Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists -Type of Wheels

The biggest change in types of wheels on the market today is the predominance of machine faced wheels.  Whilst Wheels come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and finishes, machine faced wheels are becoming the norm over painted or powdercoated wheels.  There are thousands upon thousands of wheels on the market and when repairing a wheel, particularly a mobile wheel repair, the the most important factor is the finish on the wheel.  At The Wheelman, we like you to be looking at the wheel thinking it looks like new.

The different finishes on wheels are:

1. Painted or powder coated.  This was by far the most popular finish in the early 2000’s, with approximately 70% of wheels being either painted or powder coated to a silver, gunmetal grey, black, or even shadow chrome colour.
2. Machined or diamond cut wheels would now be in excess of 60%  of new car wheels and have really taken off in markets globally but particularly in Australia.  This is where the wheel is painted and then the face is machined or diamond cut.  The wheel is clear coated to protect the machined face.
3. Polished finish, where the wheel is fully polished and usually has no clear coat.
4. Chrome plated.

Painted or powder coated wheels can be repaired on site with colour matching usually done by eye.  The shadow chrome colour is the most difficult to match, as the colour varies from wheel to wheel, even for the same wheel.

Machined or diamond cut wheels and polished rims can be repaired on site, however, the final repaired finish is not perfect.  The reason for this will be covered in another post.

Chrome wheels unfortunately cannot be repaired at all.  This is because car wheels cannot be re-chromed in Australia.  There are a number of chrome paint products on the market, however, none of them really provide a good consistent repair quality finish.  This is something we’re working on in the background to assist motor vehicles such as Jeep.

I hope that helps you understand a little bit more about wheels.  If you have any questions, please send me an email to info@thewheelman.com.au and I will do my best to answer your question.