what to do with these rims

House of Wax

House of Wax

Active member
Long story short, my wife tends to drive like.....well....poorly sometimes. A few years ago she curbed the hell out of two of the rims on her Fusion pulling into work. I was pissed at the time and told her I wasn't going to put a nickel into new rims. Well we haven't had an incident since and she's gotten better. The rest of the car looks good, so it's driving me nuts having these two crap looking wheels on it. Any thoughts on a cheap at home fix? I'd be fine with plasti dipping them, but there's some pretty good gouges, so they're gonna need to be sanded any way. I'm just worried that some of it is too deep to really sand out. Thoughts?

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How many wheels are damaged? Is there a Ford Fusion forum where you could scoop up a couple wheels cheap? Craiglist??
 
2. I'll have to look again. I looked just out of curiosity when it happen and for whatever reason I couldn't find any that weren't expensive as hell
 
Eh, easy for me to spend your money, but if those were on *my* wife's car I'd either have them Pro-refinished or I'd buy already-redone replacements. Wheels Tires and More dot com sells *VERY* nice refinished wheels for (IMO) very reasonable prices.

I too can get irritated by driving errors, but when it comes right down to it I want my wife's car to look as nice as possible.

AND- it looks like the damage has left a somewhat thin, possibly even sharp, edge near where the tire seats (left-most area of your pic). During a emergency maneuver that could lead to literally fatal consequences. Wouldn't want somebody do die over curb-rash.

With all the safety features on today's vehicles, there are *still* a lot of roll-overs, most of which come down to the wheels/tires in some way.
 
google search for a mobile rim repair company in your area
a lot of dealerships use these guys and usual cost is about $90 per wheel for full refinish
 
You might be able to get a quote from a local bodyshop. Depending on how dinged up and how deep the abrasion is they may be able to polish/sand it smoother.
 
I also vote for a mobile wheel place..
They can even come to you with a van fully equipped to dismount the tire if necessary, repair the dings, repaint the area or whole wheel, dry it, and install it back on the car if needed..

I think the guys I used for Clients in WA were called Alloy Wheel Specialists. They were really good..
After they did the work, I could NEVER find where it was before the repair... Yeah, that good...
I painted before and I know what to look for, so its not just a fluke, etc..

I also had a PDR guy like that - could never find the ding/s after he did his perfect work..

I have seen their shop here in Texas, so they may be nation-wide..
good luck!
Dan F
 
Bondo and sandpaper will fix the gouges.
Wurth, 1Z, and Duplicolor make wheel sliver spray paint.
Those companies also make wheel clear.

I've seen youtube videos of guys redoing their wheels while they're on the car and the results were good.
Mind you, not nearly as permanent as a professional shop but pretty good nonetheless.

Something to think about anyway.

edit: just remembered this link too:
BMWTips wheel-scuff repair
 
I'd have to see it in person to be sure, but if the outer edge of the rim is thinned as much as it appears to be, it'd need *metal* added back in (not cost-effective on those wheels) to provide/restore structural integrity.

Nobody seems to be taking the safey aspect of this seriously...I mean, what..you wanna test the vehicle's rollover behaviour? Blow out that tire and that's what could happen- Game Over, end of story, vs. a few hundred bucks for a wheel.
 
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