Finally got my wheels, sort of....

[scottyd]

My wheels arrived today, well 3 of them hahaha!

I ordered the Dezent V wheels in 14x5.5 et42 with 175/60R14 tyres and 13x5 et35 with 165/65R13 tyres.

Unfortunately one of the 13" wheels was damaged in transit from germany, so while the place I ordered them from sort that out they sent me the other 3 wheels so I can check them out to see if everything is ok.

Unfortunately again the two 14" wheels are missing the centre cap badges, however I have informed them of this and they are sorting that out as well.

The main thing is the wheels that I have aren't damaged and they look better than what I thought they would, since the pictured wheels for this model are never the 13" or 14" version when listed on websites.

I have attached a few images of one 13" wheel next to one 14" wheel so you can see them together.

I'm going to try to apply red wheel tape to the outside of these wheels later to see if it looks any good, I will edit this post with updated pics if I do.

EDIT: Added two pictures with the red wheel tape applied to the edge of the wheel, one pic of the 14" and one pic of the 13", I think it looks quite smart!

[gymm]

Hi Scott, wheels look smart and I like the taped ones. Never knew you could do it.I had looked at 'beauty rings' an odd term I know but they are silver rings which clip to the rim giving a shiny edge. They are quite costly to import for what they are but a company said they would supply 2x the 2 sizes insted of having to buy 2x4 for each size. I am interested in your tape method and would be grateful if you could give me brief details. Cheers, John

[scottyd]

I ordered some 7mm Motorcycle rim tape from Ebay for £10, however Halfords sell the same stuff for £11:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_39 4085_langId_-1_categoryId_165547

There are other colours available too and one reel covered all wheels with a 1/4 wheel mistake and some tape left over!

I cleaned the edge of the wheels with some alloy wheel cleaner/degreaser and let them dry to provide a good clean surface for the tape to stick to.

I didn't bother using the plastic "applicator" that is supplied with the tape because it is designed for flat surface motorbike wheels and I wanted the tape to be on the rounded lip.

I removed the paper backing from the tape and stuck one end to the edge of the rim so that the curved edge of the wheel was in the centre of the tape, then I pressed my index finger and thumb onto the tape (so my index finger was on one side of the lip and my thumb on the other) and slid them around the wheel edge while holding and slightly guiding the tape reel with the other hand. This allowed me to guide the tape around the wheel edge while keeping the tape centred on the lip.

Also the tape is reflective tape and it looks similar to cats eyes when light hits them so looks good at night.

Hope this explains what you wanted to know!

[gymm]

Thanks Scott. Good advice and details and will give it a go. Cheers John