ast78

I am looking to have a set refinished over the winter and was looking for a good shop in the north Jersey area. Pricing too?

s4what?

I have had a few done there.

2PUTT

i have heard good things about this shop. called them once for powder coating quote.

ast78

How would you rate the quality? OEM quality? thanks

KMHPaladin

The previous owner of my Oettinger RE's had them refinished by USA, who claimed that they powdercoated the wheels. However, when I bought them from him a year later, the lug holes were fading and the whole inside of one wheel had pretty much worn off. I had them powdercoated by Tom at <a href="http://www.trgcoating.com">TRG Coating</a> in Stockholm, NJ. It's a small outfit but I've definitely been pleased by the results. Tom told me when he stripped the coating off of the wheels to prep them, that it came off far too easily to have been powdercoat. I strongly suspect that USA either botched the job or simply painted them.

USA does seem to do good work physically on wheels. I had them machine the lips on two of the wheels prior to powdercoating at TRG and the work was good. I've also had them straighten a couple wheels with decent results. However, when I bent a wheel a couple months ago and had them straighten it, they managed to pick up about two inches of clearcoat on the lip when they were remounting the tire. The clearcoat didn't chip off, but it sort of lifted off the lip at the edge. It seems like they're not very careful with remounting tires.

Anyway, my bottom line is, USA seems to do good physical work on wheels, straightening, machining, etc. but I would not take wheels there to be refinished. For that I'd use TRG or Wheels America in Bath, PA.

TighTT

Any close-ups of your RE's??

RKA

I've seen those same wheels KMH refers to. And I've heard the accounts from the original owner after dealing with USA. They don't deserve any business from AW.

jtsai

i've had my hamman for my bmw powdercoated and also my ssr gt3s powdercoated, at least 6 or 7 rims straightened due to jersey roads. i agree w/ kevin (KMH) 100 percent. they do great physical work on wheels (straightening, machine the lips, etc etc). but only average work w/ refinishing the rims. For me it was the most cost effective way to go when i wanted to refinish my rims. my wheels are dirty 90 percent of the time, people aren't going to see the quality of the powdercoat or paint job, i can live with "decent" powdercoating. the shipping cost saved by going local and the discount i get from jeff now really makes my decision a no brainer. but if you want great quality work and dont' mind paying for it. i would suggest going elsewhere for refninshing

KMHPaladin

I don't really have close-ups per se. These are two 1:1 crops from some relatively close pictures I've taken though.

<img src="http://1.8t.org/~KMHPaladin/tightt_oettinger_2.jpg">

This (very dirty) one was actually taken in the parking lot of USA, after they straightened one wheel a few months ago. I had a blowout on the NJ Turnpike and came to the unfortunate realization that Oettinger lug bolts do not work with a donut spare. Thanks to the very cool guy who previously owned your turbo, I was able to get going again.

<img src="http://1.8t.org/~KMHPaladin/tightt_oettinger_1.jpg">

And this is a farther back shot. The directory is open if you want other images. The powder color is called "Black chrome" and you can source it through Columbiacoatings.com if you're interested.

<img src="http://1.8t.org/~KMHPaladin/audi/fall/IMG_0601.jpg">

KMHPaladin

Man, your car is going to be a beast when everything is done!