Wheel refinishing in San Diego

[jbscheff]

Has anyone used US Wheel Repair in El Cajon to refinish their Fuchs?

[DW SD]

I went to Al Reed in Anaheim. It was worth the 1 hour drive.

Doug

[ttweed]

Yes, I have used them many times from when they were Eddco out in Santee. They will do a fine job of polishing for a fair price, but if you want a factory finish, including anodizing or painting, forget it. Go to Al Reed or Weidman's. If I was going to polish only, I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Turnaround is much quicker and no shipping (or less travel) involved.

TT

[ted]

Agree with TT US wheel is a fine shop.
I found Romero's custom polishing in Santee to have better prices and the same quality. Both these shops provide the same quality polishing as Al Reed.

Romero's Custom Polishing
Ph# 619 562 1532
8402 Magnolia Ave.
Ste 1 (in rear)
Santee Ca 92071

[jbscheff]

Thanks for the replies. Does anyone have pictures of these guys' work? I would like to compare to some of the billions of Al Reed posts.

[ted]

Originally posted by jbscheff
Thanks for the replies. Does anyone have pictures of these guys' work? I would like to compare to some of the billions of Al Reed posts.

If you can see the difference in metal polishing on an Internet photo you know someone is doing a bad job.
I had A Reed do some rims for me years ago, the polished metal had a lot of grain to it. Looked like it needed another pass or too with a finer compound. The local shops above have been just fine for me.
Here is a before and after where you see the difference. Romero's removed the anodized color and returned it to the polished finish. I did the wheel assembly and had the center painted a dark gray.

[Evans, Marv]

I boxed mine up and sent to Al Reed because of the good comments here. The shipping (UPS) was reasonable. They polished, painted ($75) and clear coated (another $25) & shipped them back. Al called a couple of times to keep me posted on progress. Good experience and I was happy with the results.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Use Al.

[youngkang]

I just had really bad experience with Al Reed polishing. I would highly recommend againt using Al Reed.

I have pictures if anyone wants to see them.

[kucharskimb]

if you want another place in SD, there's a place in escondido that polished two of mine that were originally black anodized. they came out very nice. i then did my own taping and black painting. my follow on experience with VHT clearcoat is still up for debate...

if i had to do it again (or when i do) i would investigate the clear powdercoat solution.

the shop i mentioned is near the escondido autopark and near simpson way...

[ted]

Originally posted by youngkang
I just had really bad experience with Al Reed polishing. I would highly recommend againt using Al Reed.

I have pictures if anyone wants to see them.

What happened?
Not sure I like the clear powder coat, the clear on mine yellowed badly.

[Yellowbird RS]

dose any body knows the Al Reed web address?

[Yellowbird RS]

dose any body knows the Al Reed web address?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Al doesn't have a web address, he knows that the various auto enthusiast web sites tal kabout him, but he isn't a computer guy.

I can't imagine ANYBODY having a problem with Al's work. He's worked on several sets of wheels for me and each time his work was impeccable.

[youngkang]

Originally posted by ted
What happened?
Not sure I like the clear powder coat, the clear on mine yellowed badly.

I have 7" and 9" for my 930. Previous owner had wheels chrome plated and had center painted black, unfortunately chrome was starting to flake and center was starting to get dull.

So, just like everyone I called up Al. told him what I have and problem I have with the wheel. He sounded very pleasant told me that since it was chrome plated, there might be some pitted area that could be too deep to polish out but other than that, he could make my wheel looking like new. He also talked me into powder coating saying that it would make it easy to maintain.

Everything sounded good until I didn't hear from him for couple of week. I called him to find out where my wheels where, and if he could send me a tracking #. Than he told me that powder coating came out like **** and that he had to do it again. And also he is waiting for new powder coat that is better than what he was using but it is stuck in shipping waiting to clear customs. He adds that he doesn't let anything out if it wasn't done right.

I thought to myself, well, it's taking longer that he promised but at least he sounds like a good guy who prides himself in his work. So, I waited.

Week or so later I got the wheels back, I was so excited like a kid opening Chrismas present. When I opened the box and pulled off the bubble wraps, I saw my wheel covered with dimples in powder coating and some dust specks here and there within the powder coating. My heart sank... looking closely there are lots of fine scatches on wheels where it wasn't painted. I thought maybe other wheels aren't as bad but all of them have dimples and dust specks.

After last conversation, I thought, maybe, They forgot to redo my wheels and shipped it back to me by mistake. I called Al. He stated that he checked my wheels and that they look great and that how degassing or what ever is causing the dimples. I told him that he never disclosed to me about degassing and how that could cause dimples in the powder coating than he start yelling how bad of condition my wheels were when he got it and etc. I couldn't believe my ears. After arguing him for awhile he agrees to take back the wheels and removed the powder coating for me for free and adds he is only doing that because he is nice guy. So, I asked him am I going to get my money back for crappy powder coating. He says something like no way in hell I was getting my money back for powder coating. I was pretty upset but, I figured whatever. At least when it's just raw aluminum I could polish out scratches and all the dimples and specks will be gone with removal of powder coating.

Few days later Fedex picked up the wheels.

It's done right?! Nope, he called back today and left me a message, saying that my wheels look great and that he doesn't know what planet I came from and that he will send my wheels back COD.

I am considering considering my option at this point.

Aren't you sorry that you asked.

[EdT82SC]

So let's see the pictures of the bad powedercoating.

[EdT82SC]

Oh, and if you believe you are in the right then pay the COD charges, and take him to small claims court. If he did a poor job, and you can convince the judge of that you should get all your money back for the refinishing, powdercoating, and the bogus COD charges. Then you can take the wheels someplace else to have them undo his bad work, and redo it right. You should bring a quote to court from another wheel refinisher to do the job right as well.

[youngkang]

sample of some dimples. These are everywhere.

[youngkang]

Dimples and specks.

[youngkang]

In real life they look worse than in these pictures. Because of reflaction all the dimples and specks weren't showing up.