Split-type alloys warning
A timely email arrived from a regular reader just prior to us publishing this piece. Mr Tweedie had seen that we were working on an article about alloy wheels and he wanted to warn us about his experience with splitting BBS alloys on his Volvo.
“I decided to get the Nebula 18in BBS split alloy wheels on my wife’s Volvo S80 refurbished as they were looking down-atheel. We had already gone down the ‘man with a van’ route of repainting them, but the work did not last up here in Scotland due to all the salt on the roads. I took them to a local company that had previously refurbished alloys for me and established that they had the expertise to powder-coat split wheels. A price was agreed, but, on collection, I realised they required repainting as there were paint runs. Once this had been rectified, new tyres were fitted and we sat back to admire them.
“After a trip down the motorway, I noticed that the wheels juddered when the brakes were applied. As my wife and I were on holiday, I popped into a fast-fit outfit, where the wheels were rebalanced and the front discs/pads changed. After another trip up the motorway, the brakes were juddering again, so it was back to the local branch of the same fast-fit garage to change them under warranty. Another trip south and more juddering under braking…
“I decided to get the job done correctly and had my local Volvo agent change all four warped discs at vast expense. I did ask the Volvo mechanic if the alloy wheels could cause brake disc warping, but he assured me that could not happen A few more wheel balances and disc changes by Volvo (luckily under warranty) and I started asking various alloy wheel refurbishing experts if they had ever heard of this problem.
“Eventually, after two years of chasing around, I took it to a local tyre depot and asked them to check the wheels were balanced and that they were not buckled. Onto the balancing machine and the fitter found that the central locating boss was eroded, plus the spokes were not attached true to the rim.
“The manager took one look at the boss and pointed out that too much acid had been used when dipped and that five of the 13 BBS bolt holes were stripped. It was a similar story with all four wheels. As the wheels were unsafe, I bought a new set of Ukmanufactured alloys, fitted my old tyres and returned home.
“After contacting the original refurbisher and getting nowhere, I decided that Trading Standards should become involved as this was a safety matter. It was discovered that the bolts they had fitted were generic, not original, and that a torque wrench had not been used, resulting in stripped holes. Black mastic had then been used to ‘glue’ the stripped bolts back into the rim – other refurbishers mask the central boss to prevent erosion in this area. “So my checklist when having split alloys refurbished is this: Confirm with the wheel manufacturer that they allow them to be split for refurbishing. Do the refurbishers use original bolts? Generic bolts may be too ‘aggressive’ and strip the holes in the rim. Do the refurbishers use a torque wrench and know the limits? If the alloys are acid-dipped, do the refurbishers mask off the spoke/rim interface plus the central boss?”