Help! I have a set of axis pentas that have simulated wheel rivets. I decided to get them powder coated and the powdercoater had to drill out the rivets in the process. My problem is that I am having difficulty trying to find replacements. Anyone have experience with this? I tried calling axis but couldn't get a real person on the phone. If anything should I try finding real rivets that would fit?

 

they drilled them out?

I'm not sure how the fake rivets are held in place, either it's welded on there, or it actually screws on. If it's screwed on, then your powdercoater messed up by drilling them out.

 

^^ The Axis wheels use glue in pieces to make it look like a multipiece rim. If he drilled them out, you are pretty much screwed. Only way to fix it really is to buy a tons of bolts you like, grind off the bolt portion, and glue the heads in.

 

Your best and cheapest alternative is proabably just to fill in the empty holes with bondo and have your powdercoater re finish them.

 

I was thinking of doing this option. I mean I think I finally found some plastic rivets that might fit but I don't like the look of them. So j know

 

So I know there r replacements out there I just wish there was more of a selection than what I found. Thanks for the replies.

 

lmk, had the same thing happen to me, and it ended up that the powdercoater had a buddy who had some

 

well I am going to hope you had this done at an actual place of business and that it was performed through the books as it were, if thats the case and he did not aquire your permission prior to drilling on your wheels i would say they owe you a replacement set, anytime my shop breaks anything were responsible for it unless it was discussed prior with the customer.

 

That guy is an idiot.

Like it was mentioned above, they are glued in plastic rivets. I have the same wheels and it took me all of 15 min to remove them with a heat gun and a small flat head screwdriver. I had a hard time finding new ones (refinisher lost the the ones that went to my wheels) so I just pulled some out of an old set of wheels that matched. The rivets are pretty generic.

I would task the shop that did the work with finding new rivets and paying for them. I wouldn't have accepted them in that condition.

 

:bowr ofl:

at this comment .. yeah he should have the guy powdercoat over bondo?

 

why in the world would he drill them out?

 

I think they were drilled out because they are plastic and melt through the powder coat process.

I was thinking of replacing the rivets on my PIAA's at one point but never got around to it (two piece welded). Thought about using real ones. But I can't find real ones that have the correct diameter.

Any here is the website that I found.

http://www.prestigewheel.com/Imagepwarc119s.asp

Got different types of plastic rivets.

 

Thats been determined, but why drill them out when you can pop them out and reuse them is the question. Thats like taking your car in to get new tires and the shop drills through the lug nuts to get the wheels off and not having another set to replace them with.

for the link, it's now bookmarked.

 

Wow. Bit quick to judge? Is it truly necessary to explain the whole situation and details not pertinent to the problem? Good god. I was hoping that my audience was intelligent enough to focus on the problem at hand and not remain fixated on what may or may not have led to the problem. My point, 4D05G35, is that I believe it goes without saying that we did attempt to remove the rivets prior to drilling them out and it doesn't look like I'm the only one unable to remove them.

 

Nope, I just voiced my oppinion based upon the information from your post.
It took me all of 1 min to determin that they were glued in. It took me a total of 15 min to remove all of the rivets without damage. I have never worked on wheels before either.
Taking a drill to a plastic rivet on a cutom wheel never once crossed my mind as an option.
I would expect a little more from from a shop doing specialty work. This powder coating place isnt in Ballard is it? I almost took a set of wheels to a shop there. I would like to avoid a shop that cant figure out simple problems, I would hate to drop off a set of wheels and have them use a chisel to remove my center caps.
This isn't a personal attack on you or the shop, but you called out my response and oppinion. Thats the way I feel when you take drastic actions to simple solutions. Feel free to elaborate on what led up to it if you like.

For future reference for you or anyone else that can't figure out how to remove the glued in plastice rivets. Take a heat gun to the back side of the wheel to heat up the metal and the glue will melt. Then take a small flat tip screw driver (precision flat tip works well since it's thin) and pop the rivet out. It will literally fall out with little to no effort. Viola you have all the rivets removed in a matter of minutes.