I have a wheel that needs to be repaired because of a small amount of curb rash. I got two very different quotes. One guy only wants $100 to come out and says it can be done in an hour. The other guy claims the wheel is machined and painted, and that the entire wheel needs to be refinished regardless of the amount of damage. He also said the tire needs to be remounted and balanced. He wants $150 and said it will take 3 hours for the whole job. Who's right?
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It depends on the quality of what you want.
With the first option, things will be better - but you will still be able to see the part of the bead that has been ground down. Since it won't have clear coat on it, it could weather differently than the rest of the rim.
The later option will look much better and should look more like a new wheel for a longer time.
You could also get a new wheel off the internet for $350 and maybe sell your damaged one to someone looking for a beater-snow tire rim.
With the first option, things will be better - but you will still be able to see the part of the bead that has been ground down. Since it won't have clear coat on it, it could weather differently than the rest of the rim.
The later option will look much better and should look more like a new wheel for a longer time.
You could also get a new wheel off the internet for $350 and maybe sell your damaged one to someone looking for a beater-snow tire rim.
Unless it's so light that it'll buff out, the $150 one is a better bet.I have a wheel that needs to be repaired because of a small amount of curb rash. I got two very different quotes. One guy only wants $100 to come out and says it can be done in an hour. The other guy claims the wheel is machined and painted, and that the entire wheel needs to be refinished regardless of the amount of damage. He also said the tire needs to be remounted and balanced. He wants $150 and said it will take 3 hours for the whole job. Who's right?
I just had a rim reworked on a my 2010 VW golf after hitting a pothole so hard, that it couldn't seal with the tire properly anymore (once off the car and on the rim tire balancer, you could clearly see the flat spot, made part of the wheel look a bit like a "D"). The VW golf rims are aluminum, good quality, and pretty nice all around rims. I was surprised when I got the rim back, it was indiscernible from new despite having been "D" shaped, and having previous rash that was actually ~1/4" deep from riding up/falling off a curb, etc. (they apparently weld onto deep spots and then grind it off back to original shape/size/etc.).
Point is, the rim I took in was *heavily* damaged, and it came back out looking literally indiscernible from new. If the damage is bad enough that you're going to have it repaired, spend the extra $50. If it's something that'll buff out, just skip it/DIY.
FWIW, my mechanic set the whole thing up, tossed on a spare for the duration, etc. I got the job done for ~$125 I think (from $175 CAD maybe?). The shop discounted because they had the rim for an extra week, taking much longer than they promised.
The local tire shop sent them to Vancouver to be repaired/refinished and they come back looking like new from the samples I saw. $169 Cdn (some years ago). My comment was "how'd they do that?"
For $150, dismounting, remounting and rebalancing the tire, I think I'd be really tempted to just source another wheel (eBay maybe?) and have it installed the next time I bought new tires . . . .
Don
Don
Fix them yourself, it's not hard to do at all.
If the wheel is polished and you sand off the clear, just re-clear that spot. How bad is the damage, got pics?
That's a very interesting video. The guy tries to make it look easy, but it is far from it. Sure, any hack can do it, but only a very experienced hack can do it well. It kind of reminds me of the various times I've tried (poorly) to do drywall work. I would gladly pay someone $150 to do what he just did in that video.
My damage is not so bad that it needs bondo, and only 3 spokes are scratched. So the guy that only wants $100 and can do it at my office sounds ok, but I'm still not clear as to whether or not the Volt wheel is painted (and might need to be completely repainted), or whether the wheel needs to be re-balanced after even a small repair.
My damage is not so bad that it needs bondo, and only 3 spokes are scratched. So the guy that only wants $100 and can do it at my office sounds ok, but I'm still not clear as to whether or not the Volt wheel is painted (and might need to be completely repainted), or whether the wheel needs to be re-balanced after even a small repair.
Certainly everyone has different skill levels but whether or not the wheel is painted should be an easy visual check.
Most alloy wheels these days are powdercoated. The wheels on my '17 are powdercoated silver, but the flat portions (including the lip) appear to be polished aluminum and clearcoated
Don
Don
That seems to make sense from my uneducated eye. The flat part is shinny, while the rest is more of a flat finish.The wheels on my '17 are powdercoated silver, but the flat portions (including the lip) appear to be polished aluminum and clearcoated
Don
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