New alloys or refurbish existing ones

[VRRab&Diane]

Hi, can anyone give me any advice? I am in two minds about either getting my existing alloys refurbed and painted gloss black or buying a new set which I have saw on Wheelbase. They are made by “Calibre” and are on offer at £299. They look really good but seems really cheap for a full set of brand new alloys. Anyone had any dealings with aftermarket alloys or with wheelbase themselves. Also I can get a refurb for £150 at a local Falkirk business but again dunno if this sounds too good to be true? Any advice anyone? Cheers

[VRRab&Diane]

Good advice, the last thing I want is a shattered wheel. I would rather stick with original mini wheels but just thought these ones from wheelbase looked so good. It’s like everything else “you get what you pay for”. I just needed someone else to tell me that lol. If I went for the spray paint option rather than the powder coating option is there a wax that I can buy which would protect the finish?

[EcosseGP]

Sorry .... I’ve got to throw a spanner in the works here and say I’d go aftermarket. I usually buy a car with the intention of changing the wheels (at some point) to make it my own. I’ve never had an issue with buying or running aftermarket wheels. They are now made to a high standard and as such wouldn’t suffer any more or less than with a genuine MINI alloy. Some might say that a new wheel will be stronger than an old one too so you’re less likely to get any damage with them plus how do you know they’ve not been damaged and repaired before (unless you’ve had the wheels from new).

What I will say is that some makes are a better quality and have a better finish than others and sometimes you do get what you pay for. Also some alloys can be a lot heavier than the originals too. There’s loads of choice out there and depending on what look you want and the price you want to spend then it can be time consuming trying to find the right wheel, in the right size for the right price. Add in the colour that you want too and it can become a long drawn out stressful hunt !

On the other hand if you like the wheels you have and just want to freshen them up or feel like a colour change there’s nothing like getting them refurbished. Like Ali has mention powder coating them is the easiest and cheaper way of doing them again personally I prefer to get them ‘wet’ painted as the finish is better but the cost is more. Again another trade off to be made. There’s always the option if you bought another set of alloys that you have one set for the summer and keep your old ones for the winter. That way you don’t have to worry about the new alloys getting chipped with the salt, etc over the wetter and colder months ! Of course that then leads to do you have room to store a second set ?

Just my views on it ... and here’s some folk thinking it’s easy to make a decision on getting a set of alloys lol.

If you’re unsure and want advice pop into Skidz and speak to the lads in there they’ll not try and sell you anything unless you want but will also give you good advice. They’ve served me well over the years and have often thrown that spanner in the works with wheels that I hadn’t even considered !

For what it’s worth I run aftermarket wheels on all our MINIs (Fox on the R50, Speedline on the F56 and Bola’s on the F54) and we’ve never had an issue. Only thing you’d need to watch is brake calliper clearance on some models but if you’re planning on keeping the brakes standard you’ll be fine.


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[Mon the fish]

Aftermarket alloys can look a bit rubbish at standard ride heights - if you're keeping the car stock I'd go OEM personally.

Have a look on the usual auction sites, plenty of cheap OEM wheels around. If you're determined to go aftermarket I would be looking at Rota, OZ, BBS etc rather than Calibre - not my cup of tea personally

[EcosseGP]

I think these might look good in the gun metal grey colour ... might take a bit of cleaning but would be worth it ...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190904/9695c7a6c19a6726ec44f9549b4b45b9.jpg



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[EcosseGP]

This is the type of thing I’d stay clear of with the multiple bolt hole options ... It just spoils the look of the wheel and it’s a bit one wheel fits anything ...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190904/1064588e4b996854baa1e4be96228ba9.jpg


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[M600-RKJ]

I've run aftermarket wheels on all fo my minis with no issues. Hit multiple pot holes, jumps, been on track.

I stay away from the very cheap wheels though and hate multifits. I have always bought midrange wheels.

£150 doesn't seem impossible for a set of wheels to be painted. I had my rota returned and painted a few years ago for £180 and they still look good there are a few chips on them but for 3 years and many many miles down the line I'm happy.

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[DigitalLemming]

If it's a case of choosing between a set of refurb'ed mini alloys or a cheap aftermarket set I'd go for the refurb myself. I've heard too many horror stories of cheap alloys buckling or cracking to trust them entirely.

I had my sparco wheels refurb'ed for £60 a corner, that was including a custom powder coat. So getting them for £40-50 should be easily do-able.

[VRRab&Diane]

Thank you all for the advice. Everyone seems to have different opinions on the aftermarket wheels. I am still a bit in limbo with which direction to take. On one hand I am all for spending a few hundred on a new set of aftermarket alloys but on the other hand maybe the refurb route is the one to take. It's not that I am skrimping on cost or anything but more of my ignorance as I have never bought alloys nor have I had any refurbed in the past. ah the benefits of being a company car driver :cool:
Davy, if I go to Skidz, do they sell wheels on there own or do they insist on selling the wheels complete with tyres, bumping up the cost? I have a good set of Michelin Energys on the car at the moment and also another full set of spare mini alloys with a good set of Uniroyals, all with loads of tread in them so I can't really justify the extra cost for tyres. I really like the Gun metal grey example you have posted and was also considering gloss black to go with the gloss black roof on my R50 but the car is a bit of an oddball colour (Velvet red) but we love it and it looks cool when polished up.

I had sort of decided to get the mini alloys I have refurbished by a guy in Polmont, "Wonder Wheels" however this evening I had a look at the reviews and it is a mixed bunch to say the least with some excellent and some terrible, so doesn't really help my decision any lol. Has anyone had any work done here?
Ali, what is the name of the place near to you? Hamilton not to far away if I am going to get a decent job for a decent price.
Thanks again to you all for all of the advice... Much appreciated :thumbs up:

[EcosseGP]

If you pop in to Skidz they’ll be happy to sell you just the wheels without any tyres or swap the tyres over for you. They’ll not force you to take a set of tyres with the wheels and if you want to take them away and have the tyres fitted elsewhere they’ll just give you the alloys. Personally I’d get the tyres for you then if anything happens they’ll take the hit for getting it replaced.
They also do refurbishing too and you can talk to them about that too ... I’ve never used the place you mentioned nor have I heard of anyone using them either but if you want a couple of places that I have used I’ll certainly pass them on to you. All have great reputations and are fairly local to you.


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[DigitalLemming]

+1 for wheel wizards I used them as well for mine and had no problems. Also used WheelPro Scotland in Glasgow with good results

[EcosseGP]

There’s we restore alloys in Stirling or the wheel Specialist in Cumbernauld ... and if it’s just a cheap simple powder coat you want then there’s back o hill powder coating ...