WARNING : Turbine ( Elite / Eclat S1) wheel refurbishment

[MetBlue]

I dropped my Elite S1 wheels into Spit & Polish in Tonbridge earlier today for a refurbishment.
Besides having some degree of confidence they know what they are doing with the Turbine wheel ( Andy & Roddy on here both having used them), they were the only place I could find who could still machine the full alloy profile. My local refurbisher in Northampton, and several others I rang around the Midlands and Milton Keynes gave the same story " We used to be able to do them, but in the last 5 years we've 'upgraded' our machine to CNC and we can't now do them. - What sort of an UPGRADE is that !!

Now the warning.
Knowing S&P had also upgraded to a CNC machine, I asked how come they could still do them? The answer came back " We still have the old lathe, but we now only have one guy who knows how to drive it, so when he retires we'll be b*****d." - Be warned, specialists who can do them are hard to find, and only going to get harder !!!

They also said something about needing to spin the wheel in the opposite direction to do part of the turning, which they couldn't do on the CNC. Didn't fully understand, but I'll try to find out a bit more when I collect.

[Alan_M]

Thanks for the heads up - I need to get a set done.

There is a place in S Wales called Renowheel. I was going to talk to them to see if they have the capability. The company goes back to the days of wolf race wheels - they used to polish all their wheels and I know he does work for a south western Lotus specialist.

What’s the complete process Spit and Polish do once they’ve been stripped. Do they paint them first (as normal with diamond cutting), then machine them.

The wheels I’ve seen always seem look like they’ve been polished rather than cut, or is it a much finer cut than modern diamond cutting, or are they polished after cutting?

Then clear coated or left as bare alloy?

Would like to get as close to a factory finish as possible.

[AndrewWebber]

Mine, (by S&P) around 3 years ago, are fine machined rather than polished. No lacquer, as they said the castings have too many small air bubbles that when cut through become open cavities, too small for the lacquer to adhere in properly. Not sure when they painted but no masking evidence so I'd have to guess before machining. No serious corrosion evident yet....

Andy