Grazed my Alloy...

J4MMYz

J4MMYz

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Had a hard night last night at work, turned into my road which is covered in snow, and a bin lorry was blocking it off (we have a very narrow road) he pulled over for me, so I turned to go into the driveway entrance on the path, but missed it and hit the kerb. I now hate snow, basically made it invisible.. I guess the fact that I was half awake wasn't helping either.

I don't know how I held my breath and didn't yell all sorts of curses, but it's grazed my alloy, and I'm not sure wether to get it repaired, since it could cost a bit and then it'd be something to be unhappy about since nobody does a good job these days.


I'd like to know how much it would be to get it repaired, it's a small graze but I know nothing on repair work for alloys, i'm not sure if that area can be fixed instead of the whole alloy being re-worked. The pic is below, if anyone could let me know how much theirs was to get fixed, it'd be helpful - I did see a thread a few days ago thats been around for a while of a gentleman who had a lot worse damage than mine and got it re-done for £80
 

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The S-line alloys are unfortunately diamond cut which necessitates only certain repairers being able to do the job to a good standard. I'm not sure if the outer rim is diamond cut as well, (or whether its just the edges of the spokes). I got mine done at pristine wheels in milton keynes. Cost me £96 inc VAT for a practically remanufactured wheel as well as fixing some buckling due to potholes. Details are on the thread here..

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/finally-happened-grr.234577/

Whilst you might be able to get a smart repair, it wouldn't be too as good as standard as some of these guys. Search diamond cut alloy repair on google and you should end up with some decent companies. Leptons, JPAlloys, BJV engineering also come to mind. Depends where your based as well..
 
smk82 said:
The S-line alloys are unfortunately diamond cut which necessitates only certain repairers being able to do the job to a good standard. I'm not sure if the outer rim is diamond cut as well, (or whether its just the edges of the spokes). I got mine done at pristine wheels in milton keynes. Cost me £96 inc VAT for a practically remanufactured wheel as well as fixing some buckling due to potholes. Details are on the thread here..

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/finally-happened-grr.234577/

Whilst you might be able to get a smart repair, it wouldn't be too as good as standard as some of these guys. Search diamond cut alloy repair on google and you should end up with some decent companies. Leptons, JPAlloys, BJV engineering also come to mind. Depends where your based as well..
Click to expand...


Ah yes, it was you :p

I've just contacted my dealer who ironically was replying to my email of 'all is well' - she told me they use Castle Coachworks which is in Northampton (where I'm from so thats good) - no idea what they are like, but they do work for VW group + mercedes etc, theres a free estimate so i sent off details of the damage + that picture, i'll see how much they qoute, i'll try to live with it for now, I seem to forget things when I calm down about them. Right now though it's really got me wound up, just had one of them days I guess...
 
Id get a quote direct from castle as well- audi will add on their own "charge" -£20 in my case to what id paid if id done it through them. However they might be able to provide you with a loan wheel as well.
 
Oh yeah, i've gone through them direct and not Audi.

Since I don't do many miles I might stick the spare on, and garage the car until the alloy is fixed.
 
Not much of a graze and you could get it to where its almost invisible if you wished. I've done it in the past on the same alloys and you just couldn't tell.

If you're interested you'll need , some 1200 and 1500 wet and dry, roll of masking tape, some meths, Mcguiars ScratchX, and a spray can of clear lacquer. A reasonable amount of patience and some elbow grease.
Mask up the tyre and the wheel other than a four or five inch strip of where the graze is (leave at least 1.5 to 2 each side of the graze). Then with a small piece of 1200 wet and dry at a time (with a little clean water) gradually polish out the scratches, follow the line of the rim. Feather the polishing out just after each end of the scratches. When all the scratches are more or less gone, use the 1500 wet and dry until the area is smooth and polished. Then polish the area using the Scratch X. Clean the area thoroughly, then wipe it with meths to remove any grease etc, still leaving the masking on or replace it if you've disturbed it, spray several coats of lacquer feathering it out at each end as you don't want a step, or at least much of a step. Follow the instructions on the tin for what the intercoat time is.

Leave it an hour or so then carefully remove the masking tape. There will be a slight ridge at the edges of the new lacquer. Leave this for at least two weeks then carefully polish the area with the Scratch X to blend the new area in. On hands and knees looking very closely you may just spot it but unless you knew exactly where to look its almost invisible.

If your not happy doing this then a wheel restorer is your best bet.
 
steeve said:
Not much of a graze and you could get it to where its almost invisible if you wished. I've done it in the past on the same alloys and you just couldn't tell.

