cutting
During the painting / powder coating process the wheel is taken from the oven after the basecoat has been cured, and left to cool to room temperature.
We use a state of the art Precision Wheel Equipment HL24 CNC Lathe.
The wheel is mounted into the machine using…
A template of the wheel is then created digitally by our technician, who then, if needed, modifies it for each wheel for a uniform finish.
Once the cutting has begun our technicians remove the first layer of the paint and alloy, this is usually around 0.015mm.
We then remove more material in small increments allowing for the minimum possible to be removed from the wheel.
After we have the desired cut, we then deburr the edges of the spokes and make a final detail cut, this removes exactly 0.03mm of material, allowing us to give the best possible OEM finish.
The whole process usually takes around 2-4 cuts removing between 0.2-0.7mm during the complete process, however this can vary if the wheel has had previous damage.
Due to the material that we remove from a wheel, there is a limited number of times the Diamond Cutting process can be completed.
FAQs
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Diamond cut alloy wheels are alloy wheels that have had part of the face removed with a lathe or CNC machine to leave a shiny face.
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Diamond Cut wheels have a shiny face with another colour covering the rest of the wheel, there will be a colour difference between the face of the wheel and the sides of the spokes.
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The process of removing imperfections in the shape of a wheel, using a hydraulic press and heat to reshape to its original form.
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The cost varies depending on the size, condition and finish of the wheel, but can cost as little as £83.40 a wheel.
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Yes all wheels that we refit to vehicles are inflated to the correct pressure for your car, rebalanced, and correctly torqued.
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This will vary based on the type of wheel, please email us on info@cornwallwheelrepairs.com