To Lacquer or not to Lacquer Diamond cut rims?

[Fal_325i]

As per title guy's need help here, getting my rims diamond cut, but don't really want to get them lacquered as if I get a stone chip it will ruin everything. Now the question is what are the cons of not having them lacquered, it's not an every day car so don't mind cleaning the wheels evertime I drive it.

[gareth]

lepsons told me that if i lacquer the rims, they will corrode underneath with time. as i parked my car on the seafront and found it covered in salt spray most days, i decided it would be better than bare aluminium.

they held out fairly well but have some areas where the lacquer is lifting. fitting low profile tyres with the higher stresses involved has lifted some of the lacquer too.

if you clean the car each week and can keep them polished, i'd leave them bare.
if you're a twice yearly cleaner, lacquer them to keep their looks for as long as possible. eventually though, the lacquer will lift and you'll need to get it all off and polish.

incidentally, mine have been on for about 2 years and are still very good.

[Fal_325i]

cheers for that gareth

[Turbo-Brown]

You're kinda fighting a losing battle with diamond cut wheels IMO.

Either you laquer them and that lifts holding in crap as Gareth says, or you leave them bare and the very rough surface left by the cutter picks up and holds crap so that they corrode.

If you can't paint or powdercoat an exposed aluminium surface, you're better off having it polished to a mirror shine so that the poo doesn't stick to it and it's very easy to polish out any little bits of corrosion.

[Fal_325i]

I see what your saying turbo brown, but I don't fancy the polished look, prefer the diamond cut.

You're kinda fighting a losing battle with diamond cut wheels IMO.

Either you laquer them and that lifts holding in crap as Gareth says, or you leave them bare and the very rough surface left by the cutter picks up and holds crap so that they corrode.

If you can't paint or powdercoat an exposed aluminium surface, you're better off having it polished to a mirror shine so that the poo doesn't stick to it and it's very easy to polish out any little bits of corrosion.

[Turbo-Brown]

That's fair enough, guess the thing to do is keep on top of any corrosion which appears, so I'd say leave them bare and buy some metal polish to give them a once over every couple of weeks.

[Fal_325i]

cheers turbo-brown your a star.

[HairyScreech]

the laquered over diamond cuttin gon my mini cooper wheels has got water under it causing corosion and a servere case of looking crap.

[StuBeeDoo]

I wouldn't do it.
My Sunbeam Lotus wheels were lacquered and after less than a year of daily use looked absolutely shite - even with regular cleaning.
Polished, no lacquer and very regular cleaning (with Solvol Autosol or similar) is the only way if you insist on any form of bare metal.
Worth bearing in mind that most professional wheel refurb'ers won't re-polish or re-cut a wheel more than once. After that it's "paint 'em or scrap 'em".

[dazleeds]

dnt do it

my borbets were done at some point and they look crap now
waters got under the lacquer

[gareth]

the lacquer some companies use lasts a lot better than others... that said, i've seen a lot of E46 M3's with corroded wheels - the curvy diamond cut ones. i doubt that'll be cheap or naff lacquer on them!

[BristolBulldog]

i had some polished rims on my bk299's. they flaked off in months. In the end i took 1000 wet and dry for that "brushed ally look". i then re-lacquered them, and they lasted excellently, having given the lacquer a decent key.

[feens]

My Toplines were dimond Cut and the lacquer is pealing off them now aswell on the rim look kack at the min!! I Polish the car and wheels regularly so would i be better off removing the lacquer and use'n some good metal polish??

[Fal_325i]

From what I understand it is very hard to remove the lacquer from diamond cut wheels without damaging them.