# What a Muppett !!!!



## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Decided to go to France for a small break and well cross with myself, upon driving up the ramp to go onto the top floor of the Euro tunnel train, the sun shined in my eyes and I managed to scuff my near side alloy. It is no one else's fault but my own, a moment of misjudgement. :roll: 
Just a word of advice for anyone going to use this service, there is not a lot of room between the rails after you have gone up the ramp and into the train. A person behind me had done the same.... :?

I have contacted Bedford Audi and they have a guy who comes to their place twice a week, apparently charges £90 + vat per alloy, not sure if he will be able to carry out the repair as I believe the wheel is a Diamond cut finish and the normal process is for it to go on a CNC lathe... But Audi did take my reg so should be aware the alloys are Diamond cut...

Mint alloys have quoted £102 including the vat..

Still to waiting to hear from Pristine, Wheel Clinic and TRS...

Has anyone else has the misfortune of scuffing this type of alloy and did you use the Audi service?

Alloys are the 5 arm 19"


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, I scuffed my Red VXR diamond cut alloy & it's surprising how good it looked after fine WetnDry & plenty of soapy water & then metal polish.
Very difficult to see & I knew where it was.
Hoggy.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, I scuffed my Red VXR diamond cut alloy & it's surprising how good it looked after fine WetnDry & plenty of soapy water & then metal polish.
> Very difficult to see & I knew where it was.
> Hoggy.


Cheers Hoggy,

I might have to consider having a go at that, after all got nothing to loose. If I mess it up, just get it professionally done..

Can you remember what metal polish you used?


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Take you time with plenty of wetNdry/soapy water & then Autosol to finish.
Hoggy.


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## Andy1a2b (May 11, 2013)

Matthaus said:


> Decided to go to France for a small break and well cross with myself, upon driving up the ramp to go onto the top floor of the Euro tunnel train, the sun shined in my eyes and I managed to scuff my near side alloy. It is no one else's fault but my own, a moment of misjudgement. :roll:
> Just a word of advice for anyone going to use this service, there is not a lot of room between the rails after you have gone up the ramp and into the train. A person behind me had done the same.... :?
> 
> I have contacted Bedford Audi and they have a guy who comes to their place twice a week, apparently charges £90 + vat per alloy, not sure if he will be able to carry out the repair as I believe the wheel is a Diamond cut finish and the normal process is for it to go on a CNC lathe... But Audi did take my reg so should be aware the alloys are Diamond cut...
> ...


Ouch  what tyres are you running? They look as though there is a decent overlap on the rim but you still got some damage. I damaged the nearside rear on my VW Alltrack the day after I picked it up and the garage sorted it FOC with the guy they use 8) As Hoggy says , I know where the damage is and I have to look hard to find it. Hope yours fixes easily.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, Take you time with plenty of wetNdry/soapy water & then Autosol to finish.
> Hoggy.


Cheers Hoggy, I thought that was what you had probably used.. :wink:


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Matthaus said:


> Hoggy said:
> 
> 
> > Hi, Take you time with plenty of wetNdry/soapy water & then Autosol to finish.
> ...


Hi, Mask it off at the bottom of the spokes, as it's too easy to enlarge the area, while rubbing it down.
Hoggy.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Cheers Andy1a2b

The tyres are Hankook ventus s1 evo 2, they are the original tyres that came with the TT. There is a good lip which is undamaged, I think the angle that I came in and the rail that I touched was at a height that it didn't touch the tyre, it hit the alloy as it was raised, so the tyre didn't have a chance to protect the alloy, if that makes sense.. :roll:

It's absolutely gutting as I have done my best to take such care, it put a slight downer on the holiday.. but at the end of the day it can be repaired...


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Matthaus said:
> 
> 
> > Hoggy said:
> ...


Yeah, I could see how you could get to over happy rubbing it down and end up enlarging the area... 

Cheers Again, Matt


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Have received a reply from The Wheel Clinic and have copied it for info for anyone else who unfortunately finds themselves in this situation, they are based in Northampton and I have read good reviews...

They offer two types of repair for Diamond cut alloys..

Diamond cut face full refurbishment for when the corrosion or chipping has 
gone too far and the wheel needs to be chemically stripped, primed and 
coloured.

(this is often the case for wheels over 2 years of age.)

Diamond cut face & clear coat £65 per rim, £260.00 per set of 4

With tyres £310.00 per set

Diamond cut face full refurbishment £70 per rim, £290.00 set of 4

With tyres £340.00

TRS UK have replied

Hi Matt

A refurb on your wheel is as follows

£65 if you bring us the alloy only

£75 with tyre

TRS are based in Newport Pagnell..

I thought both of these quotes were pretty reasonable..


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Well, I decided to go and visit The Wheel Clinic and TRS and see what their workshops were like and get a general feel for how they treat you as a customer and to have a look at some of their work.

