We love alloys – we’d be foolish to work here if we didn’t! – but we also know how intensely frustrating it is to discover a buckle in what once was a pristine alloy. Buckles can be caused by a variety of everyday driving problems, from hitting a pothole to simply bumping the side of a kerb.

Not only will the buckle ruin the look of your alloy, but it will also cause serious problems to your ride and handling. These problems include:

• Wear and tear on the car’s suspension
• Uneven tyre wear and frequent flat tyres
• Steering wheel shake or severe vibration

Rather than replace your alloy at a significant cost, why not bring it to our experts for repair? This is much cheaper than replacing the alloy and also ensures that the alloy can be returned to the exact shade and state as the other three – guaranteeing you a polished finished look for your car.

In our picture you can see our expert hard at work repairing a buckled alloy. The process is surprisingly quick and easy, but it’s the knowledge and skill that counts – restructuring the alloy can easily go wrong in inexpert hands!

To fix the alloy, our technicians simply heat it to a very high temperature and then reshape the alloy to its original form using precision instruments and a knowledgeable eye. As part of the service the alloy is then refitted and the car’s tyres rebalanced – giving you the best chance of a smooth and untroubled ride on the way home! The repair also comes with a 12 month warranty so you can be assured of the best possible service.

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It might be an odd thing to be proud of, but we really do love our Junair alloy oven – a state of the art piece of kit that allows us to do high quality alloy refurbishment in the minimum time possible, meaning that we can pass the cost savings on to you.

Junair are one of the leading manufacturers in our industry and they produce the best equipment we have found on the market so far. Given that our experts have decades of experience repairing alloys between them, we hope you can trust our opinion!

To give you an insight into how we use the oven, here are two simple processes that often occur in alloy repairs:

Degassing: this slightly unpleasant sounding process is simply how we remove air from the alloys before we re-coat them. If we didn’t do this, we’d end up with bubbles under the finish – not only would this look bad but it would also reduce the level of protection on your wheels. Here alloys are baked for 30 minutes at 230 degrees Celsius, before being cooled and primed.

Bake-off: No, it’s not judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (sadly!), but rather a process that sets the high quality powder coating we apply to your alloys! This process takes just 11 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius and creates a smooth, perfect finish. In fact, they look good enough to eat!

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As the owner of a beautiful car like a Jaguar, you’d naturally be concerned about the finish and quality of your alloy wheels. It’s no wonder, therefore, that we recently had a Jaguar driver come to us for a powder coat alloy repair, which gives the best possible finish for your rims.

The reason powder coated wheels look better is that the powder coating process creates a smoother and thicker coating, which gives a high quality for much longer than traditional paint methods.

In this case, the alloys had some kerb damage that required our technicians to first sand and file the alloy back into shape. They could only do this, however, after the alloys had been thoroughly cleaned with our AquaBlast machine – something that ensures we can effect the best possible repair rather than simply covering over break dust and other damaging elements.

After this the wheels were gently heated to remove any air from them, then cooled and primed, before being coated with the specialist powder mixture. The alloys are then baked in our specialist oven at 200 degrees Celsius, which ensures that the powder coat hardens and will subsequently be very difficult to remove!

The overall result from powder coating is simply stunning, and we would urge you to consider it if you’re due for a refurb. The great thing about it is that the powder comes in a huge variety of colours, so it’s a great excuse to change your look if you feel that your car is getting a bit stale!

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Ideally, not at the side of the road when something has gone wrong! Tyres are very easy to take for granted: we assume that they’ll always be supporting us, often without realising that they only have a limited lifespan.

Looking after your tyres is a good way to ensure you minimise your chance of a breakdown, and it also saves you money!  Remember that you’re only likely to get around 20,000 miles out of front tyres on a front-wheel-drive car, so changing your tyres is something that is necessary more often than you’d expect.  In this blog we list signs as to when you should change your tyres, as well as handy tips to make them last longer.

When to change your tyres

When they’re old
If your car’s tyres are around 4-5 years old, then you need to start inspecting them at least once per year. In particular, check the tyres’ sidewalls for signs of cracking. If there is cracking, change them immediately. Tyres will degrade due to heat, sunlight, rain and other weather factors, as well as how and where you drive, so if you feel your tyres are too old it’s always safest to get them changed. Importantly, this also applies to if you feel they look old – it’s best to act on instinct and be safe rather than sorry.

When they’re breaking the legal limit for tread depth
There is a legal limit of 1.6mm for tyre tread depth – meaning that any tyres with a tread of less than 1.6mm are breaking the law. Check your tyres and replace them if they’re getting close to this limit – not only will it keep you legal but it will also keep you safe, particularly on wet roads.

When it’s damaged
If you hit a pothole, or bump the kerb, or run over something sharp, then it’s time to get your tyre checked. This is best done by a professional, who can tell you authoritatively whether or not you need to get the tyre replaced. Don’t ever drive on damaged tyres because the damage may be far worse than meets the eye – it’s important to get a thorough internal and external examination before you hit the road again.

