Lepsons Wheel Refurbishment - A Review

Discuss all aspects of Car Care / Detailling etc.
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Nattyboy
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Post by Nattyboy » Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:14 pm

Looks like I will be paying a visit :blow

My tyre had a massive industrial staple in it and I was told there was only once place who could repair it. Went there and should have known better really - it was a 5hithole. Let them take the tyre off and put a part worn on as they needed to send it away and theyve gouged all the powder coating off. Argues the t** for 15 minutes but they were adamant it was down to 'poor paint' and the tyre must have pulled off the paint as it squeezed on.

Not happy - but what do you do ? Serves me right for carrying through with the work I guess after seeing what a hovel it was. But it was that or £230 for a new tyre.
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SPA69
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Post by SPA69 » Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:53 am

Another good job from Lepsons... :clap:

I decided to have the wheels refurbed as new tyres were needed.

Not the best time of year for a refurb I know but as I don't do to many miles i'm sure they will be ok if cleaned regular.

Just need to get the center caps put back together and fit to car..

Very happy with the finish not a mark or blemish any where.. as you will see from pics..

Big thanks to Mike at Lepsons. A pleasure to deal with.





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Simon
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Nattyboy
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Post by Nattyboy » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:45 am

They look great mate - and a lovely motor to put them on ! The E30 shape is holding up really well isnt it...? Im not sure my E92 will look as fresh after 20 years !!
*SOLD* D3 Biturbo Coupe #146
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Charles
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Post by Charles » Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:46 pm

Nattyboy wrote:They look great mate - and a lovely motor to put them on ! The E30 shape is holding up really well isnt it...? Im not sure my E92 will look as fresh after 20 years !!
Those are on the B3S - not the C2
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Post by G20 LPG » Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:05 pm

Would Lepson's in Swindon be willing to let me leave the car up there and do the wheels over the course of a few days?

Would save me faffing round with sorting out spare wheels etc etc.

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Nattyboy
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Post by Nattyboy » Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:06 pm

No problem..they do that for quite a few people.
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ade and liz flint
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Post by ade and liz flint » Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:13 pm

Righty -ho. My turn :D

Had 2 of #097's wheels (both rears) away at Lepsons for a tidy-up to remove the evidence of an awful attempt at a refurb from Sytner Newport and to cure the peeling lacquer from its mate...again, great work quality on a car that has covered just shy of 13k miles and isn't left to fester filthily :evil:

So, following a mixed experience of Pristine Wheels (3 of our old Mini wheels repainted due to a little corrosion. Results 9/10, 7.5/10 and 6/10. I had used the Mini as a testing ground....) and massive expense to get wheels refurbed there, I decided this time I would arrange my own couriers and send them to trusty Lepsons in Swindon.

So, I used UPS via Parcels2Go to ship the wheels at around £26 each way, next day delivery. Not the cheapest, but I know the courier pretty well, and they always deliver on time to me. A missed same-day pick-up aside, all worked very well.

I had impressed upon Naomi at Lepsons that I was expecting very high standards. Plus, I expected to be informed of arrival of my wheels (I tracked them too on UPS website) and a timely notification they were ready to arrange re-collection.

Naomi was superb. An email on arrival with them, and a photo of one of my wheels in its box prior to final pack. She also advised collection had occurred as I had asked her to. Brilliant!!

So, today, they arrived......

I opened the boxes to find this:-

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I removed the wheels from the well-packaged boxes to view the reverse side of the wheels:-

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All was good except for a couple of pieces of well-coated grit on one wheel :shock:. It won't move, so no issue.

I turned them over and viewed each carefully in turn:-

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They looked absolutely stunning :D

I angled them to look across the faces:-

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Wow! 8)

New tyres fitted without dramas by a local guy in a barn (but what a great job, just don't look at the surroundings!) and back on the car following a liberal sealing of the insides of the wheels to keep the winter salt out.

All-in-all, took 8 days to turn around, of which 4 days was courier, and 2 were weekend. Total cost was £131.56 which included the 2 heavy duty boxes I bought from them so I can ship wheels to and from them safely in future. Actual cost of a standard paint 19" wheel refurb to a Forum member (remember to tell them) is £50+VAT. Boxes made up the difference in cost.

Now, am I thoroughly happy? I'm quite a demanding and meticulous sort of car owner...the type you want to buy from, and not to sell to. I don't object to spending money on them, but I expect a fair job in return. So, a little grit ingress. Hmmm. Marks out of 10. Ok.........let's make it out of 100






99.99999999999. I will DEFINITELY use them again. A fantastic result. I have recommended their service to the local very busy Volvo dealership as they struggle with obtaining colour matches and 2 colour finishes elsewhere. They also find quality an issue. Their bodyshop manager and painter looked at the wheels and couldn't believe the quality at the costs involved. Overall, a great result. Thanks to Naomi and the team at Lepsons....customer focus, and customer service at it's absolute pinnacle! :clap:
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Previously loved:
ALPINA: E91 B3SBiturbo #127, E92 B3SBiturbo #285, E90 D3Biturbo #097, E85 Roadster S #168 & variety of 'beige' 4 and 6-cyl BMW lumps.
PORSCHE: Macan S, Cayman 981 S, Cayman 981 GTS

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Post by Hodge » Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:35 am

Great review Ade, very high praise indeed, yet again Lepsons come out on top.

