Alloy Refurb On 2004, Worth?

[Mattatooi]

I have a 2004 Rav4, with 69,000 miles on it. Its in good condition, except for the alloys. Previous owner did not really look after them, and I have tried to keep them clean but they have got worse and worse. I live in UK, and talking to others, Salt is a real killer for them. I was thinking of getting them refurbed and just had a few questions.

Firstly, what is a decent going rate for 4 wheels to be totally refurb. (I am in UK)

Secondly, will these refurbed alloys actually add any value to resale? Considering car is close 11 year old, if I were to sell in a year, would the cost of refurbishing alloys actually make any difference to sale price?

Reason I ask, is I asked a dealer to see what they would offer based on miles and year alone, not even looking at the car. Now obviously it would be less than private sale, but he was only offering £2,300 !

Here are some pics of wheels in current state...

[redlew]

Cost me £288 for four wheels from www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk last year -I think it was a special offer.

If you are selling, it will make it easier to sell but I doubt if you get much more . If you don't have it done, whoever is buying will try to knock you down whatever price you ask even if you say it is built into the price.

If you were buying it would be "Naah mate, nothing wrong with them, wear and tear on an 11 year old car -I'm not taking anything off"

I got mine down as two of my tyres were deflating due to corrosion around the rims. I wouldn't have been worried if it hadn't been for that .

[firemac]

We had our last two 4.2s' wheels done by these guys:

http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/locations/derby-burton/

for about £60 per wheel (about 3 years ago). The service and finish were excellent and I'd highly recommend them. they have depots in other locations if Burton is no good for you.

Re value, it's really up to you. Personally, a sh*t set of alloys would put me right off a purchase, mainly because they say alot about how the owner has looked after the rest of the car, and I wouldn't drive around in a car with wheels in poor condition for both cosmetic and safety reasons (corroded alloys can become porous and lose pressure unexpectedly). One of the reasons for fitting alloys is appearance, so scabby ones simply demean the whole car. What the car is worth to you is not the same as what the part-ex price may be therefore whether you think it's worth having the wheels done is what matters.

If the car is in good general condition, has a good SH and you intend hanging on to it, then refurb is worth looking at. As long as you look after it, I wouldn't have thought that it's going to lose much more value (unless you drive it into the ground and don't look after it, that is) and SUVs' values are very dependent upon when you sell them and where you are in the UK.

Alternatively, if you are reasonably handy with emery paper and rattle cans, you could tidy up the wheels yourself and get reasonable results. But you must be sure that the wheels are not porous; a proper refurb will deal with that but a respray won't.

[Grumpy stumpy]

Had mine powder coated which will last at £55.00 a wheel , 3 years ago and still as new, dowt you will see any benefit financially when you come to sell but will help sell if a buyer has more than one to view !

[Cyker]

If they're kerbed then I'd not bother, but if it's just the alloy coating is coming off and they don't actually need refurbing you might be able to do what I did with mine and get a local powdercoater to do them on the cheap or even just have them repainted Wheeler-Dealer-style .

TBH tho', that'll just mean you're more likely to get closer to the asking price; Personally I'd just factor in a £150-200 haggle-room in the price as you're unlikely to get back what you paid for the refurb, esp. for a car of that age.

The problem with standard Toyota alloys from around the early 2000's is that many of them were terrible quality from the get go - They didn't seal the back properly on many models so corrosion would get in and under the face and make it bubble and flake off. When I was Mk1 Yaris hunting I didn't find a single one that didn't have corroded alloys, even the ones that were otherwise undamaged.

(The one I ended up buying was kerbed to heck, but for me that was a plus as I don't feel I have to worry so much about them )

[Heidfirst]

"Reason I ask, is I asked a dealer to see what they would offer based on miles and year alone, not even looking at the car. Now obviously it would be less than private sale, but he was only offering £2,300 !"

Is that cash or part-ex? Parker's suggests ~£2000 for a 2004 with 120,000 (average for an 11 year old) in good condition in a private sale.

Now is the time of year to sell a 4x4 though.

[Mattatooi]

I know its old, but just thought I would update this. I went ahead and got a proper full on refurb done. I hounestly cannot remember how much it cost, but it was done right. Left car in for a couple days as it took some time to get them done with the whole process. Extremely pleased with results. Wheels looked like brand new. I got it done last December and they are still looking like brand new. I have not sold the car and I am not intending on selling for some time, so I am very pleased I got it done right. 

Not the best photo sry.

[firemac]

Good decision, Matt. They look really nice and I'm sure you must find that they add to the appearance of the car. You're wise to hang onto it if it's running well as the 4.2 was the best RAV in terms of looks and the spec/performance balance. We've had a number of them since 2002 but sadly not now - nevertheless I wish I had held onto our first, an '02 VX bought new and run for 11 years and 90K miles. Lovely car that is missed.