wheel rims

[Septic]

Hi Chaps

Im thinking of getting my rims painted.
when i get round to rebuilding the wheel i it possible for me to do it or will i have to take to a pro.?

stevie

 

[(RIP) maverick]

I don't know of anyone on this board that has managed to rebuilt the BMW rims again. They are fairly sticky to rebuilt and straighten again.

A search on rebuilt wheels should produce a fair amount of feedback. Myself also thinking of repainting them as mine is beyond cleaning and polishing.

 

[Tarka]

DON`T PAINT THEM !!

Unless,of course,you like repairing stone chipped paint on a regular basis. To say nothing of the ravages of tyre levers...

Probably best to get`em powder coated,as any anodiser worth their salt won`t anodise secondhand rims.

Mind you,I ain`t seen any brush applied Hammerited rims on a GS yet...

 

[Spanish Bob]

Recently I tried to find someone to rebuild a wheel. I have looked around a lot and even had the help of people in the trade on this forum. There was one fellow who said he might be able to do it but no garantee and double the normal rate. BMW dealers are forbidden to do or recommend rebuilds.

If you have found someone who is a whizz at doing this please please let me know, but otherwise the only option is have a new non BMW rim laced into the bmw hub. WHich is what I will do with the bent front wheel I have (21inch conversion, to be done by Haan Wheels in Holland).

cheers

 

[Daz]

Wheel rebuild

Stevie I stripped down both my wheels over winter. Getting the spokes out was the hardest job as they tend to corrode in the holes. I dont know what you want to do with your wheels but I pollished mine then had them re-anodized. If you buy your replacement s/s spokes from Motor Work's you could give Stanhill a ring on 01538 373721. They are a small farther and son buisness in Leek, Stafforshire. They only work Wednesday to Saturday and they charged me 20 quid a wheel. You will however need to take some measurements from the wheels before you remove the spokes.

I hope this helps,

Daz.

 

[Tarka]

the "offsett" - whatever that is BEFORE you take the spokes out

The OFFSET ( note diffrunt speeling ) is a term referring to the distance between hub outer face and rim outer face,compared from one side to the other,IE if the measurement is the same on the left and the right ( hub central to rim ) there is ZERO OFFSET. Hopefully,you can work out the meaning of left offset or right offset.
Incidentally,another factor to consider is if the wheel is 'dished', where the spokes can be 'flat' one side and 'convex' t`other...

Have a look at the wire spoked wheels in yer dealers or even in a peddly bike shop....

 

[the civil one]

Belfast

John Bell ,Wheel and hub ,Donegal Rd.Belfast
Not 100% on the Donegal Rd bit though!.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

offset is :

the distance of the rim centre line from the hub centre line.

 

[Deadskin]

Probably best to get`em powder coated,as any anodiser worth their salt won`t anodise secondhand rims.

Why not

 

[richie]

Guessing the answer is that they are slightly pitted, scratched, blemished and it won't work right. Powder coating sounds like a good idea to me...

 

[Ian Whinnett]

This is where I come in

I have just had my spare set of wheels blasted and powder coated. I had them blasted locally which is fairly easy to find, I stripped them myself. What a pain I am never doing that again.

The powder coating was done by Holland and Farmer Eng in Swindon (01793 484388), these guys reccomend having the wheels dipped rather than blasted but it was to late by the time I knew that. Reccomend giving then a tinkle before you do anything. I have got the rims and hubs back and they look good. I reccoment talking to these fellows as they know a lot about the coating of wheels and have a lot of work in that line (the coating was £30 per wheel, not cheap but a good job done. the stripping is better because it does not weaken the wheels and leaves a better surface apart from the pitted areas of course.

The next thing is to recieve the bearings that I have ordered from motorworks. load the bearings into the front hub and then send them to DEVON RIM Co. The guy there is called Doug I think. This guy supplies stainless steel spokes and nipples (which Motorworks don't they only have ss spokes) and will rebuild a wheel spokes & nipples included for about£100. Don't quote me on the price as I have not got mine down there yet as I say waiting gor the bearings from MW.

This guy has a jig and therefore has no need of taking measurements etc.

Doug is a really nice sounding bloke, very helpfull and he can arrange coating and blasting if you want. He has access to a courier who can ship wheels to and from him.

As I say waiting for the bearings and then the whole lot will be shipped to him and I will hopefully a week or so later go and pick the wheels up.

Maverick, there is a company called Willow Stove Enamelers not to far from you on willow lane industrial est between Hackbridge and Mitcham. They do powdwer coating and can get things shot blasted. If you cannot find the tel no cive me a ring at work on 01285 810000 and I will try and find the tel no for you as I think it may be there. They did a good job for me on my YPVS which I rebuilt.

 

[Tarka]

Why not

Well,partly as Richie says,but when I visited a local anodisers
they informed me that as anodising only affects a thin layer,if you anodised an even slightly corroded rim (after polishing up of course ) there could be 'residual' corrosion on the edges of the spoke holes or valve hole and this could carry on munching away at yer alloy whilst totally unseen under the anodised layer

This kind of horror is why the once ever so popular red and blue anodised brake line fittings were not recommended for road use
as they are race equipment,intended to be regularly stripped and inspected,not used in all weathers and chucked in the shed at the end of the day...........

 

[The Other PaulG]

Offsets

I'm not an expert on this, but I have definitely read that the offsets on R-series beemer rims are extremely specific - even between otherwise very similar models.

If they are to be sent off to an expert, it might be worth quizzing them on their knowledge of this before they start to strip them.....