Ceramic coating

The upshot of this is that they looked at my car and quoted £1240+VAT to correct the paint and apply Gtechniq, too much for me, as they had already done the wheels and interior I have asked them to wash it and it will be £300. The wheel refurbish is £437, so that's still a substantial £737! ouch.
He said my car looked good apart from some minor swirl marks, so I'm happy with that.

Incidentally I had a call from Lepsons saying two of the wheels need some more work as they have grooves in them, picture below, not sure how this has happened, unless it was part of the manufacturing, they said it looks like they have filler in them? I bought the wheels new in June 2016 and have never been damaged, apart from superficial kerbing, but I always though the rear wheels looked a different colour to the fronts. When I pulled up at Lepsons on Monday, the first thing the tech said to me was that the rear wheels had been refurbished before, I said they cant have been as I bought them from BMW new, so I know the history - but maybe they have been damaged and repaired in Germany before being shipped?

 

strange marks.

I once had a brand new van delivered with a slightly wrong coloured door - I rejected it.

And my claim to fame, I rejected my old bosses Ferrari 360, apart from being blathered in black dots, the spider roof was also marked with what appeared to be polish residue.

I suspected my 640d had a break in at BMW, as I found the tell tale square glass pieces under passenger seat, and delivery had been put back a couple of days (even though it was at the dealership as an ex demo)

So its would be easy for BMW or the dealer to touch a curb and repair the wheels, its all to easy to be excited with the new car and not put emotion to the side and inspect every panel.

 

Yes, but I bought the wheels of Ed as a set with tyres, they did not come with the car as it originally had 20" wheels which were not big enough

 

I find that usng C2 V3 or carpro reload on coatings changes the properties of the coating and the hydrophobic ability of the coating behaves differently when it gets wet with the C2 V3 on the water tends to bead up like a wax but the bare ceramic coating the water sheets off rather than beads I am a great believer in us G wash or similar coating friendly shampoo and add nowt else

 

£1240 plus Vat is a lot of money and something that i would consider spending when the car was new to me and still fairly fresh age wise, but for yourself it is a lot to spend on a car that will be traded in when you find the right replacement

strange marks on the wheels and a mystery where they came from or what happened, did you have one of the wheels replaced when you had that car drive into the side of you that may explain one wheel being different but not both rears

 

Were they the alloys that were fitted when your car was in the bodyshop having the front end rebuilt?.... perhaps they were damaged then?

 

I believe it’s the rear 10j wheels that have the marks, I only had one of the front 9j wheels replaced in Nov 2016 after the smash. It’s also the rears that always looked a dull colour, to the extent that my son asked me if they were actually meant to be a different colour.
I’m starting to think the wheels were damaged in transit at some point and have been filled and sprayed. Not suggesting it happened in this country BTW as I’m sure Ed would have pointed that out when I bought them.

 

it is to late to look now but standard BMW wheels only have finish paint on the front face of the wheels and the insides and the wheel barrels are a different flatter grey colour so it is easy to see when they have had paint as they normally have some over spray from the front finish colour on the dull grey rears and as it is in the barrel and not seen they never seem to mask it off or clean off any over spray

I had one wheel refurbished at a bmw dealer and it was always easy to spot because of this over spray

 

Those marks are quite nasty - though they do look quite intentional / deliberate, perhaps dressing off poorly after casting..

 

Yeah, I think you could be right there, but to fill the grooves and sell as new wheels is dishonest.

 

Going back to your original post, there are other coating treatments allbeit I’m still of the thinking you pay for the precoating prep work!
A glaze may be worth a look, granted it’s durability will most likely not match that of CTechniq as it’s more of a valeters product than detailers though the result will be as good as prep and cost considerably less and still carries a 5 year guarantee
The local place to me offers it at a favourable price..

 

yeah i only use Gtechniq stuff, except for BH foam - quite diluted, that said coz of the coating it tends to come off very quick

 

Got the car back yesterday with newly refurbished wheels that are now ceramic coated, cleaned and treated leather and a full valet.
The wheels seem to be staying cleaner now, even after a 70 mile drive home.
I also have 10mm spacers now and it has made a good difference.

 

And another from the landing window.

 

you will find the wheels much easier to clean most of the brake dust should just jet wash off and all they should need is simple shampoo and a wheel mitt t keep them looking good

just a thought the wider spacer will put your nice shiny wheels closer to the dreaded curbs when parking so extra care required