It was bound to happen - curb rash

J

jsoto

New member
I sometimes have to drive out to the city (NYC) and gotta park real close or them trucks will just take your mirror right off...



I've got some minor curb rash on one of my wheels. I've never really saw a thread on this but what do ya'll do with curb rash.



Do you just wait it out 3 years or so, and just get it refinished (painted and then clearcoated). It's like eyesore now....
 
Curb rash absolutely infuriates me. It literally drives me mad. My father nicked up my rims. I use silver touch up paint that contains clear coat in it. Plasti Kote makes a great product. Got it at Pep Boys. Its an exact match. I use multiple layers to build up the scratch until it is as smooth as its going to get. Its real, real thin allowing for many coats.



Its the best, cheapest solution that I know of. Cost is $2.50 bottle. There are many tints of silver that are offered. I found a great match.
 
Curb rash really sucks, but it can be repaired.



You can do it the cost effective way (nice word for cheap) which is painting over the marks to cover it up the best you can.



Or you can send your wheel out for repair. I offer this all the time to my customers. It takes about a 2-3 day turn around and your wheel is as good as new.



Depending on your wheel and make depends on the price. The only wheel so far that can not be repaired cheap is chrome wheels.

NYD
 
The problem with wheel repair is that it can easily cost the value of the wheel to get it repaired. Some curb rash can be repaired, as was described in that excellent article that was posted some months back. Often times on wheels with polished lips that kind of repair isn't possible. It can easily cost $50-$100 to repair a wheel. Not everybody is rolling on $5000 rims so that repair price could be a significant percent of the value of the wheel. If you curb an $1800 wheel then repair may be your only option. Curbing a $120 Enkei wheel may not warrant a $100 repair fee though. Sometimes its just easier to replace them. My only question at that point is what to do with the curbed rim after you replace it? I've got two rims I had replaced when they were damaged a little beyond what I wanted to have repaired. I don't know what to do with them though. I guess I could just put another tire on one of them and use it as a spare or something...
 
Jngrbrdman said:
The problem with wheel repair is that it can easily cost the value of the wheel to get it repaired. Some curb rash can be repaired, as was described in that excellent article that was posted some months back. Often times on wheels with polished lips that kind of repair isn't possible. It can easily cost $50-$100 to repair a wheel. Not everybody is rolling on $5000 rims so that repair price could be a significant percent of the value of the wheel. If you curb an $1800 wheel then repair may be your only option. Curbing a $120 Enkei wheel may not warrant a $100 repair fee though. Sometimes its just easier to replace them. My only question at that point is what to do with the curbed rim after you replace it? I've got two rims I had replaced when they were damaged a little beyond what I wanted to have repaired. I don't know what to do with them though. I guess I could just put another tire on one of them and use it as a spare or something...
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Maybe you can put two snow tires on them if your drive it in the snow if you keep your wheels on year round. Put on the front where the traction is. I know its not good to mismatch tires - just thinking of something.



I have one of my VW rims in the basment. I was driving along the curbside looking for an address on a business store front. As I squinted and leaned more towards the driver side, I cut the wheel a little to the left and completely drove into the side of the curb and immediately dipped into a sewer drain and gashed (not curb rash) a part of the rim so bad that it was cutting into the tire! It was NASTY. Oh, what business was I looking for? A new detail shop that opened up in my town! PS - he's out of business. A $350 excursion.
 
I've got some 16" beater wheels that I use for winter. I think I'm going to just buy the stock rims for my car again (not from the dealer though. They always screw you no matter what you buy. You can get OEM rims from anyone who is selling theirs to upgrade to something else) and putting snow tires on them. 15" snow tires are cheaper than 16" tires anyway. I've got some good all weather tires on the 16"s right now that work fine. The winters have been pretty crappy around here for the last few years anyway so I haven't gotten around to changing them.



Maybe I'll use them to practice wheel repair on. Or perhaps I'll plant them in the garden and hope they grow a wheel tree that I can harvest some new rims off of. :D Who knows... I need to think of something before Jennifer makes me get rid of them. I've got wheels all over the place between hers and my winter sets and summer sets. 2 tireless wheels don't serve much use. :(
 
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