If you're interested you'll need , some 1200 and 1500 wet and dry, roll of masking tape, some meths, Mcguiars ScratchX, and a spray can of clear lacquer. A reasonable amount of patience and some elbow grease.
Mask up the tyre and the wheel other than a four or five inch strip of where the graze is (leave at least 1.5 to 2 each side of the graze). Then with a small piece of 1200 wet and dry at a time (with a little clean water) gradually polish out the scratches, follow the line of the rim. Feather the polishing out just after each end of the scratches. When all the scratches are more or less gone, use the 1500 wet and dry until the area is smooth and polished. Then polish the area using the Scratch X. Clean the area thoroughly, then wipe it with meths to remove any grease etc, still leaving the masking on or replace it if you've disturbed it, spray several coats of lacquer feathering it out at each end as you don't want a step, or at least much of a step. Follow the instructions on the tin for what the intercoat time is.

Leave it an hour or so then carefully remove the masking tape. There will be a slight ridge at the edges of the new lacquer. Leave this for at least two weeks then carefully polish the area with the Scratch X to blend the new area in. On hands and knees looking very closely you may just spot it but unless you knew exactly where to look its almost invisible.

If your not happy doing this then a wheel restorer is your best bet.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip but it is quite a chunk missing, it's not a few scratches it looks a lot worse in person. You'd notice a groove if I did that I think, plus I know I'd **** it up.

I'm off to bed now anyway, I'll see what they qoute me.. Then make my mind up if I'll live with it.
 
Personally if I had done that and what with February and March still to come which can bring snow, I would wait till spring, the last thing you want to do is fix it then hit it again. I know it's not something you ever do, but you can bet it will happen.

Wait and getting it looking mint for Spring, Summer months......that is if you can keep the OCD in check ;)
 
I'd be tempted to leave that mate. It's not that bad.
 
Sound advice. Wait till the weather clears. If we get another bout of poor conditions you could end up doing a wheel again..
 
Polish it, clear nail varnish to seal it and refurb for spring
 
If you're going to leave it then you need to do as Dtwm says put something on to seal the graze. The lacquer will have been removed and it's an entry point for the salt to attack it. Corrosion will spread under the lacquer and paint, in a couple of months it could be quite a mess. So if you do nothing else clean it thoroughly and apply two or three coats of the clear lacquer you get with your touch up kit. Or get a lacquer touch up from Halfrauds.
 
Yep - What Steve said above, seal it now if you're going to leave getting it fixed until the better weather.

I had an 'incident' with one of mine a couple of months back, which the dealer sorted for me. It was only a small graze approx 7mm long, but it was bugging me. When the guy the dealer uses saw it he questioned the fact I really wanted it done, but then I am particular about the car and wheels. Cost me £40 for cash and I'd challenge anyone to find it, but I was so impressed with the work I'm going to get him to look at re-working the wheels on my MG. There are still some craftsmen out there :) (but yes, you have to find them).
 
The rim is diamond cut and you can only re-cut it a few times, depending on the depth of re-cut required.

You can use clear nail varnish to seal it, ask the missus first though!
 
Agree with others - it's not really worth refurbing for that and most people would not notice it. (I accept that *you* would know it was there).

Clean it up and seal with a lacquer. If it helps, order some paint (L8Z8 colour code) online to hide it even more.

Save the refurb until the damage is greater. With that shape of alloy it is a matter of time; whether by kerbing or a sloppy tyre fitter.

John.
 
Thanks guys, i think i'll leave it in that case. I've calmed down a bit now i've woken up, but I'm still a little down about it. The only wheel i've ever kerbed was a hubcap in the snow on my Polo, came round the corner too fast - being a new driver that was a mistake, and hit the kerb which cracked the hubcap and ruined the tracking, good job it wasn't an alloy.. but I decided to get all the hubcaps replaced after it, since it was a 10 year old car and an absolute gem of a car to me at the time, but then a few months later the people that were doing work on the road backed into it with one of their vehicles, as I said, one of them because they never owned up to it the rotting <insert word that will be censored here>

I guess it will bug me being there but as people say it's not worth it. I got a reply back from the people I contacted and they said they cannot do it as it is Diamond cut, he recommended me an MK garage that I think @smk82 went to. MK is a bit of a treck for something of that size, so naff to it. I'll just curse the snow and bin lorries forever:keule:



So is nail varnish okay to use? I can ask my girlfriend for it, and no @veeeight I don't have any of my own :p
 
I agree with Steeve above, pretty easy fix, I've fixed worse than that to an almost invisible point. Whilst you say it's quite a chunk missing to be honest if you spent 20-30 minutes dressing it with some wet and dry (wet) as Steeve says then it will appear almost invisible . Only difference I do to what Steeve says is that I use water with a little washing up liquid in it to help lubricate the wet & dry, , go down to 2000 grade and then polish with autosol (applied with stockingette) followed by Megs NXT to buff out any remaining scratches. The alloys really are quite soft metial so don't take much to sand back.

