I was watching an old Power Block episode a couple of weeks ago. The guy demonstrated repair work for black painted aluminum wheels with curb rash.
Basically he grinded and sanded the damage on the wheel, bondoed the missing material, and painted/blended the finish. They turned out nice.
I saw an episode of Wheeler/Dealers where they ground down the damaged aluminum, added weld to build up the missing material, and polished-out the damage. Again, nice result.
Now to my situation. I have 3 black vapor wheels with pretty minor curb rash. I was wondering if anyone had a simple home remedy to improve the look. I am not desperate enough to send them to Michigan for complete refinishing (I'm in Arizona) - not only the $1100 plus freight, but it's my only driver.
I was toying with the thought of slightly grinding the damage and trying to blend in black chrome spray paint. I figure worse case scenario, I would just remove the paint.
I'd have them powder coated or painted black. The black chrome is so easily scratched you can hardly touch them while washing. Mine have fine scratches on them from a brush that was supposedly safe to clean them with. My srt only has about 2600 miles on it so I'll fairly pissed. Looks like I'll be spending a day polishing them out. What a pain. Black powder coating is looking better and better.
I completely removed each wheel the other day to scrub the insides. On the last one I was free rolling it down the driveway and looking at my phone. It hit the sidewalk and landed right on its face. I felt nauseous and angry at myself. When I lifted it up, I almost passed out from the hurt. It literally made the impression of the asphalt on the spokes. Luckily I just ordered new wheels and I can get it redone. Just not sure whether gloss black powdercoat or black chrome again?
They'll be my winter wheels and the ones I use when I trade it back in.
Once you accept that it's a truck, the impossible to avoid minor imperfections you can't even see from 5 feet away no longer matter. You'll go crazy otherwise.
I'm having the dealership take a look at mine bc 3 wheels are peeling, pits and flaking. Hoping they'll get replaced under warranty since I'm at 28k miles.
There's a guy on ebay selling refurbished genuine srt wheels for just under $600. And he'll give you a break if you send him a curb-rashed wheel. if you're interested, pm me.
I have no affiliation with him btw-- I had a full set of four curb-rashed wheels from racing -- and they were pretty bad -- he sent me a brand new wheel in exchange for my curb rashed wheels., and paid for shipping both ways. Basically I got a brand new wheel and it cost me only a few wheels I had sitting on a rack that I'll never use again. Wheel is high quality, with srt engraving on the wheel.
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