What white worm is, and why it spreads
That cloudy bloom creeping in from the rim edge is corrosion under the lacquer. It does not polish out and it does not stop on its own.
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Written between jobs
Advice worth
Advice worth
reading first
This is what we end up explaining on the phone twice a week, written down once so you can read it before you ring. Where a wheel does not need doing, the article says so.
Rather just ask?
60 seconds
Answered by a refinisher
No obligation
SixThings worth knowing before you book
3–6 minEach, rather than a thousand words
By usWritten by the people doing the work
Honest verdictsSeveral end with “leave it alone”
Why we bother
Most wheel advice is written to sell
Search anything about alloy wheels and you get pages written by people who have never held one, ending in a booking button.
The problem with that is the answer is often “do nothing”. A light scuff on a wheel you are keeping for another two years is genuinely not worth two hundred pounds, and nobody whose income depends on the booking is going to tell you so.
We would rather be the people you ring in three years than the people who took two hundred pounds today. So several of these end with leave it, watch it, or clean it differently and see.
Where something does need doing urgently — corrosion spreading under a diamond-cut face, for instance — we say that too, and we say why waiting costs more.
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What applies to you
Can a kerbed wheel always be saved?
Nearly always, and the exceptions are specific: cracks through a spoke, buckles past what a jig can take, and faces cut to the limit.
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How to photograph a wheel for a quote
Daylight, straight on to the rim, whole wheel in frame. Three things that turn a price range into an actual figure.
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Why coastal cars lose their wheels first
Salt air plus winter road salt is unusually hard on alloys, and within sight of the water it is worse again.
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The wheel cleaner that is costing you money
Acid-based cleaners strip lacquer. They also make the wheel look brilliant for a fortnight, which is why people keep buying them.
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Powder coating or paint?
For alloys, powder wins almost every time. The exceptions are worth knowing before you ask for one or the other.
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One email a year
Before the salt goes down
Every October we send one message about getting wheels through a winter on the coast. That is the entire list — no offers, no monthly round-up, no second email.
About this advice
Who writes it
Who actually writes these?
The two of us, usually at the kitchen table after a long day, which is why they read like somebody talking rather than a marketing department. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will change it.
Are you just trying to sell me a refurbishment?
Several of these end with leaving it alone. The wheel cleaner one exists because we got tired of seeing lacquer stripped by something bought in good faith at a supermarket.
Can I ask about something not covered here?
Yes, and it costs nothing. Send a photo and a question. If it turns into an article we will not name you or show your registration.
Does any of this apply to my wheels specifically?
Broadly, but wheels differ enormously. Anything here is general guidance rather than an assessment of yours, and a photograph plus two minutes will always beat a paragraph.
Reading this locally
All of the above applies wherever you are. What changes by area is access and how hard the salt bites, and the area pages cover both.
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