I have a set of BBS RS 772's for my 2000 polo gti. They are in dire need of a refurb, I have been running a winter set of wheels so time is not an issue, shall I refurb them myself or get them done properly?

I've been quoted £120 a wheel by a company to do them, that's powdered centers and diamond cut lips.

Here's what the look like; (its not the worst!)

I can polish the lips myself.

The centers have the paint peeling away in places, I was thinking of sending these to be powder coated?

Do you need to replace the bolts?

Any tips for splitting and rebuilding the wheels? :)

Trying to get the car OEM and and up to scratch for the summer :)

Cheers

£120 a wheel is a lot of money! May as well buy a nice new set of wheels for that.

I'd rather spend £10 on sandpaper and £30 on paint and do the work myself, but I'm just cheap.

The bolts will turn out expensive if you want to replace them though.

you will need a good quality m8 spline socket, on a 1/2" drive breaker bar, remove the bolts, then with a couple of blocks of wood and a lump hammer, bash the centres out. if they are really corroded it might take some effort. I've done 3 or 4 sets of rx2 splits (I used to refurb no end of alloys). Once apart, you can polish the lips. Personally, having done a few sets I would recommend painting the outer barrels, as maintaining the polished finish is a ball-ache! The centres, you can ether wet paint or powder coat. Both have their pros and cons. wet paint will chip easier, but can be spot repaired, damage the powder coat and the whole lot can lift and you can't really touch it in.

If those were mine, I would split them, get the centres bead blasted and then wet paint them. Whatever you do though, don't use a cheap m8 spline tool. The bolts are titanium and an absolute pain to drill out if you strip the spline out of them. Only drills that will drill them out are cobalt drill-bits which are pricey and even they will blunt quickly.

Cheers g40jon!

I have tried using a Halfords advanced M8 spline i had to hand, but it just knackers the tool not the bolts! Halfruads advanced are crap....

Can anyone suggest a decent M8 spline bit?

Plus, the M8 I had felt a bit loose in the bolt, is that just bad quality bit or are they an awkward size?

Here's a close up of the worst wheel, they aren't too far gone on the centers are they? the paint is peeling pretty bad;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BGS-Tools-Impact-Bit-Socket-Spline-M8-1-2-5482-M8-/291378531842?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43d7838e02

being an impact socket, means it is super strong. My halford pro socket did a couple of sets of bbs wheels before it became worn. Their pro kit is very good for the money though, so a bit harsh to say it is crap as you won't find anything superior for the money imo.

You wheels also look very corroded. It would be really worthwhile to spray penetrating oil onto the bolts over the space of a week. it will help free the threads. The problem with bbs splits of this nature is that they are aluminium barrels with tapped holes. The titanium bolts are a steel alloy, hence they naturally react with one another to form galvanic corrosion. The great british weather helps speed up this process!

The centres will clean up. You might want to budget for blasting them as it will take an age to strip them by hand (been there and got the t-shirt!)

I'm in the process of refurbing the same wheels off my gti.. do you know anyone that works in a garage?? I got my mate, who's a mechanic to undo all the bolts with their impact air gun, plus he had decent spline socket too!.. Took a couple of minutes to do all four wheels and all came out without breaking.