Our Cars

Rob Marshall sorts the alloy wheels on his wife’s Citroën C5.

With my wife covering most of the mileage in her Citroën C5 in the early morning and evening rush hours, I decided in early Autumn last year to invest in a set of cold-weather tyres as a safety move. Unfortunately, this also meant obtaining spare wheel rims – a set of which were bagged from a non-accident-damaged former taxi, which had blown-up its engine.

While these rims were in sound structural condition, they were tatty cosmetically, wearing many years’ worth of kerbing and brake dust. Fortunately, a few evenings spent in the garage, plus a little help from my local bodyshop, had them looking better than new.

Rob’s decision to fit Continental Contiwinter Contact tyres to his wife’s C5 resulted in a complete alloy refurb.

After removing all traces of grease from the rim, the surface was rubbed down with 500-grit wet-and-dry sandpaper, which not only prepared the surface but also removed stubborn dirt.

The alloys were cleaned inside and out with an alloy wheel cleaner. Old adhesive lead weights were levered from the inside of the rim and the remaining sticky goo dissolved with cellulose thinners.

The alloys were a cheap scrapyard find, due to them being chipped, scraped and discoloured. They were sourced from an identical car to that of Mrs M, so fitting would not be an issue.

The mini-drill even removed most of the deeper scuffs, but some grazes were too deep to risk continuing. I was wary about digging in too deep and removing too much alloy material.

While the remaining scrapes could have been filled with conventional body filler, I preferred chemical metal, which is reinforced with aluminium flakes. Once set, it was flatted down with wet-and-dry sandpaper.

Small marks were sanded-out with the wet-and-dry, but kerb damage required a more aggressive mini-sanding drill, which removed light grazing and helped me to assess the remaining damage.