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Our Volvo C30's been subject to a little cosmetic surgery recently after those lovely alloys were ruthlessly attacked by a couple of nefarious bits of kerbing.
We're always hearing from remarketing companies about how fleets should be prepping their vehicles for resale by treating any body scratches or trashed alloys so we thought we'd put Manheim smart repair brand Wheel Wizard to the test. The firm has 12 mobile units that repair somewhere in the region of 4000-5000 wheels a month between them. Each takes around 45 minutes to repair, and they did a stunning job [1], restoring what general manager, smart repair Phil Newstead described as a couple of "well-gouged" wheels [2].
"It was fairly typical of the type of the damage we repair," he said. "Half of vehicles have at least one wheel damaged, normally the nearside front."
Given the number of cars now fitted with alloys as standard, it's not surprising to hear that the wheel operation is the fastest-growing part of Manheim's business. Newstead quotes around £50-£85 per wheel depending on the type of damage, and claims not having the work done could knock £300 off the vehicle's value at auction. "It's one of the quickest and easiest ways to make sure you get good value and more importantly, that it sells first time," he said.
The C30's other health issue has also been resolved with the fitment of a new nearside wing mirror after the blindspot alert system (BLIS) fitted to the casing had a nervous breakdown and the replacement had to be ordered from Sweden.
It's also worth noting that Volvo revamped the C30 range earlier this year, cutting prices across all models by more than £2000. This takes our well-specced and great-looking SE Sport R-design to just over the £19,000 mark. RVs also appear to be improving slightly.
The mileage has now sailed past 7000 and economy is still hovering around 37mpg, although the last few tanks have seen that figure climb to a shade under 40mpg.
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