Kevin Bacon 5 Posted November 25, 2004 Anyone got any tips for removing a slight bend from an outer bed plate? It has a flat spot but it's not really bad enough to justify a new £100 plate, but it's bad enough to be seen when a tyre is fitted though :cry: Could it be tapped straight with heat and a suitabley sculpted peice of plastic or hard wood? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
biggerbigneil 0 Posted November 25, 2004 The outer rim? sorry never heard the word bed plate If it is not serious I would leave it as it's winter time Otherwise you will have to take the tyre off and then unbolt the wheel and I doubt you could straighten it out perfectly. They are amazing wheels so best to leave it till you have time and either send one off or buy the outer rim (if that is the bed plate) Hit a curb or something? If i'm talking about the right area of the wheel chances are if the laquer is not cracked it will be if you knock it back into shape so will start to corode From my brief experience with the RS's - look pretty, handling becomes worse, takes an extra day to clean the car.... But they do look pretty! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted November 25, 2004 Cheers for the advice Neil... I've heard the outer rim being called many things! Bed plate, edge plate, lips, rims, Stage beds....etc etc I didn't hit a kerb - they're not tyred up yet.... believe it or not RH sent it that way :cry: One of the 4 has a 'flat spot' on the rim and there is no impact mark to indicate it was dropped. Must have come off the jig like that. VR6 (His wheels on my car in the sig) also had one of them bent from the factory too, so they've obviously got a bunch of duffers for England..... still bitter about the war :lol: The supplier doesn't want to know about it and the courier slip was signed (not by me) which enters you into a "all goods were recieved in satisfactory order" agreement :x The lips are polished, not laquered....so I was just wondering about bashing it straight with a bit of heat and rebuffing it up again afterwards? As for handling, I found the handling to be great on these 17s.... nice ride and super cornering :lol: What rubber did you use? I used F1s which are soft. A hard shouldered tyre + 17" = hard and fidgety ride. it's all a compromise :-P Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
biggerbigneil 0 Posted November 25, 2004 I had Mich Pilot Sports on the back and Eagle F1's on the front, excellent on flat roads (only motorways in the UK) otherwise on country bumpkin roads around Cranleigh/Guildford, West Sussex I had near crashes every day so went back to 15's - the roads my way really do suck though. Thats really bad they won't replace just one of the wheels it's not like your sending them back - Write an arsy letter complaining to the company and see what happens - could say you are a member of various car clubs/forums etc and could give them some bad advertising or you could Hype them up for their excellent service and quality products - doubt they would want any bad advertising over one wheel - worth a go anyway Otherwise send the outer off to Spit n' Polish in Kent My problem with 17's were excelerating up hills was like my old 318is and I kept bouncing along the road every time a hit some random bumps (very frequently in Sussex) If I could I'd have 15's that could expand up to 17's when I parked the car - impossible I know....... or get the all the roads in the UK to motorway standards Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted November 25, 2004 Cheers again mate... I might just send it off to Spit and polish.... or I have another set of RHs I could pilfer a rim from. What silicon do they use to seal them up with? The stuff on my rims seems to be colour coded metallic silver!! Where can I get that?? I'm just thinking that by the time I've paid for postage sending it to Germany etc, I may aswell pay S&P £50 to sort it or something. I might do as you say and live with the dent for the time being as I'm eager to get them on the car :lol: It's interesting about your handling with 17s. My roads aren't brilliant but I honestly felt the car drove better than the 15s. I had 215x40x17 tyres on though.... could that be the major difference? And my chassis is entirely new, including the rack etc, so that could also be an important factor? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
biggerbigneil 0 Posted November 25, 2004 not sure mate - I had 205 40 17's all round, FK fully adjustables (Konigsports) and had it all laser aligned etc John is sorting a few chassis parts for me - rear axle bushes, anti-roll bar ball joints/drop link thingy magiggy??? I don't know.... Just know that when I bought the car it was fine bar the dodgy HT leads and sunroof..... and then when I started messing around with wheels and suspension the problems kept on coming - rattling, things breaking, lack of driving enjoyment so went back to square one - not rubbish VW suspension, FK suspension is okay now I have bought a stack load of the carpet sided tape stuff and I'm going to take the whole car apart and put it everywhere when I get a day off! I'm not really thinking of selling it anymore - I'm looking forward to driving it in 10 years time when people are thinking dam it I should have listened to Clarkson/Hammond on Top Gear !!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
