More Noise & Wheel Trauma

[22ppk22]

Booked my car in for its 1000mls check today - amongst other things the service guy told me about a modification that they will make to the exhaust during the check that will replicate the "fuse 22" noise without the removal of the actual fuse. He mentioned that the obvious upside for the owner is that the noise will be increased....and the upside for the dealer is that as fuse 22 is no longer whipped out it will make diagnosing faults easier (as whipping out fuse 22 reports system faults on their diagnostic machines).

Has anyone had this mod? If so, anygood? From memory I think that my service guy mentioned that this was available from model year '07 onwards.

Also, after losing a fight with a 4x4 last week my front wheel is sporting some minor scuff-marks. The dealer has told me that i have one of two options - 1. Buy a new rim, or 2. As the damage is not so bad have their bodyshop try some sanding and painting of the rim. Price for the 1st option is roughly £400, whilst the 2nd option is £250. I'm probably going to buy a new rim as the second option involves repainting an unmarked wheel on the same side (so that there is no colour difference between the rims on one side of the car). Any advice??

[andy355]

cant you just have the wheel refurbished? usually costs around 70 pounds. most dealers dont do this themselves anyhow (im talking in general rather than aston specific), and get a specialist to come to them in a van.
There are some threads on this on the ferrari/maser/lambo forum

[22ppk22]

Apparantly the V8V 19" wheels are powder-coat finished which leaves them with a plastic-type coat...hence they can't be refurbed. Anyone else had their 19" wheels refurbed?

[Maff]

22ppk22 said:

Apparantly the V8V 19" wheels are powder-coat finished which leaves them with a plastic-type coat...hence they can't be refurbed. Anyone else had their 19" wheels refurbed?

Yes, had both my front ones re-furbed, £50 each, try www.wickedwheels.co.uk, they are who I used. They come to collect the wheel and take it to their workshop, then bring it back and fit it. Or they can take the car for the day.

Don't let any dealer tell you differently, as they are only trying to make so £££ from you!

[rich1231]

22ppk22 said:

Apparantly the V8V 19" wheels are powder-coat finished which leaves them with a plastic-type coat...hence they can't be refurbed. Anyone else had their 19" wheels refurbed?

utter bollox from your dealer

they can be refurbed no problem

And the none fuse 22 thing has been known sinch launch, i had it done on my car pre delivery in jan 06.

[bogie]

ive heard of the some dealers blocking the vacuum pipe that opens the flap instead of pulling the fuse...

..and my dealer refurbed my silver 19" wheels to anthracite before collection just fine...there are plenty of place that will powder coat wheels rather than just paint them for like £50-70 per wheel

[Ian67]

My dealer just refurbished a wheel for £100+VAT. They had to send it away for a couple of days.

[Venari]

Nothing special about refurbing a 19" Vantage rim. Wicked Wheels as good as any - just git'r'done!

Now me, I'd use the excuse to get a set of forged wheels. If I were being extravagant, I'd ask the dealership to try to source a set of the Sports Pack wheels. They look totally minty on the V8.

Alternatively, a set of Speedline lookalikes a la N24 (the race cars run 18"s) but don't suggest the Compomotive MO. They're rally wheels, you could drive through a wall and they wouldn't break, but they weigh a ton. Crikey knows why evo bought them for their 'ringer M3.

V.

[whoami]

Venari said:

If I were being extravagant, I'd ask the dealership to try to source a set of the Sports Pack wheels. They look totally minty on the V8.

They are £2750 a set.

[emicen]

Venari said:

Alternatively, a set of Speedline lookalikes a la N24 (the race cars run 18"s) but don't suggest the Compomotive MO. They're rally wheels, you could drive through a wall and they wouldn't break, but they weigh a ton. Crikey knows why evo bought them for their 'ringer M3.

V.

Probably because you can have pretty much any offset you want made when you order, they have masses of brake caliper clearance and you can run them over kerbs as hard as you like with no danger of buckling them.

I slid one of mine in to a kerb sideyways (edit: a kerb on the road due to farm muck on a roundabout, not a kerb on track), thought it'd be expensive. Well, I chipped the powder coat, didnt even knock them out of balance!

Edited by emicen on Friday 8th June 09:08