First Wheel Scrape - Any Fix Tips or Recommendations (other than drive better:-)).

[Scambini]

I gave one of my wheel some road rash this weekend misjudging how narrow a city street was and turned a little to wide. I wouldn't have even realized how close I was to the curb if it wasn't for the sickening metal scrapping sound. I knew low profile wheels/tires have little rubber sticking out from the wheel but was surprised how just being a little off impacts the wheel.

Anyway anyone have any fix tips or recommendations, besides as I mentioned drive better? I ordered some liquid carbon touch up paint for my Integra and hoping it is a close match to the wheels (is there a better color?). I used a black Sharpie pen on the exposed aluminum as a temp "cover up" - surprisingly it blends enough against the black tires that, as the Discount Tire Guy said, you don't see the scrapping until you're about 3-4 feet away.

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[Scambini]

Just found the one post about "Wheels on Site" that will repair for $150 - hopefully we have one servicing the panhandle of FL (probably not).

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Call the dealer and ask who they use. We have a place near me that send a van out and they just fix it on site. They're really the only ones in my area, and if the nick is larger than 3" and pretty deep, I just buy a new wheel.

 

[SugarFreeDE5]

I know how you feel. I nicked both mine on the passenger side with only 600 miles on the car. Race car wheels and tires.

Dealer set me up with their “alloy wheel repair” guy. 150 bucks a wheel and you would never know they were damaged.

 

[elh0102]

I've been driving over a half century and, until this car, never damaged a wheel. These ridiculous low-profile tires are a disaster, and there is no performance need for them (look at race tires). I have curbed two of mine since buying the car 10 months ago. I know, it is indeed driver error, but still, a bit more safety margin seems reasonable. I think a 265/40-17 would have been much better option, even if it meant a slightly smaller front rotor. Sorry for the rant, and back to the point, I think around $150 is a generally average price for a good wheel repair. And if done correctly, it is not noticeable. Both of my repairs were sufficiently minor that they did it without removing the tire. If the wheel is bent or cracked, then that's a different scenario and I might be reluctant to do a repair, even if the shop offered it.

 

[Scambini]

Call the dealer and ask who they use. We have a place near me that send a van out and they just fix it on site. They're really the only ones in my area, and if the nick is larger than 3" and pretty deep, I just buy a new wheel.

Thanks - I was leaning towards pick up a new wheel (looks like around $400-450 online), Discount tire said they'd do the change out no charge (bought my tires there). However, given the input on a professional repair (around $150) and how well it turns out I'll look into that first. Pain for me is Acura dealer is a hour and 10 minutes away so whoever they use is probably not coming over to my area. We also have. a Honda which is a local dealer so may check and see who they use.

 

[Scambini]

I've been driving over a half century and, until this car, never damaged a wheel. These ridiculous low-profile tires are a disaster, and there is no performance need for them (look at race tires). I have curbed two of mine since buying the car 10 months ago. I know, it is indeed driver error, but still, a bit more safety margin seems reasonable. I think a 265/40-17 would have been much better option, even if it meant a slightly smaller front rotor. Sorry for the rant, and back to the point, I think around $150 is a generally average price for a good wheel repair. And if done correctly, it is not noticeable. Both of my repairs were sufficiently minor that they did it without removing the tire. If the wheel is bent or cracked, then that's a different scenario and I might be reluctant to do a repair, even if the shop offered it.

My "damage" is just superficial - several of my friends said they wouldn't worry about it since they could hardly see it with only my temp fix/hiding using a Sharpie to cover the shiny aluminum. Agree on how little it took to ding the wheels, I wouldn't have notice "touching" the curb except for the horrendous scrape noise. Wish the tire manufactures would build more of a rubber ridge in for rim protection.

 

[Frenzal]

Go to a paint place. Buy a similar paint. Touch up your rim. Forget about it. It'll most than likely happen again. Or it'll happen when a shop changes your tires as the paint is really easy to remove on those rims.

Unless you have really bad damage...

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Thanks - I was leaning towards pick up a new wheel (looks like around $400-450 online), Discount tire said they'd do the change out no charge (bought my tires there). However, given the input on a professional repair (around $150) and how well it turns out I'll look into that first. Pain for me is Acura dealer is a hour and 10 minutes away so whoever they use is probably not coming over to my area. We also have. a Honda which is a local dealer so may check and see who they use.

The typical 150$ is fair, assuming they do a good job and the damage wasn't too terrible. The folks in my area do a pretty 99% job, even to my unrealistic standards . When it reaches like 3" inward on a spoke (like I've had from bad potholes), that's when I buy a new rim. Haven't had it happen on the its yet, but last time I tried to get a repair that large it did not turn out so well. Yours sounds mild, so I'm 100% for repair.

 

[Scambini]

The typical 150$ is fair, assuming they do a good job and the damage wasn't too terrible. The folks in my area do a pretty 99% job, even to my unrealistic standards . When it reaches like 3" inward on a spoke (like I've had from bad potholes), that's when I buy a new rim. Haven't had it happen on the its yet, but last time I tried to get a repair that large it did not turn out so well. Yours sounds mild, so I'm 100% for repair.

Thankfully all the scrapes on mine were on the thin flat edge at the outside of the rim (the edge is 1/8-3/16 inches wide so repair and touch up should be easy, as I mentioned just my "Sharpie fix" hides it enough that friends have had a hard time seeing it. Even I'm getting used to it).

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