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New alloy wheels, your votes please 🙂

Wilto

Active Member
Mar 5, 2021
128
60
58
South Wales
These arey new favourites,
I wish there was a website that you could add an image of your car and try different colours to see what they would look like, after all spending that sort of money you want them to look nice.
@BigJase88 I like the look of the Matt carbon gray on that A3, don't like just black alloys, never have, must have some silver on them to fetch out the details. Decision now is do I go for the ones in the picture above or plain silver 🤔
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,076
These arey new favourites,
I wish there was a website that you could add an image of your car and try different colours to see what they would look like, after all spending that sort of money you want them to look nice.
@BigJase88 I like the look of the Matt carbon gray on that A3, don't like just black alloys, never have, must have some silver on them to fetch out the details. Decision now is do I go for the ones in the picture above or plain silver 🤔
I went with the matt grey as mentioned previously from another member i didn't want diamond cut cause they don't last.

However the matt grey didn't last either as the ex turned them into 50 pence pieces.

There is a website that you can use. I will try find it




Unfortunately they do not have Romac but i'm sure you could find a similar wheel on there
 

Wilto

Active Member
Mar 5, 2021
128
60
58
South Wales
I went with the matt grey as mentioned previously from another member i didn't want diamond cut cause they don't last.

However the matt grey didn't last either as the ex turned them into 50 pence pieces.

There is a website that you can use. I will try find it




Unfortunately they do not have Romac but i'm sure you could find a similar wheel on there
Thanks mate, I'll give it a try now 👏👏👌👍
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,551
1,397
How long does white worm take to develop, my car is 5 year old this month and there is none on my wheels at the moment.

I suppose it depends on what quality the top coat is and how well they are looked after.
I had it on the OEM diamond cut alloys when I owned my mk6 Golf. I’m pretty OCD when it comes to looking after my cars so it wasn’t due to lack of care that white worm happened;
  • car was washed by me (I’m the only person who washes my car) every 7-10 days whether it really needed it or not. Three bucket wash method used, ph neutral shampoo, lambs wool wash mitt, assortment of detailing brushes and wheel woolies, plush drying towels and warm air dryer.
  • wheels inspected for any stone chip damage at every wash. If there was any, it was touched in there and then (black paint pen for the recessed sections and clear lacquer pen for the diamond cut faces).
  • wheels well protected with wax or sealant which was topped up every couple of months or so.
In spite of the above, two of the alloys succumbed to white worm when the car was just over two years old (owned by me from new) and not in the areas where I’d repaired stone chips. The wheels had never been kerbed / repaired and still had the original tyres fitted, so tyre fitters hadn’t damaged the lacquer to allow the onset of white worm.

IMHO the problem with diamond cut alloys is the diamond cut face doesn’t provide a good key for the lacquer to bond to, so durability is compromised as a result. Also, the UK’s winter weather and diamond cut alloys don’t make for a good combination to keep them looking good - a small stone chip on the face of the alloy that damages the lacquer and exposes the machined face to the elements and road salt / grit, snow, slush etc. and white worm is highly likely - probably inevitable.

My last three cars have had diamond cut alloys from the factory (that was the only option) and I’ve swapped them for a set of durable powder coated alloys within 2-3 months of getting the car. I keep the powder coated alloys on all year round and the diamond cut originals will only be put back on just before the time comes to sell the car.

Given the choice of diamond cut or powder coated alloys I’d go for the latter every time.
 

Wilto

Active Member
Mar 5, 2021
128
60
58
South Wales
Wow that is a thorough washing routine, unfortunately I don't have the facilities to do that, I live in a terrace house, with the car parked in the street somewhere where I can find a space ☹️
I either use the jet wash in work or take it to a hand or imo car wash, not ideal I know but my only option.
This is the only good thing about having black alloys it doesn't show up the brake dust like it used to on my previous car which had silver alloys
IMG_20190613_092604.jpg
 
Mar 19, 2023
6
0
So once you finally make your mind up 😆 are you going to sell your current wheels ? Maybe to me 😉
 
Jun 27, 2023
2
0
Bear in mind that they only sell alloys as sets of four so if you are unlucky enough to damage one, if it’s not repairable you’d be faced with buying a complete replacement set. However, if that does happen, at less than £500 for a set of four it wouldn’t be too expensive replacing all of them.
 