Cheers

Hodge
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ade and liz flint
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Post by ade and liz flint » Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:54 am

Hodge wrote:Great review Ade, very high praise indeed, yet again Lepsons come out on top.
Yes, indeed they do. I forgot to add:- The paint finish is glass-like :shock:

A very happy boy 8)
Current:
23MY Porsche Macan GTS in Papaya
23MY Cupra Born V3 77kW in Aurora

Previously loved:
ALPINA: E91 B3SBiturbo #127, E92 B3SBiturbo #285, E90 D3Biturbo #097, E85 Roadster S #168 & variety of 'beige' 4 and 6-cyl BMW lumps.
PORSCHE: Macan S, Cayman 981 S, Cayman 981 GTS

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Post by Ikule » Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:33 pm

:D Nice one Ade i'm glad you got the job done exactly as you wanted, well done Lepsons!
Steve C



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Alpina Jim
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Post by Alpina Jim » Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:35 pm

Excellent result Aide, the only thing I can criticise from the photos is that the silver looks a bit dark. :lol:
Jim

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ade and liz flint
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Post by ade and liz flint » Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:58 pm

Alpina Jim wrote:Excellent result Aide, the only thing I can criticise from the photos is that the silver looks a bit dark. :lol:
It's your eyes, Jim! :lol:

Funnily enough, I have thought about sending #097 back to 'standard', ie silver wheels and original grilles. Now owning a black Roadster S gave me an opportunity to try 2 things whilst I've been 'juggling' wheels......Black dynamics on the Roadster, and silver Dynamics on the BT. Neither worked! The Roadster looked appalling on black wheels. So, I decided to leave both as-is. I may re-visit silver wheels on the BT at another time when my eyes are even worse and the wheels are tired again.
Current:
23MY Porsche Macan GTS in Papaya
23MY Cupra Born V3 77kW in Aurora

Previously loved:
ALPINA: E91 B3SBiturbo #127, E92 B3SBiturbo #285, E90 D3Biturbo #097, E85 Roadster S #168 & variety of 'beige' 4 and 6-cyl BMW lumps.
PORSCHE: Macan S, Cayman 981 S, Cayman 981 GTS

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Post by flyboyben » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:44 pm

I bought the B3 bi-turbo last April and everything has been superb. The car still looks like new but inevitably a bit of wear and tear creeps in. I don't know when it happened but some point over the summer my front left tyre came in contact with a pot hole with such force that the wheel buckled. How the pressure in the tyre was retained, I don't know, and I didn't feel any noticeable vibrations so I left it until I swapped the Classics for winter shoes in October. (If you look at my profile picture you can probably make out the dent). There was also a minor chip in the rear nearside wheel so thought it best to get it done at the same time and also reduce the risk of colour mismatch if I only got the buckled wheel refurbished.

Having read this thread last year I thought, when the time came, that I would take the plunge and use Lepson's. I'm a sucker for a good recommendation. I used a local wheel refurbisher last year for the winter wheels I bought and while the results were good I was nervous about giving them the Classics.

So, I contacted Naomi at the Swindon branch and emailed some photos of the damage. She was very quick to come back with a price which seemed reasonable however I thought it only proper to enquire about a discount for Alpina owners, as mentioned earlier on this thread. Unfortunately she declined, citing the time of year...(I guess with summer round the corner people are getting their cars into shape.)

I was happy with the price so all I had to do was arrange for them to the delivered to Swindon. Having never couriered anything in my life before, Naomi offered me some firms they have used before and advice on packaging. I enquired with UKMail and was amazed to find that I could get both wheels and tyres, total weight 50kg, collected the following day, transported the length of the UK and delivered the day after, for 25quid!

On arrival, Naomi let me know that the wheels had arrived safely (Wednesday). The following Monday she contacted me to let me know they were ready for collection, so I arranged for the pick up the following day. I then had the wheels back in my possession on the Wednesday, 8 days in total.

I have to say that I am impressed with the results. The colour looks a perfect match to the wheels which were not refurbished. I just need to find some time to get them on the car. I haven't posted any photos as they don't look any different to unrefurbished Classics....exactly what I wanted.

All in all, happy with Lepsons
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2009 B3 Bi-turbo coupe #157 - owned since 2011
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shaziman
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Post by shaziman » Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:48 pm

It looks like Lepsons in Swindon have closed... :(

http://www.lepsons.com/swindon.phtml
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Post by PerryGunn » Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:55 pm

shaziman wrote:It looks like Lepsons in Swindon have closed... :(

http://www.lepsons.com/swindon.phtml
They're not part of the Lepsons franchise system anymore - it's now Platinum http://thealpinaregister.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=12781
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