If there are patches of wear
If you have small patches of abnormal wear, regardless of where they are on the tyre, they might indicate a mechanical problem, or an error in tyre pressure. If you spot these patches see a tyre specialist immediately, to ensure you stay safe on the road.

If they’re the wrong tyres
If tyres aren’t suited to your vehicle, then they’re likely to wear out while also reducing the handling ability of your car. You might also have soft compound tyres, which wear out more quickly, when you’d be better off investing in hard compound tyres.

So what can you do to decrease wear to your tyres?
These aren’t foolproof, but by changing your habits you could save money by making your tyres last that little bit longer.

Drive calmer
Aggressive cornering and braking increases wear – chill out and give your tyres a break!

Drive slower
It might not be what you want to hear, but driving slowly helps your tyres, as slow speeds = lower temperatures and less wear.

Take less stuff
Do you need everything in your car? Excess load increases wear, so remove superfluous items (no, not your mother in law) where possible.

Ensure your tyres are aligned
Faulty wheel alignment causes wear, so get this checked regularly if you can.

Keep up the pressure
Ensure your tyres are kept at the correct pressure, as deviation either way will increase wear.

Check your tyres!
If you check your tyres on a regular basis, particularly before a long trip, you’ll be able to troubleshoot issues before they snowball and you end up stranded by the side of that road.

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When you’re in a hurry, SMART repairs can seem like a godsend. They are, after all, conducted by a man in a van who helpfully drives out to wherever you are and fixes the problem – often for a very low price.

Yet if you care about your alloys we feel you should know that these repairs can often be purely cosmetic, and they won’t treat the problems that lie underneath. To help you decide which kind of repair is right for you, we’ve highlighted a few of the differences between SMART repairs and a full alloy repair service below.

Speed
SMART repairs have the edge here, as they are done in moments and don’t involve you having to drive anywhere. However, what you might not know is that we can do full repairs in just 48 hours – slightly longer to wait but giving you a lot longer on the road afterwards.
Wheel on or off?
SMART repairs can only work on the alloy while it’s still attached to your car, meaning that they are severely limited in what they can do. It may sound minor if your damage is obvious, but not being able to remove the tyre means that they can’t carry out the intensive cleaning process that ensures your wheel is completely protected from corrosion.

Choice of techniques
Because they’re limited to the amount of equipment they can fit in their van, the SMART repairers can only offer a limited range of techniques. This means, for example, they cannot offer diamond cutting – something which offers the best finish for most alloys thanks to the high quality of its precision cut.

The all-important oven
One thing repairers don’t have in their vans is an alloy oven, which bakes the lacquer onto the alloy and ensures an airtight corrosion free finish. This is an essential part of any full service alloy repair and one of the ways you can be assured the job has been done properly.

Quality check and warranty
SMART repairs don’t come with a quality check after the process – perhaps because the technician is rushing to do the job quickly. There are obvious perils to this, as they may miss any remaining problems that should be sorted before your car gets back on the road. When you consider that damaged alloys can cause problems with suspension, steering and overall safety, this is not something to take lightly. A full service alloy repair, by contrast, will come with not only an intensive quality check, but also a 12 month warranty to give you peace of mind that the job has been done correctly.

We hope these points illuminate some of the many differences between SMART and full service repairs. If you need any more details please do give us a call – we’re always on hand to answer all your questions.

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They’re actually alloy wheels! In the photograph you see them being hung to dry after they have been powder coated, a process which gives you a better and longer lasting finish than any other style of coating. Don’t believe us? Read on

The powder coating process starts with removing all the original paint layer and damage from your alloys, using our specialist aqua-blasting machine. After our experts are satisfied that the alloy is completely cleared of even the finest dust, we apply an electro-statically charged dry paint powder and resin mixture to the alloy, spraying it on to ensure an even coating.

Once the powder coating is dry, we bake it in the oven. Although this might sound like an odd thing to do, this melts the powder coating and allows it to form a thick and entirely even layer over the alloy.  After baking the alloy is ready within 20 minutes – meaning we can get you back on the road far quicker than anyone applying a paint coating

Because the alloy coating is thicker, it is more scratch and corrosion resistant than a paint coating. It is, in fact, on average twice as thick as a paint coating, so you get literally double the protection! A powder coat is also more flexible than a paint coating, meaning that it’s better suited for vibrations and bending caused by the road surface.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is that powder coating is much more environmentally friendly than paint coating. The paint used on alloys contains solvents and harmful volatile organic compounds, which are proven to deplete the ozone and produce hazardous waste that needs to be disposed of in an appropriate manner.

Overall we believe that powder coating your alloys is the perfect finish for your alloys, as it provides a highly attractive and durable protective coating for your wheels, which is why we use it on all our refurbishment options. Not only will you get a stunning result, but you can also be assured that you have chosen the most environmentally friendly option for your refurbishment.

We hope you’re now convinced of the benefits of powder coating, but if you need any more persuading please call us today on 0845 370 8881 to talk through your refurbishment options.

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