A wheel in the process of being diamond cut.

You might’ve heard a lot about diamond-cut wheels recently – they’re very popular with many manufacturers and customers right now. 

If you’re not sure what they entail, or you just have some questions, read on for more information. 

If there’s anything we haven’t answered in this article, give us a call on 0161 641 3117 or use our contact page. Our team are always happy to answer any questions and help out!

A wheel in the process of being diamond cut.

What are diamond cut wheels?

Diamond cut wheels are a particular style of wheel that is very popular with many car manufacturers. The front face of the wheel is etched away with a lathe to give it the customary shiny, aluminium facing. 

The lathe uses a tip made of a diamond to achieve the highly accurate, precise slice that is part and parcel of the style. 

The front-facing is the shiny metal part of the wheel that the lathe process reveals. It is not a separate part or an extra metal facing.  

Can anyone have diamond-cut wheels?

In order to have your wheels diamond cut, the front of the wheel must have a flat facing. Sometimes this flat facing is directly on the front, and sometimes it is at an angle.

If your wheels have a flat face but are a solid colour, they may still be appropriate for diamond cutting. The solid colour could either be because a previous owner had the wheels refurbished or due to a design choice by the original seller. 

Does the main wheel need to be black?

No!

The back part of the wheel can be in any colour we offer. While black is the most common colour car manufacturers use, it’s unnecessary to follow the trend if you don’t want to.

Below is an example of non-black diamond-cut wheels. These were refurbished in Ferric Light Grey and then underwent the diamond-cut process afterwards.

two wheels hanging up in a powder coating booth. They are a light grey colour, with a shiny alloy facing. They are hung up, ready to have a clear lacquer over the top. The wheels are diamond-cut.

How does the process work?

First, we refurbish the wheels. As stated above, we can refurbish any colour available at MPC. 

If you’re happy with your current colour but are interested in diamond-cut alloys, please speak to our customer service team! This service is available, but the paint or powder coat quality must be high for us to undertake the work. 

If your colourwork needs correction, but you’d like to keep the colour, our staff will try to match the colour as closely as possible to refurbish. In most cases, this is no problem. Some speciality colours may be difficult to match, but our staff will guide you through this process.

Once the refurbishment is complete, we fit the wheels in our diamond-cut machine. We service one wheel at a time, which is not a quick job at all! 

Finally, when all the wheels have been through the lathe and have undergone a quality check, we put them back in the powder booth for a final layer of clear lacquer.

How long does it take?

Each individual wheel takes some time in the lathe – usually around 30-40 minutes each. The time will depend on the wheel itself and how much of the alloy the lathe must remove.

Our usual turnaround time for refurbishment is two working days. This is an unlikely time frame for diamond-cut wheels – so assume it will roughly be three-four working days.

Our customer service team will be able to advise more accurately upon booking.

Sometimes, customers book their wheels into MPC at the same time as they’re booked at Auto Wrap Manchester for wrapping or tinting. We are able to undertake the services concurrently – ask about this when you book in at either AWM or MPC!

Is it a permanent change?

No!

Many of our customers currently have diamond-cut wheels and prefer to have them a solid colour. Equally, some of our customers have solid-colour wheels and would like to have diamond-cut alloys. 

In most cases, the wheels can change style with no problem at all. We offer both of these appearance change options, with a massive variety of colour choices.  

As always, though, we’d recommend contacting our customer service team if you have any concerns or questions about alloy wheel refurbishment or diamond-cut wheels.

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