[james d]

Keen to protect my 19in 401 alloys from the inevitable kerbing,I investigated fitment of Alloygators as seem to get good reviews.
Bad news:they don't fit my wheels or many. 3/5 series Bmw's as spacing between rim and tyre is too large.
Good news: my local fitter has a new system called Rimblade coming in later this week which gets over the above problem,looks identical to Alloygator and comes in usual colours,although I'll be going for discreet black.
I'll repost once fitted and give thoughts.
Anyone else tried them?

[geordiepaul]

Are 401's diamond cut?

[SkyJawa]

nope

[geordiepaul]

Ok, those rimblades look very bulky?

[james d]

Unless you are extremely lucky,big alloys will get kerbed at some point,then it comes down to personal preference and to me nothing looks as upsetting as shiny new car with nasty,scratched,kerbed wheels. Agree the orange and red ones look a tad,shall we say 'downmarket'?. Hoping the black ones may slightly more unobtrusive! Will let you know.

[geordiepaul]

Completely agree, I don't have the option with my alloys being diamond cut.

[james d]

Shame. Sorry I'm such an ignoramus but what are diamond cut alloys? Sounds posh and expensive! What advantage are they over standard alloys?

[geordiepaul]

403m and 405m are diamond cut.
rather than painted or powder coated they're diamond cut, polished and then lacquered. There is no advantage that I can see, they're a pain to refurb and they don't stay nice for as long once water gets under the lacquer.

[teaston]

The black ones make the wheels look smaller! Grey would be better.

[james d]

I'll see what he's got. Shame as the Rimblades don't seem to be as good or as durable as the Alloygators according to reviews.
Try once but otherwise down the boring route of kerbing/months of angst/refurbishment again!

[RichardM]

I fitted alloygators to my 18" winter wheels as I wanted to keep them immaculate for future resale. Only on one wheel did it start to come loose and I had to remove it.

On my girlfriends 18" Alfa wheels they have been perfect.

[Billyray911]

I had a set of Alloygators on a set of diamond cut wheels.I initially thought that the compromise of looks (they are quite ugly as they obviously protrude slightly from the rim-even in a low key black) vs. the benefits of protection,were worth it.
They are fitted by deflating the tyre and fitting the gator to the rim,by snapping it into place.There is also a locking plate that is glued into place.This and reinflation should ensure that the gator stays in place.
Included with the four gators,is a key ring that contains a curved blade.the idea behind this is if you do come into contact with a kerb and snag the gator,you can use the blade to skim and smooth out the rough edges.
I had my gators in place for over a year.One of the gators managed to detach itself at some point.I don't know where and when,but I didn't like the thought of it flying off at any speed and hitting something or someone. This was replaced foc by the original installer.
Overall,I wasn't very impressed as I found that the gators continuously tried to work their way loose and I was forever pushing them back into place.
I had them removed and found small marks on the outer lip of the wheel,which meant that they had to be refurbished...

[AP_75]

I had alloy gators fitted to 6 months ago and have been fine - I have 19" 403M alloys and car is parked on a london street so vital for me. One of the gators came loose once which the local garage refitted else until I get a driveway one day would definitely buy again. I have the black ones and with 19" wheels they are fairly discrete.