Wheel Clinic

I didn't get to go in their workshop, but their was various cars in the car park on axle stands consisting of a MK2 Audi TT, Porsche and a VW scirocco.
The guy was pleasant enough and said that they could possibly just diamond cut the rim, apply lacquer and put it in their oven for £82.50 + vat but there was a possibility that the oven would turn the paint yellow or a full refurbishment would be £87.50 + vat.. so slightly different than 1st quoted via email and would be looking at the 1st September for the work to be done and would be a 3 day turnaround.

TRS

Met the owner and one of his workers, really professional couldn't help enough, showed me work that had been carried out on alloys he had done for existing customers, this consisted of BMW's, Porsche, McLaren...
They both inspected my alloy and came to the same conclusion that putting it on the Diamond cutting lathe machine would not make it look OEM, as it looked more of a polished finish and the lathe would make it more of a lined finish.
The owner then said that it would be corrected by hand and then put in the polishing machine that would just do the spokes and then lacquer the alloy. Total cost including tyre removal and putting tyre back on £70 all in..
Was very impressed with them, would have to wait 3 - 4 weeks and would be a two day turnaround...

What did make me smile was that the owner of TRS was pretty much saying to a degree, just how Hoggy had suggested, just not with the polish machine involved..


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## GoTeamGb2012 (Dec 27, 2012)

Sounds like TRS is your best bet there. Good luck with it and let us know how you get on


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

GoTeamGb2012 said:


> Sounds like TRS is your best bet there. Good luck with it and let us know how you get on


I agree, Cheers... :wink: Although I am still debating about giving it a go myself..


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Give it a go as I suggested.
I almost [smiley=bigcry.gif] when I scuffed my red VXR, but was really not noticeable after my DIY & I'm really OCD.
Pay for a refurb & hopefully not, but could scuff it again next week. 
Hoggy.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, Give it a go as I suggested.
> I almost [smiley=bigcry.gif] when I scuffed my red VXR, but was really not noticeable after my DIY & I'm really OCD.
> Pay for a refurb & hopefully not, but could scuff it again next week.
> Hoggy.


Point very much taken into consideration... :wink:

I hope not to become an expert in doing it though..


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## GoTeamGb2012 (Dec 27, 2012)

Matthaus said:


> GoTeamGb2012 said:
> 
> 
> > Sounds like TRS is your best bet there. Good luck with it and let us know how you get on
> ...


If your confident enough to try then i say go for it. You know you have the back up of a wheel refurb shop should you not be happy with it. With some time and patience you will probably get it to a state where you will be happy with it.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

GoTeamGb2012 said:


> Matthaus said:
> 
> 
> > GoTeamGb2012 said:
> ...


That's what I was thinking, almost got nothing to loose, do a decent job = save some cash and be pleased that I gave it a go.. mess it up, get the pros's in..


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## steve_collier21 (Apr 13, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, I scuffed my Red VXR diamond cut alloy & it's surprising how good it looked after fine WetnDry & plenty of soapy water & then metal polish.
> Very difficult to see & I knew where it was.
> Hoggy.


 Would you lacquer on top of that?


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

steve_collier21 said:


> Hoggy said:
> 
> 
> > Hi, I scuffed my Red VXR diamond cut alloy & it's surprising how good it looked after fine WetnDry & plenty of soapy water & then metal polish.
> ...


I had asked Hoggy the same question, and this was his reply

No I didn't lacquer mine as it's difficult to get it to stick to polished alloy & sometimes turns yellow.


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, As above & I put a thin smear of clear silicone grease over the area each time I washed them, kept any corrosion away.
If it does start to tarnish give it a quick going over with metal polish.
Hoggy


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## hxrpz (Jul 6, 2015)

I feel your pain, having done a few euro-tunnel trips in my old show car. That treacherous drive down the train & close to £4000 worth of wheels is very nerve wracking, going from carriage to carriage is the worst as it moves your wheels slightly. Both me & my friend had our heads out the windows checking the sides :lol:


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## SpudZ (Jul 15, 2012)

Remember, water, salt and bare alluminium are never happy bedfellows..!


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

hxrpz said:


> I feel your pain, having done a few euro-tunnel trips in my old show car. That treacherous drive down the train & close to £4000 worth of wheels is very nerve wracking, going from carriage to carriage is the worst as it moves your wheels slightly. Both me & my friend had our heads out the windows checking the sides :lol:


Cheers, I must admit I had the wife's head sticking out of the window on the trip back on the damn Euro tunnel, was not going to make the same mistake twice... :?


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## hxrpz (Jul 6, 2015)

Matthaus said:


> hxrpz said:
> 
> 
> > I feel your pain, having done a few euro-tunnel trips in my old show car. That treacherous drive down the train & close to £4000 worth of wheels is very nerve wracking, going from carriage to carriage is the worst as it moves your wheels slightly. Both me & my friend had our heads out the windows checking the sides :lol:
> ...


did you have the guys moaning at you? the steward kept telling me to just drive straight & stop worrying :lol: I still stuck my head out & drove at -21132 mph.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

hxrpz said:


> Matthaus said:
> 
> 
> > hxrpz said:
> ...


No, funny enough, there was just the one guy who guided us up to the next car. I think by the expression on my face he wasn't going to say anything to me to get me annoyed..


