Image Wheels Billet UltraLite - CNC Machining and fitting

TL;DR Part three, I think

I went to Munich and picked-up the wheels on December 21st, and had been looking for a way to re-bore the centers since then. Center badges were ready since January.

Following my mechanic's advice, I did contact a reputable machining shop in the area; short story is that they didn't want to do the job. So much for their Facebook page that shows a video of a full wheel on the lathe, with the tyre and all, while they cut a diamond lip.

Luck has it that a close friend, owner a small CNC that we built together 3 years ago, was referred to an old acquaintance of his as a the guy to call for information about where to find some raw material.

That friend of a friend (JF) is equipped with some serious machinery, of which a "small" industrial CNC that weighs 2.8 tons. More importantly, he would gladly do the job.

On March 18th I went unannounced to the tyre shop near the office, and they kindly removed the tyres from the rims, offering to keep the rubber during the time it would take to machine the centers. They didn't even ask for any money.

We brought the naked wheels to the JF, who confirmed how easy it would be. Most of the job would actually be to secure the wheels to the table and center the tooling. He would use the Caterham spacers as a reference. My own measurement does read 58.8mm.

About 10 days later he sent me a video of the CNC in action, telling me it would be ready in about half an hour. I called my friend to pick him up on the way, and we both went to JF, who's located about 5km further away.

I dropped the wheels at the tyre shop on the next morning (Monday March 31st). The shop was now busy with the winter-summer seasonal tyre swap, but they offered to mount my wheels right away. I told them to take their time and that I would come back just before close of business.

When I came back after 17:00, they were busy balancing the last wheel. They nicely dropped the wheels in the trunk of my Kia, while I went to the reception and pay 96€ for the whole service. While not cheap, all was very friendly and convenient, they'll see me again for sure.

I came back home and finally installed the wheels on the car, using the provided new lug nuts and a good dollup of copper grease on the studs.

JF was right to wander about the fitting of the center caps. I don't really know why or how the re-bore could change anything (or not), but they wouldn't have stayed in there for long. I followed his advice and opted to glue them in place. I've used high temperature silicone adhesive/gasket, 4 drops on each cap. It's red, you can see some; I regret nothing.

NS2 Ultra Sport did need some proper break-in, the first 100km or so were really not promising. After that they became quite good. I'm glad they were ready before our Saturday escapade to Nürburgring.