Last weekend I took my ’99 IS200 Sport to be valued ready for a Sept 1st
trade in. The salesman said that they’d need to do some work to repair the
damage I’d done to the alloys. Despite being as careful as I could over the
past three years and 40,000 miles not one rim was 100% intact and had been
kerbed at some point.
When the original Michelin Pilots wore out on the front, I had them replaced
with a pair of BF Goodrich tyres which coincidentally had a protruding ring
of rubber which is supposed to help to protect the rims. I chose the BFGs
because they were £30 cheaper each and like many of the current Formula 1
teams, I haven’t enjoyed my time on Michelin rubber. Obviously it was too
late in my case to see whether the BFGs would have helped to counter my
obviously inept driving style, but I wondered if any of you have any
experiences/thoughts on the matter.
I didn’t ask how much the damage to the rims had reduced my car’s trade-in
value, but I suppose I can find this out when I pick the new one up. It did
get me wondering whether there are companies out there in the UK who can
restore alloy wheels. Alternatively, is there anything the average owner can
do, apart from giving kerbs a very wide berth?!
Cheers,
James
"James" <jp…@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ajrd3v$572$1@knossos.btinternet.com…
> I didn’t ask how much the damage to the rims had reduced my car’s trade-in
> value, but I suppose I can find this out when I pick the new one up. It
did
> get me wondering whether there are companies out there in the UK who can
> restore alloy wheels. Alternatively, is there anything the average owner
can
> do, apart from giving kerbs a very wide berth?!
Interesting…my wife just banged up one of our Sportcross rims. Today in
the Chicago Tribune I saw the following article
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/printedition/chi-0208190138a...
ory and it appears you can get them repaired. I haven’t tried it myself,
but, I am considering it. It does look bad, but, that’s it.
In the US, you can get the wheels repaired for about $125 each… Like New.
You know the dealer can get them done cheaper so it should not be worth more
than about $400 on the value of the trade…
"James" <jp…@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ajrd3v$572$1@knossos.btinternet.com…
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> Last weekend I took my ’99 IS200 Sport to be valued ready for a Sept 1st
> trade in. The salesman said that they’d need to do some work to repair the
> damage I’d done to the alloys. Despite being as careful as I could over
the
> past three years and 40,000 miles not one rim was 100% intact and had been
> kerbed at some point.
> When the original Michelin Pilots wore out on the front, I had them
replaced
> with a pair of BF Goodrich tyres which coincidentally had a protruding
ring
> of rubber which is supposed to help to protect the rims. I chose the BFGs
> because they were £30 cheaper each and like many of the current Formula 1
> teams, I haven’t enjoyed my time on Michelin rubber. Obviously it was too
> late in my case to see whether the BFGs would have helped to counter my
> obviously inept driving style, but I wondered if any of you have any
> experiences/thoughts on the matter.
> I didn’t ask how much the damage to the rims had reduced my car’s trade-in
> value, but I suppose I can find this out when I pick the new one up. It
did
> get me wondering whether there are companies out there in the UK who can
> restore alloy wheels. Alternatively, is there anything the average owner
can
> do, apart from giving kerbs a very wide berth?!
> Cheers,
> James