Damaged alloy

[BrummieLad]

I bought a mint set of alloys which I put on my car last month, and have just managed to curb one of them already

I was on a tight road and a stupid women in a X5 coming in the opposite direction, decides to stop and hold all the traffic up. I kept telling her to come forward a bit, which would have allowed me to get my car through but no she just waited being a typical female driver.

In the end I decided to take my to 2 passenger side wheels onto the kerb and manoeuvre around her, but whilst coming back off I managed to scrape the back wheel.

Now it’s not too bad but annoying at the same time, but was wondering if just the damaged area can be repaired again? I don’t want to do a full repair as the colour will never match, which is why I bought a new set in the first place.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Neil C]

I am pretty sure that a half-decent alloy specialist would be able to sort that out. Probably allow a couple of hundred quid to be on the safe side, but should be under that.

 

[BrummieLad]

Some more pictures after I’ve cleaned the alloy.

@Neil C couple of hundred is way too much since I only want the outer edge fixed, the rest of the wheel is immaculate. I don’t want to get the whole wheel do e as it’s hard to match the colour.

 

[Neil C]

Looks much better now.
I agree that £200 is too much, but I did say "to be on the safe side", and it was based on the original pictures.
I had one spoke repaired earlier this year and was charged £70+vat. Your damage is less than mine was and may even just need some mild abrasion and lacquer.

 

[Mr Freeze]

I had the same issue last week coming out of a car park clipped the driver side rear wheel i got it done for £90 i
got just the lip done as i didn't see the need for a total strip down .

 

[BrummieLad]

Yep you might be right but not sure who can do this for me. No doubt all the refurbers will tell me I need to do the whole wheel. Here’s the other part of the damage post cleansing. I don’t might paying around £40-50 to have just the lip done, but the whole wheel is unnecessary.

 

[BrummieLad]

I had the same issue last week coming out of a car park clipped the driver side rear wheel i got it done for £90 i
got just the lip done as i didn't see the need for a total strip down .

Where did you have it done from and what was the finish like?

 

[Han4mi]

That's very minor damage. I would purchase some sand paper with 3 gradients and polishing paste. Would look like new after half an hour of work. Trust me you will curb these again

I've done this to mine twice now and they look great.

 

[BrummieLad]

That's very minor damage. I would purchase some sand paper with 3 gradients and polishing paste. Would look like new after half an hour of work. Trust me you will curb these again

I've done this to mine twice now and they look great.

I’m not brave enough to do that, I’ll ruin it even more knowing me lol.

It’s comforting to here this can be repaired easily by the right person. What did you use to fix yours?

 

[Han4mi]

I’m not brave enough to do that, I’ll ruin it even more knowing me lol.

It’s comforting to here this can be repaired easily by the right person. What did you use to fix yours?

I cleaned the alloy, masked off the tyre and undamaged areas, then sanded it down with the paper. After I was happy with the result I applied some polishing paste and finished the job.

 

[Adam14]

Are they diamond cut alloys? As I believe the whole wheel has to be re-cut if that's the case. £120 per alloy at my place.

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[BrummieLad]

Are they diamond cut alloys? As I believe the whole wheel has to be re-cut if that's the case. £120 per alloy at my place.

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Yeh they are mate. I don’t wa t to get the whole alloy refurbed as the shade will never be right again, and the rest of the wheel isn’t damaged. Might try some diy or take it to a body shop at some point.

 

[Adam14]

Yeh they are mate. I don’t wa t to get the whole alloy refurbed as the shade will never be right again, and the rest of the wheel isn’t damaged. Might try some diy or take it to a body shop at some point.

I appreciate what you're saying and why, just stating what I've been told by various alloy repair specialists, as the wheel face has to get cut(lathed?) To get the DC finish

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[HertS3]

Yeah I have the same alloys by looks of things and 3 of mine are MUCH worse than yours. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to attempt repairs myself nor do I want to pay anywhere near £100 per alloy for refurb of outside rim only! D'oh

 

[BrummieLad]

I appreciate what you're saying and why, just stating what I've been told by various alloy repair specialists, as the wheel face has to get cut(lathed?) To get the DC finish

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Thanks pal, and I wasn’t having a go at you so apologies if it felt that way.