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Well I decided to have ago today at repairing my scuffed alloy.. Quite pleased with my effort... :? Its seems, it has come out a lot shinier than I maybe hoped ... What do you think? Can anyone advise how to get it looking better....

Wait for it.....Get it professionally done...

*Before*



*After*



At least I gave it a go....

Cheers Hoggy for all your advice.. :wink:


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Not so bad & probably looks better in real life. Think I would have taken abit more off to make it more even.
Hoggy.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, Not so bad & probably looks better in real life. Think I would have taken abit more off to make it more even.
> Hoggy.


Yeah I think you are right, was just being cautious to see how it looked before going any further but blending it in seems to be the hardest thing to do and where I have done the repair it has a much more chrome effect and was thinking if I went any further down it would be even harder to blend in? :?


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## aquazi (Dec 24, 2014)

I would personally lacquer it on top to dull it out... but looks so much better now

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, I bet it's hardly noticeable now. 8) 
Hoggy.


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

aquazi said:


> I would personally lacquer it on top to dull it out... but looks so much better now
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


Cheers.. :wink:


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, I bet it's hardly noticeable now. 8)
> Hoggy.


It's certainly a lot better than it was, but I'm a bit OCD :roll:


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## Robert2000 (Feb 15, 2016)

Hi, thanks for the posting. I've just nicked my alloy :-( Noooooo

Can you tell me what you used to repair e.g. sandpaper type, colour of paint, lacquer etc

Thanks for any advice

Paul


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## datamonkey (Jan 23, 2012)

Hi Matthaus/Hoggy - what grit wet n dry did you use for this please?


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## Dano28 (Feb 10, 2013)

Not a band effort at all  need to dull it down a bit has you thought of giving it a quick pass with sandpaper/scotch brite to try and get that brushed finished that the diamond turning gives?


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## Matthaus (Oct 29, 2011)

Robert2000 said:


> Hi, thanks for the posting. I've just nicked my alloy :-( Noooooo
> 
> Can you tell me what you used to repair e.g. sandpaper type, colour of paint, lacquer etc
> 
> ...


Thanks, No hadn't tried that, might have to give it ago... Cheers..


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## Hughesie90 (Mar 14, 2016)

funnily enough the only extra services i took out at the dealership when i ordered mine was £149 for 3 years Alloy cover, can claim upto 18 refurbs in that time, money well spent if you ask me especially as i added the 20" rims :mrgreen:


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## aquazi (Dec 24, 2014)

Hughesie90 said:


> funnily enough the only extra services i took out at the dealership when i ordered mine was £149 for 3 years Alloy cover, can claim upto 18 refurbs in that time, money well spent if you ask me especially as i added the 20" rims :mrgreen:


Does that cover diamond cut alloys?

Someone at work got a new A3 paid for the same thing only to be told when trying to claim the first time they wont cover his alloy finish..... So after a bit of a battle got a full refund for the protection.

Sent from my iPhone 6s using Tapatalk


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## 4433allanr (Mar 11, 2016)

On Stoke Audi website:

Under, what's not covered;

H Alloy Wheel(s) of split rim construction, machine polished

Not sure if they are all the same policies from Audi.


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## Hughesie90 (Mar 14, 2016)

aquazi said:


> Hughesie90 said:
> 
> 
> > funnily enough the only extra services i took out at the dealership when i ordered mine was £149 for 3 years Alloy cover, can claim upto 18 refurbs in that time, money well spent if you ask me especially as i added the 20" rims :mrgreen:
> ...


hm interesting, bit of a con then!


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

aquazi said:


> Hughesie90 said:
> 
> 
> > funnily enough the only extra services i took out at the dealership when i ordered mine was £149 for 3 years Alloy cover, can claim upto 18 refurbs in that time, money well spent if you ask me especially as i added the 20" rims :mrgreen:
> ...


Was there anything special about his alloy finish? Thinking about adding this to my order but not sure now.


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## Tare071 (Oct 27, 2011)

Scuffs like this are easily mendable and it is a DIY job, approximately hour or hour and a half of work.
Here are the steps, detailed:

1. wash the rims thoroughly
2. let it dry a bit, or dry it down with a rag
3. mask the wheel mostly for the sake of the rubber - which isnt that soft but still
4. use the sand paper, here are the gradients: start off with 800 on the heavy marked and nicked parts, than go with the 1000, 1500 and fine work with 2000
To be fair, you can go by 800, to just 1500 with no worries, but for OCD ones do the finishing touch with 2000 sand paper.
4. use some polishing lubes for rims, pans even gun polishing lube works (purol and some other stuff)
5. afterwards wash it down and voila

To conclude this is such a minor damage to the wheel, no point in paying someone else to do it, just if you are total tool or if you lack time , by all means pay someone.....
And those guys you pay are gonna do it same way i described.

cheers

P.S. 
dont get scared if at one point things start looking uglier, that is ok, it needs to look uglier before it gets right 
same goes for all DIY jobs like polishing stuff, headlights etc.


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