i just recently had a set of alloys refinished, and tires mounted on them.. the reason i had them refinshed is for a few reasons.. first reason: wheel weights. whenever you are getting tires mounted on alloys, you must specify that you dont want the wheelweights put on the outer rim.. otherwise the tire monkey will hammer the wheel weights onto the outer lip of the wheel, cutting into the aluminum, and gouging the finish chipping the paint.. water and salt gets under the gouged paint and clearcoat, and then in no time the finish of your wheel starts corroding..bubbling the paint and clearcoat off..and your finish is ruined.. also ive seen tire monkeys who fail to remove the wheel weights prior to removing the old tire, and the tire changer machine drags the wheel weight around the entire lip of the wheel, scratching the clearcoat and paint off the lip as the old wheelweight gets dragged full circle around the perimeter of the lip by the changer machine.. when you get your tires balanced, insist on the "stick-on" wheel weights they peel and stick to the inside of your rim, right behind the spokes or face of the wheel... or just apply the hammer on ones to the back of your wheel, and not the front lip. and when they remount the wheels to your vehicle..insist on them doing it by hand, with a hand torque wrench.. not an pneumatic impact wrench.. its no fun when you have to change a flat on the side of the road and you cant get the wheel off because the tire changing monkey cranked the lugs on there with a zillion psi of pressure from his air gun.. HTH... merry christmas... chris |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.