 

[BrummieLad]

Yeah I have the same alloys by looks of things and 3 of mine are MUCH worse than yours. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to attempt repairs myself nor do I want to pay anywhere near £100 per alloy for refurb of outside rim only! D'oh

Yes they are the standard S3 alloys. I kerbed my last set quite badly, so paid good money for this clean unmarked set, which annoyingly looks only lasted a month. Someone should be able to do just the outside as members or n here have done it, but like you I’m not brave enough to do it. Maybe some can do them for usin return fir some beer tokens lol

 

[Mikeso51]

As others have suggested, you can improve the appearance by carefully sanding out the worst of the damage with abrasive paper, preferably on a small backing block (a rubber pencil eraser works well), then polishing and re-lacquering. It requires a modicum of skill and care, but not that difficult. However unless the scrapes are very shallow it will be difficult to achieve a 100% finish. You are likely to either leave traces of the damage, or create a slight hollow area. The ideal approach would be to set the wheel up in a lathe and skim the entire outer edge of the wheel, then lacquer. This is what the manufacturers or refinishers would do as the final stage of finishing, so you ought to be able to find a refinisher who will just do this final stage for you. There is probably an hour or so work involved, so I would budget for up to £50.

 

[Wibbly]

Apart from fixing the cosmetic damage, bear in mind to get plenty of protection back on - the damaged area is bare aluminium and an entry point for corrosion (white worms etc.) over the coming months.

When I curb damaged my diamond cut wheels (standard 1.4 s-line design, so not like yours) I decided eventually to have them fully powder coated (in original Audi colour). They look almost identical (obviously without the diamond cut glint) but have the benefit of much better resilience against corrosion & easier repair at home (as the finish is paint not lacquered bare metal). P-Zero tyres have helped too with their very good rim protection. Until the wheels were painted I used a lot of lacquer quite liberally applied, just to offer corrosion protection in the damaged area...

I think the diamond cut approach is is a great marketing idea to help sell cars, but really isn't a technology appropriate for car wheels used in the real world. The refurb folk I took mine to (Alloy Weldcraft in High Wycombe, who I would recommend) admitted to me that even though they have invested heavily in being able to diamond cut for those that want it, that you really can't get enough lacquer on the (sharp'ish) edges at the edge of a diamond cut to offer the same level of corrosion protection compared with powder coated paint, so the finish will always likely 'fail' before a painted equivalent. The lacquer is also a much thinner layer than paint, so more susceptible to stone damage going through to the metal, whereupon you get water ingress and the corrosion cycle starts :-(

Actually Alloy Weldcraft are an interesting company - they say they get other companies sending wheels to them when they have extensive enough damage that they can't be fixed locally. They have samples of wheels they have 're-built' from what I can only describe as wrecks when original wheels simply are no longer available. The only scary thing is what they do to wheels they need to manipulate and weld in terms of heating them, but I guess you just have to trust a company that's been in business long enough to know what they are doing... I my case they said one wheel was a bit bent (possibly due to a pothole) and straitened it as part of the refurb. All I can say is the wheels felt perfectly balanced when the car came back.

 

[Wibbly]

... but no she just waited being a typical female driver.

... In the end I decided to take my to 2 passenger side wheels onto the kerb

Irritating maybe, but she possibly noted the "typical impatient male driver who'd rather curb his alloys than wait"?

 

[HertS3]

@Wibbly - interesting, how much did they charge you to powder coat your alloys? I used Max Powder in Hemel Hempstead to powder coat a set of diamond cut wheels on a Smart Roadster, they came out really well (had to be hammered round as they were buckled; Roadsters are well known for this, particularly the Brabus as the alloys are aluminium-rich to keep weight down but are very soft as a result), I think it was just over £100 per corner for this.

