Scottish Elises

My wheels are gubbed. They don't seem to hold air very well, yes it could be a puncture but it's the same wheels every time with different tyres on. And the brake dust doesn't even come off when I chip at it with a screwdriver.

So I was going to get them re-furbed but I have it in my head they were sprayed black rather than powder coated. Have I imagined this? Does it make any difference?

135r wheels were gloss black originally weren't they?

Or silver.

Powder coat is sprayed on as well, presume you mean painted

Carrick Alloy Restoration, opposite the junction to turn into the control Tower at PIK are good (they powder coat). Used to get a Cal discount from them, but not sure if that still happens.

After you get them fixed, Pete, don't fall back into the trap of not cleaning them thoroughly.

Problem with black wheels is they mask the brake dust build-up, until it's too late and it's baked on. Trust me. I discovered this when doing my best with EGOR several years ago

Instead, keep them polished up and this will deter brake dust adherence. Clean them more often than the rest of the car if need be (I don't mean clean 'em every day, I just mean if you'd have washed the car once a fortnight or once a month or whatever, then if time is pressing, just do the wheels instead and leave the bodywork to approach EGOR spec...)

Campbell

campbell wrote:After you get them fixed, Pete, don't fall back into the trap of not cleaning them thoroughly.

Problem with black wheels is they mask the brake dust build-up, until it's too late and it's baked on. Trust me. I discovered this when doing my best with EGOR several years ago

Instead, keep them polished up and this will deter brake dust adherence. Clean them more often than the rest of the car if need be (I don't mean clean 'em every day, I just mean if you'd have washed the car once a fortnight or once a month or whatever, then if time is pressing, just do the wheels instead and leave the bodywork to approach EGOR spec...)

Campbell

Cheers. It's not my fault they were like that when I got 'em. I'm beginning to think that Neil didn't often clean his car.

(Love that you think that I would wash my car once a fortnight. The Multipla was last done in June, and that was only because we were lending it to some friends to take it on holiday and I felt embarrassed.)

woody wrote:Or silver.

Powder coat is sprayed on as well, presume you mean painted

Carrick Alloy Restoration, opposite the junction to turn into the control Tower at PIK are good (they powder coat). Used to get a Cal discount from them, but not sure if that still happens.

That's who I'm going to use! Discount you say? (Although they are quite good, 200 but that includes taking the wheels and tyres off. Most places quoted that for loose wheels.)

pete wrote:

woody wrote:Or silver.

Powder coat is sprayed on as well, presume you mean painted

Carrick Alloy Restoration, opposite the junction to turn into the control Tower at PIK are good (they powder coat). Used to get a Cal discount from them, but not sure if that still happens.

That's who I'm going to use! Discount you say? (Although they are quite good, 200 but that includes taking the wheels and tyres off. Most places quoted that for loose wheels.)

That sounds like a pretty decent price... I have a client who offers this service. At that price (esp if discounted further) there is not much in it for them

pete wrote:

woody wrote:Or silver.

Powder coat is sprayed on as well, presume you mean painted

Carrick Alloy Restoration, opposite the junction to turn into the control Tower at PIK are good (they powder coat). Used to get a Cal discount from them, but not sure if that still happens.

That's who I'm going to use! Discount you say? (Although they are quite good, 200 but that includes taking the wheels and tyres off. Most places quoted that for loose wheels.)

That is a decent price anyway. Last time I used them for a set of wheels it was for DDtB a few years ago, think they were £150 before VAT and the wheels were supplied loosely.

Stuart Orr has sold the wheel side of things to one of the guys that was working for him a few months ago.

pete wrote:
(Love that you think that I would wash my car once a fortnight. The Multipla was last done in June, and that was only because we were lending it to some friends to take it on holiday and I felt embarrassed.)

Despite the popular myth, even I don't manage a fortnightly show n shine for ours these days. But that's my aspiration so I thought I would project it upon you

You're making me feel inadequate as a man.

Where's the hang head in shame emoticon?

(Having spent the last couple of hours cleaning the fleet of bicycles I realise that I'm more of a polisher than I care to admit. 2 buckets, towel dried, even took tyres off so the names lined up with the valves )...

pete wrote:(Having spent the last couple of hours cleaning the fleet of bicycles I realise that I'm more of a polisher than I care to admit. 2 buckets, towel dried, even took tyres off so the names lined up with the valves )...

Peter, top tip.

When putting the tyres on your wheels, I put the section of tyre that shows you the PSI, beside the valve. A quick reminder when using the track pump to inflate the tyres to the correct pressures.

Ps. I quickly read your above post, and thought that you had done the tyre name/valve alignment with your car tyres

Steve.

Not sure whether that is anal retentive, or a good tip.

tut

tut wrote:Not sure whether that is anal retentive, or a good tip.

tut

It is handy when your pumping up tyres on a few bikes.

I'm with Steve

Well I'm probably with Pete, ref labels - makes the valve easy to find! - but with Steve in principle, except that I just "pump them up until they are quite hard".

(Just being anal TBH).

As for tyre pressures the gauge on my pump broke long ago. All tyres as hard as possible. Let down MTB tyres a bit to go downhill, especially in wet.

Sometimes, when I'm pumping them up, my tyres explode.