But if you are not happy with that, then seal as others suggest above and get it sorted once the weather improves.
 
I'll perhaps not try it as I'd probably mess it up or go overly ocd, I'm just going to lacquer it. I bought glacier white and lacquer touch up from an Audi dealer on eBay (it is genuine paint) for £14. I'm preparing for stone chips, not that I'm going to put glacier White on the wheels lol

Is there any way I could get the black out of the graze though? I've got acidic cleaner if that would shift it with a bit of scrubbing?
 
You could try that but I'd be very wary of leaving it on any too long - no doubt you've read the warnings on the label of stuff like Wonder Wheels. I'd personally try a non-acidic cleaner, something like Bilberry Juice or my new fave Bilt Hamber Wheel cleaner (brilliant stuff), maybe 'scrub' in with an old tooth brush as larger brushes could be too large to get in the finer parts of the scratch. If you have neither - which I suspect you don't - try a bit of scrubbing with a hard tooth brush and some neat fairy liquid or similar, washed off with water to try to lift it.

Problem you have is that the dirt is ground in from where it clipped the kerb as opposed to the clingy dirt caused by brake dust.

One other option, if it still won't clean up - if you mask around the scratch to protect the wheel with a couple of layers of masking tape, you could try a spark plug wire brush, brushing very gently the same way as the scratch itself so you get right into the bottom of the scratch itself. Spark Plug wire brushes, whilst wire (as the name suggest) are actually quite a soft wire compared to the larger ones you generally have at home in your toolbox. The attached eBay link is for example only to illustrate the brush I mean http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-Wi...788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item41609b54e4
 
HawkeyeS3 said:
You could try that but I'd be very wary of leaving it on any too long - no doubt you've read the warnings on the label of stuff like Wonder Wheels. I'd personally try a non-acidic cleaner, something like Bilberry Juice or my new fave Bilt Hamber Wheel cleaner (brilliant stuff), maybe 'scrub' in with an old tooth brush as larger brushes could be too large to get in the finer parts of the scratch. If you have neither - which I suspect you don't - try a bit of scrubbing with a hard tooth brush and some neat fairy liquid or similar, washed off with water to try to lift it.

Problem you have is that the dirt is ground in from where it clipped the kerb as opposed to the clingy dirt caused by brake dust.

One other option, if it still won't clean up - if you mask around the scratch to protect the wheel with a couple of layers of masking tape, you could try a spark plug wire brush, brushing the same way as the scratch itself so you get right into the bottom of the scratch itself. Spark Plug wire brushes, whilst wire (as the name suggest) are actually quite a soft wire compared to the larger ones you generally have at home in your toolbox. The attached eBay link is for example only to illustrate the brush I mean http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-Wi...788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item41609b54e4
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice, the tooth brush idea is a good one.


I MIGHT try the acidic, I have used it on every wash of my car so far as I didn't realise it was that bad for your wheels, I guess I haven't noticed because I'm there washing it off for ages, so rest assured. I'll most likely use it though in that area only, not on the whole wheel.
 
I used tooth brush and t cut on an alloy i kerbed to get the dirt out. The fine polish of the paste cleaned it up a treat so I could seal it until I could get it professionally repaired. I expect scratch x might work just as well.
 
Thank you, I'll be sure to try.
 
You could try a small amount of wheel cleaner, but wipe it on and then a quick brush and rinse off well, then wipe with meths. Nail varnish will not last, it will not adhere for long, but the clear lacquer supplied with your touch up is ideal, just paint on two or three thin coats allowing it to dry in between coats.
 
Sorry to hear you've scrapped your alloy, it's a horrible feeling. I once bought a lovely Type R and took it to a Christening and swung round in the road trying to find a space to park and scrapped one of the alloys. It was so hard not to swear with all the in laws watching and being right outside a church!!!

Not trying to hijack this post but it's relevant. Has anyone had any experience with "Alloygators" on their Audi? I've added a different set of alloys on my brand new A3 S line that's coming in March. Wondered if they were worth it / any good.

Hope you get the alloy sorted.
Trevor.
 
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