Alpina wheel fix or purchase new?

Andrew, Sytner Alpina Nottingham recently opened their on "on site" total wheel refurbishment unit. It might be worth giving them a call, if it is any good perhaps if you brought the wheel to the pub meet next tues someone would take it up there for you as we are going for the Alpina meet.

you will find their number on the Sytner Nottngham web. Worth a try?

Thanks Gents

He said they asked the Alpina Specialist I assume Sytner in Nott's..ref taking if that's an offer then sure I can get to the Pub Norm?

It will answer a lot of questions for members wanting or considering Alpina Wheels like quote from a US site below..

Alpina B7 Wheel Issue
I don't frequent the forum as much as I did when I was buying my B7, but I did a search for the topic I am going to share and didn't find any threads referencing this issue. So, I am going to share a disappointing piece of information that everyone with a current generation B7 should know about.

I recently had two rear tires replaced on my 2011 B7. In the process of replacing the tires, the well respected shop intended to replace the valve cores per their standard routine. One of the valve cores broke inside the shrader valve fitting that screws into the hub of the wheel. After about 20 minutes of trying to remove the broken core, the shop foreman and the mechanic removed the shrader valve fitting from the wheel to see if they could get the core out on their workbench after showing the problem to me. It wouldn't budge. We became very concerned about this since the fitting was not like any screw in type fittings they had seen and they were worried about stripping the threads for the core if they tried to get more aggressive. After numerous phone calls to both of the local BMW dealers and several independent sources, it became apparent that this part is not easy to find and if it is damaged, your car is parked. Eventually, the mechanic was able to get the old valve core out without damaging the shrader valve fitting. Whew! Sigh of relief for all involved.

The shop foreman wrote down the alleged part number for the fitting provided by the BMW dealer and suggested that it would be a good idea to order about four of these to keep in the glove box, just in case one gets broken during a tire change or any one of a dozen other reasons. He said these fittings frequently need to be replaced as they age and corrode or the valve cores get stuck or corroded in place. I agreed and took the part number to the local dealer.

Well, I found out that part number was for the valve core itself, not the fitting. Worse, the fitting can ONLY be acquired if you buy an entire replacement wheel from BMW/Alpina. The parts guy I dealt with said he couldn't find a part number for the fitting itself anywhere. He contacted BMW NA about this and they contacted Alpina. Apparently, this is the only way Alpina will supply this $2 fitting...is with an expensive wheel. Ridiculous.

Alpina, if you are reading this, this is a pretty unbelievable circumstance for a part that could easily need replacement on a frequent basis.

Mike/Norm... Nice to have some proper interaction on the site with genuine problems & help thanks

Andrew

Edited by AOsgood - 12 Sep 2014 at 12:09pm

Ossie - Another route is to ask local wheel refurb specialists if they have ever dealt with this issue.  i would be willing to bet they have, and would recomment Pristine Alloy Wheels in Milton Keynes (although not necessarily on this specific point).