Hi everyone I'm in need of a 2nd opinion regarding the rebuild of my Work VS-XX's. Without getting into too much about the back-story of how I got here, I'm caught between 2 different opinions.

1.) My powder coater (whom provided me with the clips you see in the video below) told me the faces are bent and that they advised that it would be best not to proceed with the refinishing/rebuilding due to safety concerns

2.) The shop that I sent the faces to for chrome stripping faces stated, "The part of the wheel that your dial indicator is pointing at is called the register. Work VS-XX faces are cast metal. With that being said, there will sometimes be some "slack" in said area. This is more apparent on the 19" VS-XX than it is on 18" if we were to be strict. Their castings are not the same. We deal with a lot of JDM wheels on a daily basis. Most JDM 3 piece wheels (with the exception of BBS) have cast faces + forged lips/barrels. So you'll see similarities amongst many of the JDM wheels of what you're experiencing throughout. It's completely normal, which is why it also passed our inspection when they first came in. As long as your wheels are assembled correctly and trued (like how they're supposed to be from Work factory), you're fine."


TL;DR - I need your help in determining who to listen to so I can either decide to move forward to refinishing, or if I should scrap the project for now--this would require me to get 2 new wheels so that I can have brand new faces.

thank you for your help!

 

This is a really tough call to make. Is there any way to straighten the faces up to avoid getting two new wheels? How difficult would it be for you to get two new wheels? VS-XX’s are pretty expensive used and especially new which is why I ask.

I would imagine the bent face would make the entire wheel impossible to properly balance and they would ride funny. That might not be a big deal if the car isn’t driven that much. Two new wheels would be the safer choice in my opinion. I’ve never had a bent face before on my two/three-piece wheels.

 

To me it's not a tough call to make--it's a binary decision. But I have 2 experts telling me 2 different things. To be fair, the shop in CA that did my chrome stripping works with multi-piece wheels regularly. They do offer a service that attempts to straighten the faces with a lathe. However, this was not something that they tried to sell me upon receipt of the faces. To them, my faces were "straight." As a note, I did not have the best experience working with their owner/sales director. So, I'm skeptical with what he's telling me. My local powder coater here in Illinois also works with multi-piece wheels but they don't specialize in them--bear in mind they specialize in refinishing, not customizing and rebuilding multi-piece wheels.

Re: difficulty procuring 2 new wheels--It's not hard but it is a waiting game. I've been given estimates of ~6mo. for delivery from time of order--and yes, they're expensive. I wouldn't be bothering trying to secure a used set as I wouldn't want to risk having deformities again. The most cost-effective way for me to get the A-disks would be to purchase a 19x7.5" I would only be using the new faces with my old barrels and lips. I would end up making a small table with the new barrels, lips, and old (bent faces) or something decorative so it doesn't all go to waste.

I only drove my car about 100km from the time I took delivery of the car and didn't notice any imbalances. I would believe the bends being in both fronts, I would've noticed any type of imbalance/wobble during those 100kms. Assuming the bends are consistent with how the CA shop received them from me (read: they didn't get bent during time of possession or during transit back to me), then I might be OK to have the powder coater proceed but I'm hoping to have a definitive answer.