In smart repairs it pays to specialise

ALLOY PRO MAY sound like just another ordinary smart repairer that specialises in alloy wheels, but the truth is that the business is far more than that. Why else would some of Sydney's best auto repairers entrust owner Peter Freudenstein with their wheels for repair?

Maserati, Porsche, Ferrari and Mercedes owners demand the best so just a quick repair job won't do, so in this Hotham Parade, Artarmon, business alloys get star treatment.

This is a business that has blossomed based on quality service. Freudenstein admits that he came to it as an amateur but he put himself through a plethora of research including visits to the shrines of alloy repairs, Italy, Turkey and the UK before making the decision to enter this side of the business.

Why Turkey? That's where the Italian design alloy repair systems are engineered. "The Turks make mean repair systems," Freudenstein says. "I wouldn't have gone into this business without right equipment and the research. That is what made this all possible. I saw an opportunity and took it."

These days Freudenstein and his two staff members, head painter Mark Butcher, a mini gun and airbrush expert and the artisan in the group and Paul Gillet, general all round paint professional and back-up for the Alloy Pro business, perform wonders with buckled Holden HSV wheels and Ferrari $3500 (each) alloys.

The business specialises in prestige wheels but repairs all types.The business likes to put quality before everything and Freudenstein says the quality of the work and the finish is the most important.

"The problem is mainly with low profile tyres, the lower the profile the more susceptible the wheel becomes to buckling if put under stress. But even with ordinary alloys, we enjoy lots of business. We have one Subaru Liberty owner who brings in his car for alloy work once a month and normally there is some gutter scrape."

Freudenstein said one of his customers installed gutter wires, those wire thin spokes which stick out and warn you of the proximity of the kerb, but abandoned it after some people complained about being whipped around the ankles.

Freudenstein says Sydney's older suburbs were made for alloy repair companies. Balmain and Rozelle especially have very high kerbs and that's where the damage is done.

The pride and joy of this alloy pro shop is that they have an Atex Professional Rim Repair system which uses laser technology to mend twisted rims. "There are all sorts of castings from steel and some with certain amounts of silicon in the process.

"There is little legislation in Australia governing the compositon of castings and sometimes the alloys we get in are rubbish," We like to give everything the quality treatment and we are one of the few shops that do re-clear polished wheels. Most repairers do not do that. Repaired but not treated correctly and oxidisation takes place," Freudenstein added.

The economic downturn has not changed Alloy Pro much. The business is still growing and the work continues to come in. But with so many fussy wheel owners out there, there is no doubt Alloy Pro's reputation will continue to grow.

Enquiries: 02 9966 8788