 

[Wibbly]

@Wibbly - interesting, how much did they charge you to powder coat your alloys? I used Max Powder in Hemel Hempstead to powder coat a set of diamond cut wheels on a Smart Roadster, they came out really well (had to be hammered round as they were buckled; Roadsters are well known for this, particularly the Brabus as the alloys are aluminium-rich to keep weight down but are very soft as a result), I think it was just over £100 per corner for this.

Just got the invoice out - wasn't quite as I recall. Was £260 to refurb all 4 wheels in standard powder coat (discount for having 4 done at once) + £7 scrap tyre disposal (as had them fit new tyres I got at the same time) + £75 to for the buckle repair of 2 wheels (not one as I had recalled). Total £410.40, so round about the same all-in. I have a problem with the paint finish 7 months on and they're about to strip and repaint the wheels free of charge as it turned out they had discovered a fault with one of their ovens about the time I had my wheels done. That's why I've recommended them - at the end of the day sh1t happens, and they're making good on it even after 7 months. For my trouble I get what should be perfect paint 7 months later.

FWIW as I recall I think Alloy Weldcraft heat before hammering, to reduce risk of the alloy cracking - the boss took me on a little 'tour of their facilities' when I visited first time around. Even met the bloke who did the actual spraying, once the wheels had been stripped/fixed.

 

[HertS3]

That's great service by any means and a good recommendation. I've personally not had a problem with Max Powder but would highly recommend them too, they advising me that powder coating the Roadster wheels is more advisable as the lacquer had cracked on the original finish and there were horrible cracks all over the wheels. Power coating has given them more resistance to chips and perhaps some marginal additional strength against buckling though one has since dented noticeably when I hit a fairly large pothole as I was driving behind another car and didn't have time to dodge it

 

[Wibbly]

Fortunately I can walk to/from Alloy Weldcraft, which is a convenient coincidence/bonus, but Hemel's not far from me of course too.

 

[Mr Freeze]

Where did you have it done from and what was the finish like?

I had it done at smart wheels based in manchester . Like new again

 

[OCDaveS4]

I got the dreaded “white worm” on 2 of my S3 DC alloys and they cost £125 each inc VAT to be stripped, powered coated (on the painted bits) and re-cut and re-lacquered. They’re very good, but not as good as the other 2 original unmarked wheels.

However, when they go again, which as @Wibbly right says, they will (DC wheels being a daft idea!) I’m going fully powder coated !!

So if you don’t want to repair it yourself and don’t fancy the cost of a diamond cut (which will never be as good as a new wheel) I’d definitely go powder coated.....

 

[BrummieLad]

Thanks guys for the replies. I think for now I’ll just leave It as it is, though my OCD seems to be getting the better of me and wanting them repaired, but like others have said I may end up kerbing it again.

 

[BrummieLad]

Irritating maybe, but she possibly noted the "typical impatient male driver who'd rather curb his alloys than wait"?

Haha I won’t be doing that again in a hurry, regardless if traffic is being held up. This is where I think the Saudis got it right with the female car ban

 

[Flying Scotsman]

If, your not getting it fixed, at a bare minimum put some lacquer on it, even better , sand it down as previously suggested and lacquer. That alloy finish will oxidise otherwise.

 

[BrummieLad]

If, your not getting it fixed, at a bare minimum put some lacquer on it, even better , sand it down as previously suggested and lacquer. That alloy finish will oxidise otherwise.

Just ordered this off eBay, hopefully does the job.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-Tech-A...019375&hash=item441b3bb4e5:g:SMEAAOSwDNVayMuq

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Spray that lacquer into a small container and then apply with a small brush or mask off all surrounding area to the damage to avoid overspray and spray with a sweeping motion. Practise on a piece of cardboard to get a feel for spraying as you want to avoid runs. One smooth pass and wait a few minutes for it to flash and then another coat.