Jun 26, 2023
7
1
Ooh!
Hiya guys and girls, looking to change my alloys soon, been looking on CM Wheels website. All wheels are 18" the same size as I have on there now

Which one gets your vote?

(1) Pretoria gloss gunmetal
View attachment 35866
(2) Pretoria hyper silver
View attachment 35868
(3) Audi RS4 gloss gunmetal machined
View attachment 35872

This is my current setup
View attachment 35870 View attachment 35871
Many thanks in advance guys
Gun metal would be my choice, love that exhaust system btw 👍
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,551
1,397
Bear in mind that they only sell alloys as sets of four so if you are unlucky enough to damage one, if it’s not repairable you’d be faced with buying a complete replacement set. However, if that does happen, at less than £500 for a set of four it wouldn’t be too expensive replacing all of them.

Thats exactly point I made in an earlier post in this discussion thread (see below) - in fact it’s identical; word for word! 🤣

It’d be the Pretoria reps in gunmetal for me.

I’d always avoid anything machined, especially at the lower priced end of the market. It’ll only be a matter of time before white worm corrosion sets in.

Factors to consider with alloys from CM Wheels;
  • Bear in mind that they only sell alloys as sets of four so if you are unlucky enough to damage one, if it’s not repairable you’d be faced with buying a complete replacement set. However, if that does happen, at less than £500 for a set of four it wouldn’t be too expensive replacing all of them.
  • The standard Seat centre caps may not fit. If they don’t, you can buy a set of centre cap stickers on various websites (e.g. eBay Etsy) and attach these to the centre caps supplied with the alloys.
  • Wheel width and offset of the CM Wheels Pretoria reps are 8J and ET45 respectively. I may be wrong but I think the equivalent with 18” OEM factory alloys for the mk3 Leon FR are 7.5J and ET51. Therefore the face of the CM Wheels Pretoria reps will protrude outwards an extra 12.4mm and the inner face will be 0.3 mm closer to the suspension strut (according to the calculator on www.willtheyfit.com) compared to an 7.5J x 18” ET51 OEM factory alloy for the Leon FR (IMHO, the reps will give a slightly better stance than OEM).
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,551
1,397
Cheers pal. Which gun metal do yo like, the Pretoria or the RS4
Low cost diamond cut alloy wheels (which is what the RS4 reps from CMWheels are) may succumb to the dreaded white worm corrosion fairly early on in their life - especially on a car used as a daily driver all year round - as the quality of finish maybe poor compared to OEM alloys. Winter road conditions and diamond cut alloys isn’t a good combination.

I personally dislike diamond cut alloys with a passion, so I’d avoid anything diamond cut; too many downsides IMHO;
  • Poor durability of clear lacquer on bare metal (bare metal doesn’t provide a good ‘key’ for the lacquer to bond to), so susceptible to lacquer peel and white worm corrosion.
  • More expensive to refurbish than painted / powder coated alloys, and can usually only be refurbished a maximum of two times; more than twice and the structural integrity of the wheel may be compromised.
  • Refurbishing diamond cut alloys is usually a temporary fix; white worm corrosion is likely to reappear at some point, and the refurbished finish is unlikely to last as long as the original finish on OEM diamond cut alloys.
  • Easily damaged by tyre fitters and poorly maintained tyre changing equipment, and then denying they caused the damage.
That’s just my opinion though and we all have different likes and dislikes, which is a good thing 🙂.
 
Last edited:
Jun 27, 2023
2
0
Bear in mind that they only sell alloys as sets of four so if you are unlucky enough to damage one, if it’s not repairable you’d be faced with buying a complete replacement set. However, if that does happen, at less than £500 for a set of four it wouldn’t be too expensive replacing all of them.
Pikashow
ppsspp emulator
 
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