# Diamond cut alloy scuffed!



## Mish (Oct 8, 2012)

Hi guys, I'm in need of some advice.

My other half came home from a few days away and informed me that he has clipped a curb in his DS3, it's on the rim of the wheel so not touching the painted area or damaged the tyre.

Would kind of cost would you reckon for repairing this? 
Will post a picture tomorrow in the light.


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## VdoubleU (Oct 15, 2012)

Not sure how bad it is but they usually have to refurb the whole wheel which is about £40ish per wheel. But I've only ever had my wheels refurbed when I've scuffed it a few times


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## donnyo (Mar 13, 2007)

Only worry is when you get a single wheel done is them all being same. One of my mates did that with his anthracite wheel the day before a car show. He said on the forum it was a bit different...but it was totally different. So he had to get other 3 done to match. 

I know some 'smart' repairers are rubbish...but would it be easily covered by someone with right skillset?


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## PeanuckleJive (Oct 28, 2012)

£40 for a diamond cut refurb? Good luck finding a deal like that! :thumb:

Unfortunately that'll be the situation though. A major problem with the diamond cut finish is that once the clearcoat is compromised and water gets underneath it it just starts to come away more and more. A full strip, re-cut (if the damage isn't too deep) and then repaint will be in order I'm afraid

I just had my wheels refurbished and it was about £65 per wheel, that wasn't even diamond cut either. Not certain on the price for your wheel but I'm guessing it will be higher due to the extra work involved


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## auditek (Sep 20, 2008)

I curbed one of mine a few months ago..I went to several places, and they all needed the wheel for a few days. As I don't have a spare, this wasn't possible.
So, after much deliberation, I decided to try and repair it myself..if I made it worse, hey ho...
Anyway, I very mildly wet sanded it, taking it very slowly, and when I was done, even a friend of mine, who is a professional detailer,couldn't see where the repair was :thumb:
I'm no expert, but with the success I had, it would appear that the 'diamond cut' curbing is a wheel specialists dream for making money !!
Attached is a pic of my wheels, so you can see how complex they are, but since repair, no probs what so ever :thumb:


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## Laurie.J.M (Jun 23, 2011)

My diamond cuts were re done as part of the prep when I bought my car. If I'd had to pay for it it would have been about £100 a corner. The problem with diamond cuts is that once curbed or chipped they corrode pretty quickly


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## Jem (Aug 10, 2007)

auditek said:


> I curbed one of mine a few months ago..I went to several places, and they all needed the wheel for a few days. As I don't have a spare, this wasn't possible.
> So, after much deliberation, I decided to try and repair it myself..if I made it worse, hey ho...
> Anyway, I very mildly wet sanded it, taking it very slowly, and when I was done, even a friend of mine, who is a professional detailer,couldn't see where the repair was :thumb:
> I'm no expert, but with the success I had, it would appear that the 'diamond cut' curbing is a wheel specialists dream for making money !!
> Attached is a pic of my wheels, so you can see how complex they are, but since repair, no probs what so ever :thumb:


Can you post a picture of the repaired area? I have never seen a perfect spot repair on a diamond cut wheel.


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## explorer (Nov 11, 2012)

The smart repair on my alloy (not diamond cut) was £50. I cannot see where original damage was. 

Auditek, my brother has same TT. A lovely car. My wheels on my Golf are a lot simpler and I was too hesistent to undertake a self repair using a repair kit. You are brave but your effort certainly paid off.


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## DeeTailer (Aug 13, 2009)

I have't any experience of proper refurbs to badly scuffed diamond cut areas, but can imagine its difficult if not impossible to restore a perfect finish.

I caught my A5 diamond cut rotor wheel just slightly the first day I had the car on the diamond-cut edge. 
I used 2000 and then 3000 grade wet&dry paper to try and remove the marks from the metal finish as best as I could and then used clear lacquer on top to build up the level of the finish so that the change in surface level wasn't obvious...


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## Jem (Aug 10, 2007)

DeeTailer said:


> I have't any experience of proper refurbs to badly scuffed diamond cut areas, but can imagine its difficult if not impossible to restore a perfect finish.


It is, getting an over all level finish is quite easy and will look ok, but to be perfect you need to restore the fine cut lines in the metal, which is nigh on impossible without recutting the whole wheel.


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## Callummarshall (Oct 19, 2012)

Diamond cutting a wheel actually takes a skim off the face of the wheel exposing the fresh bare metal, it is then sealed with a lacquer to keep it looking shiny. If you have damaged the clear coat various contaminates and such like will penetrate the bare alloy and corrode it.

If there is just clear coat damage a smart repair will be possible, its best to act quickly to avoid corrosion with the chemicals and salts on the road at this time of year. The smart repair of cleansing the area, reapplying lacquer to the affected area and blending it in by wet sanding is what would be required.

If the skimmed face of the alloy is actually damaged i doubt a smart repair is possible. The wheel will be required to be re skimmed and lacquered. But depending on the level of damage skimming may not remove enough alloy to remove all the damage due to removing material and thus strength from the wheel. 

A smart repair to the diamond cut will lessen the severity and improve how it looks by masking the damage a bit. but it wont be 100% perfect the main advantage is it will keep the wheel sealed preventing it from further corrosion.


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## Hoovie (Sep 3, 2008)

Unless you really, really, want to keep the diamond cut finish, then you may be best off having the wheels fully painted, including over the diamond cut finish.

My wheels (both winter and summer ones) are combination of paint and diamond cut and no matter how careful you are, corrosion under the laquer is a virtual 100% certainty within a couple of years as the road treatments are very wheel unfriendly. 
It is not hard to find a repairer who will redo the diamond cut finish with specialist machinery. Finding one who will do it at a price you would like to pay is going to be harder, and finding one who will actually guarantee their work for this finish against further corrosion..... Good luck on that one!
I refurbished my Winter Wheels last month as they all had bits of corrosion under the lacquer although NO evidence of surface damage. I just removed the corrosion and repainted the complete wheel and - to me - it looks just as good as when new, but no more hassles with corrosion.
Next week I am doing a set of diamond cut AMG Wheels on a Merc (obviously!) at a dealers and when I told him I don't recreate the diamond cut finish, he was more then happy about that and said he didn't want it kept due to the quality issues with it.


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## auditek (Sep 20, 2008)

Jem said:


> Can you post a picture of the repaired area? I have never seen a perfect spot repair on a diamond cut wheel.


Weather permitting, I'll take one tomorrow.


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## Z4-35i (Jun 12, 2012)

We had two of the diamond cut wheels on our previous CLS refurbished prior to returning to Mercedes at the end of its PCP contract (It was in negative equity so we just gave it back ) Cost was £100 per wheel, which was expensive, but they came back as new and this was better than being charged the damage return penalties by Mercedes. The refurbisher we used was in Addlestone, Surrey, PM me if you want the details.


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## auditek (Sep 20, 2008)

auditek said:


> Weather permitting, I'll take one tomorrow.


Ah ha..found my original post on the TT forums, so you can see the 'before' and 'after'.
Not bad at all in my opinion, and perhaps if i'd taken the tyre off, it would have been spot on. I must admit I was bricking it when I started, but 8 months down the line, with the poop weather we've had, no problems at all :thumb:
Hope this helps 

http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=275328&hilit=kerbed+my


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