When I purchased my ND MX5 back in March the previous owner had carried out localised repairs to 3 of the alloy wheels. At the time it didn’t look too bad and from a distance it wasn’t really noticeable, plus the rest of the car was in good condition. It is now winding me up every time I clean the car, so I’m now looking at getting them refurbished. I want to try keep them the same colour as I think they really stand out but I think they could be a difficult colour to match. Has anyone ever had their ND Bright alloy wheels refurbished and is it a difficult colour to match or can they recommend a similar colour? Also can anyone recommend a wheel refurbishment company in the West Midlands area?
I have been through this. I could not find anyone who could reproduce the finish. I think it is a coloured translucent lacquer that Mazda use and they do not supply a touch-up. I spent hours blending silver and black acrylic paint to get a pretty good match, carefully applied this, then a coat of clear lacquer.
My new car has a similar finish on the wheels but it is more silver than gunmetal and may be more difficult to match. I am seriously considering getting some wheel rim protectors (“AlloyGators”) to protect the rims. I don’t make a habit of kerbing my wheels but I don’t want to take the risk with these new wheels. Because of the way AlloyGators fit they may cover up your existing damage or minimise its appearance, so they may be worth considering.
Tbh they’re fairly cheap enough from the dealer for new ones. I get one for the rear not long ago and i’m fairly sure it wasn’t £150.
The 17" ND wheels are over £190, I wouldn’t call that cheap. Ok, if one gets really mangled but imagine how you would feel if you bought a brand new wheel for £190+ tyre fitting/balancing and kerbed it the following day . Unless you drive like a feline or never drive the car at all, one day it will happen.
Baggers
Give JP Alloys @ Cannock a try.
They really are true professionals at what they do.
Had my standard NC1 Alloys powder coated last year…all 4 wheels done for £330 inc repainting the centre caps to match.
Definitely worth a call to discuss your requirements.
I paid nowhere near that from the local Mazda dealer. Problem is with the finish on the ND wheels is it’s always going to be hard to match that chromeish finish. I suppose it depends how bothered you are, personally a little knick wouldn’t worry me, i’d just wait until it looked really bad and then buy new.
The price should not vary from dealer to dealer as the retail price I would have thought is set by Mazda but I may be mistaken, so let us know who your dealer is. Maybe my dealer quoted for the Reccaro wheels by mistake but I requested a quote for the Gunmetal 17" wheels as fitted to the ND1 Sport Nav and was given a figure of £190 each
The previous owner of my 2.0 SportNav had some bad kerbing on one wheel and had replaced it. The kerbed wheel was included when I bought the car. When you see a wheel without a tyre fitted you can see how the paint is applied by the over spray inside the wheel. There is a base coat in black with what I presume to be a semi-transparent metallic coating over the top. I would say it would be virtually impossible to get a perfectly match touch up as the original finish can’t be replicated with a single paint. I’m sure a refurbisher could get something very close if the whole wheel was being painted.
Definitely wasn’t that much as i remember being surprised at the time. I’m sure i remember thinking something along the lines of “at that price i can wreck these and get another set every other year”. I would normally look to have them refurbed but as they’re that sort of shadow finish i’m not confident in anyone matching it, that’s why i asked about the price of a new wheel and fully expected to laugh.
I had considered new alloys as well and when I looked recently on fleabay I found some for £163. Just looked on there again and found these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Mazda-MX-5-2015-on-17ins-Alloy-Wheel-Design-159-9965-A0-7070/153551704478?epid=1752811904&hash=item23c065119e:g:UeAAAOSwsWddHMLz
I believe these are the same and I only really need to change 2 so that would be slightly cheaper than a good refurb of all alloys.
In regards to the Alloygators I considered those as well but the overspray/blending in is more noticeable. I might consider them though if I replace the 2 alloys, has anyone used them and have photos of what they look like on the ND alloys?
I am getting samples of three colours (black, graphite and silver) to see what they look like and which colour looks best. If I decide to have them fitted I will post some pictures.
Update on post #11 above.
I had the Alloygators fitted to my ND2 yesterday. On the face of it they looked great but due to the rim shape they do not seat very well. I returned my car this morning and they have agreed to remove them and I will get a refund. There was a 3mm gap between the rim and the protector which should be 1mm max and the back of the joining pieces which should normally be hidden by the tyre was clearly visible (see attachments). Great shame really because the product is good and it looked good from a distance.
for some reason cannot download more than one image. So here is other image (hopefully!).
Sorry image will just not download. Will try again later
That’s a shame about the Alloygators not fitting properly, as they would have been something I would have considered fitting, especially when I just kissed the edge of a kerb yesterday and it marked the alloy! ??
I had a look on Wheelspecialist website and they quoted £360 for an oem refurb although it was powder coated, so not sure how they can do that? Considering I can get two new alloys for less than that I would go down that route instead when I’m ready.
I am going to look at “Rimblades” next. These are glued on rather than using the tyre to hold them on. They are a lot cheaper but not as substantial. However “something is better than nothing” as they say.
For 4? … I had mine done in Black Chrome (Similar to ND OEM) on my Mk 3.75 for £300 for 4 wheels:
It was £300 plus VAT, was that trade for you or have they just raised prices?
How close a match is the black chrome do you think, would you have them that colour if you had to have your ND’s wheels refurbed?