Wheel refinishing

[Cal]

I know about Harvey Weidman and Al Reed but has anyone used Rick Hartbrodt before? The turn around time is pretty fast and the pricing seems very good....

http://www.porschewheelservices.com

[LiveFromNY]

I've got two sets of wheels on the way back from Rick right now that should arrive next week. Happy to post my thoughts when they arrive.

[z911partsstore.com]

I know about Harvey Weidman and Al Reed but has anyone used Rick Hartbrodt before? The turn around time is pretty fast and the pricing seems very good....

http://www.porschewheelservices.com

I was down Costa Mesa way today and passed by California Porsche on Babcock to drop off some dashes I sell to Jason the owner... We were talking products and svc's and wheels came up... He brought out a set of 15's that were redone by Rick H's guy in-house... The wheels were of early style (polished daisy and lip/ painted backdrop (satin blk) and anodized w/ blk inner and backs.... I was really impressed at the overall job these guys did... I've redone aprox 25- 30 sets in this format with others- so I qualify as one who knows wheels fairly fluently- ( pity I sold my 286 piece Fuchs collection last year-ugh)... Ricks wheels- (in this format anyway)- frankly suprised me ESPECIALLY when I heard about price and 'turnaround".....

[Harvey Weidman]

I'll probably regret that I commented on this thread....
Don’t get me wrong…refinishing wheels is a hard, dirty job and anyone doing it for a living has to like it or they would do an easier job….
Don’t assume that all wheel refinishing is the same. The amount of time and effort put in the job varies by as much as three times or more…..
No one in this business makes big money. In fact, refinishing wheels is probably the lowest per hour specialty job that is done on Porsches.
If you are looking for price and turn around time, I have a diesel mechanic that will restore your MFI pump in a week for about one third of the going rate…..and I know guy that rebuilds engines also…..etc
Restoring wheels doesn’t take a year; they usually take 10-14 days. The wait time is what takes so long. The wait time is because we are busy. I can speak for Al too as he is also busy. Most shops in the Porsche business are busy….If you are restoring a car, planning and the time line is one of the things that we learn. We have restored over 10k wheels. We have also restored more than 20 Porsches. Worked on many more. Some were drivers and some were concourse level….some paint jobs were 800 and some 10k….
Use the service that fits you. From the paint and body to the mechanicals, interior and yes, the wheel refinishing.

JMHO
H

[SKWIKY67]

Excellent post!!

[StephenAcworth]

There's usually a good reason why the best have long lead times...

I'll probably regret that I commented on this thread....
Don’t get me wrong…refinishing wheels is a hard, dirty job and anyone doing it for a living has to like it or they would do an easier job….
Don’t assume that all wheel refinishing is the same. The amount of time and effort put in the job varies by as much as three times or more…..
No one in this business makes big money. In fact, refinishing wheels is probably the lowest per hour specialty job that is done on Porsches.
If you are looking for price and turn around time, I have a diesel mechanic that will restore your MFI pump in a week for about one third of the going rate…..and I know guy that rebuilds engines also…..etc
Restoring wheels doesn’t take a year; they usually take 10-14 days. The wait time is what takes so long. The wait time is because we are busy. I can speak for Al too as he is also busy. Most shops in the Porsche business are busy….If you are restoring a car, planning and the time line is one of the things that we learn. We have restored over 10k wheels. We have also restored more than 20 Porsches. Worked on many more. Some were drivers and some were concourse level….some paint jobs were 800 and some 10k….
Use the service that fits you. From the paint and body to the mechanicals, interior and yes, the wheel refinishing.

JMHO
H

[mfitton]

There's usually a good reason why the best have long lead times...

There is also a reason why someone that is new to the business and trying to break in can turnaround wheels in 4 to 5 weeks, it's because they are new to the business and have a short backlog. Doesn't mean that they do poor work which is what Harvey is insinuating, Rick's pricing is in between Al's and Harvey's so he is not the cheapest. I have not used Rick's service yet but it seems to me that we need more competition in this area, what is wrong with that? I am waiting for LiveFromNY to give his opinion when he receives his wheels. I have used both Harvey and AL and I was very happy with the results from both of them, so no sour grapes here, just disappointed in Harvey's comments.

[LiveFromNY]

I've used both Harvey and Al (multiple times) and I'm a fan of both their work. Harvey especially I consider an artist when it comes to Fuchs of any kind and I appreciate the knowledge he continually shares on these forums. But it certainly sounds like there's enough business to go around and, like many others, I'm appreciative of any opportunity to evaluate a new service provider and potentially save myself months of waiting.

I sent Rick a set of 15 x 7/8's from my '74 Carrera, a set of 15 x 6's from a 1972T, and a single deep six with heart being done as a spare to match a set of 4 done previously by Al. The wheels left my shop in Austin on 11/4 and they arrived at Rick's on 11/9. On 11/10 Rick contacted me to inform me that one of the wheels was bent and there would be an upcharge of $95 which I found fair and approved. During the process we also spoke on the phone and exchanged emails on other details, including the installation of the correct valve stems, during which time Rick demonstrated a detailed knowledge of both Fuchs wheels and Porsches in general.

On 11/21 Rick emailed me that my wheels were done. I made payment by Paypal shortly thereafter and yesterday the first set arrived at my shop. They were well packaged and shipped insured. As I'm traveling, I have not seen the wheels in person so I'll withhold my opinion for a couple more days until I'm back home this Friday. At that time I'll give them a close examination and compare them to sets I have that were recently refinished by both Al and Harvey.

I'm sharing a couple photos below - with the caveat that they were taken by one of the guys at my shop with his cell phone and sent to me via text message so I have no idea how accurately they represent the finished product. I will say that Rick was a pleasure to deal with. He answered his phone every time I called and was equally responsive via email. From that perspective, I give him the highest marks. As for the wheels, I'll know more soon. But when I asked my guy at my shop how they looked he gave me a one word answer: "Awesome". We shall see...

[LiveFromNY]

I should add that anyone in Austin who wants to see these wheels in person is welcome to stop by my shop. Just shoot me a PM.

[uptheorg]

There is also a reason why someone that is new to the business and trying to break in can turnaround wheels in 4 to 5 weeks, it's because they are new to the business and have a short backlog. Doesn't mean that they do poor work which is what Harvey is insinuating . . . just disappointed in Harvey's comments.

I have no problem with Harvey's comment -- it seems to me he went out of his way to NOT denigrate the work of anyone else. I, for one, was reading his post and expecting him to downgrade his competition, but he never did. He's not a wordsmith, nor do we expect him to be, so maybe there was some room for your interpretation, but I don't think you are right about it.

+1 on your observation that someone new to the business will obviously have a shorter backlog.