How to Repair Curb Rash

[Jim Wilson]

I scratched the right rear last weekend as you can see by the debris left on the tire, so it was time to fix it.

Start with various grades of surface conditioners, a dremel and coarse and fine buffing compound....

I started with the least aggrresive surface conditioner, but had to use a more aggresive pad due to the deep scratches, then go back the the least coarse pad.....

Then it's time for a dremel with coarse buffing compound, followed by fine buffing compound

Give the wheel a cleaning with aluminum polish and your good as new.

This whole process took about 20 minutes.

 

[kcobean]

That's awesome Jim!! All four of my wheels have some curb rash courtesy of the previous owner, unfortunately they're painted, so this fix would get me started, but I'd still have to repaint when I'm done.

 

[dave6666]

Dude. You made a clean spot. Now finish the car.

Nice job. Takes some huevos to get after a set of wheels with power tools.

 

[plumcrazy]

wow, nice job Jim.

 

[Simms]

Wow, that came out nice.

 

[Vipuronr]

Wow, really nice job!!

But, you know, I took a lot of time parking the other day, got out of the car, tripped on the curb, bounced a few times, did a reverse double gainer, bounced a few more times, slid a bit, ricoched off a Hummer H2 and ended up scraping my butt on the curb.

So, question is, does that count as curb rash and, if so, does your solution work on my scrapes???? I also scored a 9.6 for style and a 9.9 for difficulty!!!

Peter
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[dave6666]

...does that count as curb rash and, if so, does your solution work on my scrapes????

I know a place that will buff your butt, but it ain't round these parts. Unless you're wearing sheepskin...

 

[ViperTony]

Wow Jim...nice job! Very nice wheels too BTW.

 

[emo]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jim Wilson]

Thanks for the compliments. I was really easy, even a monkey could do it. Just take your time, feather out the deep spots, and occasionally touchup a few spots that you either got over zealous with or didn't get smooth enough the first time.

It really pissed me off though because I'm sooooo careful around curbs and such.

 

[Chopper]

Thanks for the compliments. I was really easy, even a monkey could do it. Just take your time, feather out the deep spots, and occasionally touchup a few spots that you either got over zealous with or didn't get smooth enough the first time.

It really pissed me off though because I'm sooooo careful around curbs and such.

I sometimes think that the real careful people---still have some bad luck. But that seemed like a quick fix.

 

[cyaford]

Think this method would also work?

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[BOTTLEFED]

Would this really work on the stock rims though? aren't they clearcoated?

I tried to do this on some aftermarket wheels one time and it ended up costing me 30 hours of labor sanding down all 4 rims and repolishing them because they were clearcoated.

 

[chimazo]

Would this really work on the stock rims though? aren't they clearcoated?

I tried to do this on some aftermarket wheels one time and it ended up costing me 30 hours of labor sanding down all 4 rims and repolishing them because they were clearcoated.

As long as the rash is on the very edge of the stockers, and doesn't reach to the larger flat surface, you will be fine if you don't go overboard sanding. I had some rash on my stockers and just used a dremel, then carefully hand-sanded just the repair area without trying too hard to blend, then polished.

An easy way to save on labor in removing clearcoat is using a spray product made by Mar-hyde called "Tal Strip 2" Aircraft Coating Remover. Not to be used on painted surfaces, obviously, but you just spray the rim, wait a few minutes while it bubbles, and then use something like a Bondo spreader to scrape it off, then rinse. MUCH easier than sanding, and an easy way to get a satin finish, too!

 

[DJ'sviper]

I bought the Gen III off ebay and they came with a bunch of curb rash on each rim. I was going to do what you did but they looked like they were chrome. Will this work on them? Can you feather the area to the rim so you can't see the chip?

 

[chimazo]

They shouldn't be chrome, just highly polished. Not the best before-after pics, but comparison after literally 5 minutes of some quick dremel/hand sanding work on my polished stockers. This is what I meant by the "edge" of the rim in my previous post. Another run through with the dremel, a little more sanding, and some polishing, and you'd never notice it.

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[slaughterj]

That is some amazing work Jim. Can you provide very specific info on each item used? I don't know anything about surface conditioners, but would love to try this.

Any reason this wouldn't work on Gen3 stock rims?

 

[DJ'sviper]

Thanks, I took the car, with the rims, on to a place that fixes rims and they said that they were chrome and they couldn't do it. I'm going to give it a try, they can't look worse than what I have, I hope. It looked like they were peeling back or a layer on it. Was that just the clearcoat. A chip came off and it looked shinny and opaque. Yours look great. I was thinking on using a dremel tool and hand sanding.

 

[SYNFULL]

I don't think you can do this kind of repair on chrome. These are aluminum wheels so it is the same material throughout the wheel. Just a heads up before you make your wheels worse. There are places that do repairs to chrome wheels.

 

[Jim Wilson]

That is some amazing work Jim. Can you provide very specific info on each item used? I don't know anything about surface conditioners, but would love to try this.

Any reason this wouldn't work on Gen3 stock rims?

Thanks slaughterj, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work on gen3 wheels as I have used it on gen2 wheels.

The surface conditioning discs are made by 3M (the discs are refered to as roloc) and come in varoious diameters and grades.

Brown=coarse
Red=medium
Blue=fine

I used medium and fine.

Here are some examples...

roloc, Tools Home Improvement, Parts Accessories items on eBay.com=

They would probably work just as well attached to a drill, if you don't have air tools.

I can't remember where is got the polishing compound. I used it originally to rehab the polish on my intake tubes and superchager using the coarse and fine compound with coarse and fine pads on my bench grinder.

I'm sure you can find that stuff doing an internet search, and using a drill instead of a dremel may even work better. I'd try ebay or Eastwood.

Good luck!

 

[ViperGal]

Sorry to hear about the curb incident but glad everything worked out.

Impressive work - hope I never need the tip

 

[slaughterj]

Thanks for the further info!