Advice on rivage alloys

Has anyone got any advice and pictures of their refurbished rivage 15" alloys?  

Having looked at a few others have posted… diamond cut and lacquered, polished… painted is it even possible to get a factory finish?  Having spoke to pristine in Woburn sands it might be a challange to find anyone that can do it.. 5 hey can't.

I've got a spare alloy I could send off to a shop to test the result if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks for any help /advice.

Jez

hey jez

I have seen them done one of three ways

1. diamond cut and lacquered
2. lacquer removed and polished
3. painted in metallic finish

depending on how kerbed up they are then 1 or 2.

see what others say.

Alps

Thanks Alps. Do you know what the factory finish was?

The 93 brochure has them listed as "forged and polished"

Sounds like no one but factory may be able to reproduce that finish !

polished and lacquered is factory, never seen them redone tho

That's what I'd ideally like if anyone knows of somewhere in the UK. .

Actually the original finish is polished and then anodised. Nobody anodises anything as large as a wheel as far as I am aware, however, the fact that they are forged means that they can be polished to a mirror finish without them going all white and dusty like a normal alloy wheel would when oxidising. They are a fair bit shinier and more mirror like when polished than the anodised finish. But the wheel was meant to shine and if it were me, I would polish them. They are similar to the Porsche 944 (design 90) wheel and made by the same manufacturer if my memory serves me well. I have seen a set of design 90's on a rivage which had a finish called bead burnishing. Basically rolled over and over in a large drum full of tiny beads which give a polished finish, so that might be something to look into also. But, for me.. Polished would be the most sensible and cost effective refurb.

walt said

Actually the original finish is polished and then anodised. Nobody anodises anything as large as a wheel as far as I am aware, however, the fact that they are forged means that they can be polished to a mirror finish without them going all white and dusty like a normal alloy wheel would when oxidising. They are a fair bit shinier and more mirror like when polished than the anodised finish. But the wheel was meant to shine and if it were me, I would polish them. They are similar to the Porsche 944 (design 90) wheel and made by the same manufacturer if my memory serves me well. I have seen a set of design 90's on a rivage which had a finish called bead burnishing. Basically rolled over and over in a large drum full of tiny beads which give a polished finish, so that might be something to look into also. But, for me.. Polished would be the most sensible and cost effective refurb.

I used to work for an aluminum extrusion company who produced a similar finish on factory standard roof rails.

E.g (this is one we produced).

Using the raw material (as in pre-heat treated raw aluminum) on a bench grinder with a medium abrasive wheel. - literally a couple of very quick runs over the material with the abrasive wheel produced this 'polished' finish. I say 'polished'  as it's more a dull, very lightly brushed effect. The aluminum was then heat treated and anodised with a clear solution.

You'll struggle getting a similar finish post heat treatment as the material will be too hard. Never mind on a forged piece which is 25 years old.

I believe the Rivage wheels are made by Fuchs.

Oh and I agree, mirror polished looks much better than original.  

IMG_20160515_160115 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

Yes they are a Fuchs wheel.. I wasn't sure how to spell it and seeing as this site is family friendly, I didn't want to offend by a silly syntax error.. 

as far as I know there not made by fuchs i cant quite remember who made them but look in the pic of the mirror polished wheel gei!!!!!
i would polish and laquer them if looking for a factory look but not mirror polish
 

or do them with rsttle cans like the po did to these

I know that when I took my teardrops and polished them it took about 2 hours after stripping off the silvercoat and clear.

IMHO polishing them was one of those decisions that you do one, then realize the fact that the other 3 have to be done as well.  

First step was using a good stripper to remove the Gray and clear coat off the wheel.

I marked where the wheel weights were using a Crayon on the tire. then removed the weights and started stripping.

I started out with 200 grit wet/dry (plenty of water) and with a palm sander took the metal smooth after it was stripped.

I moved up the grits from 200,400,600,800, 1000, 1500, 2000 and finally 3000.  They looked hazy, but a run of brasso or mag polish and they became mirror-like.  I could read EKIN in the reflection from my tennis shoes.

The are easier to clean and only seem to need an occasional re-application of mag polish about once a every year and a half. It also seem to me since switching to Ceramic Brake pads that the dust is more easily removed.

been a while since ive logged on

my Rivage wheels were polished when I bought them, been in daily use all summer and still look good, a little clean up with metal polish after every wash and they come up trumps, I think this is the way to go!

I have just had mine diamond cut and then laquered. Looks brilliant. I love the polished mirrored look but with that comes alot of polishing to keep them looking mint especially in winter and i live in the north. If share a pic but dont know how lol

Bradcab said

I have just had mine diamond cut and then laquered. Looks brilliant. I love the polished mirrored look but with that comes alot of polishing to keep them looking mint especially in winter and i live in the north. If share a pic but dont know how lol

Once they are polished keeping them shiney is a 5 minute job with a bit of cloth and polish….. Ya just have to keep them ungrimey, and if you have salted roads rinse them once a week….

just did this to mine