I curbed my wheel... and had it fixed. :-)

Lunar-Eclipse

The day I had feared had finally come. I clipped a piece of concrete from a broken up sidewalk as I was driving through a construction zone.
And when I say a piece I mean a ~60lb chunk of sidewalk they had broken up with a jackhammer. A tip was protruding beyond the construction cones into the street. After the hit I could feel the rear wheel wobbling and stopped to take in the damage. After picking off the small pieces of concrete this is what I was left with.



It wasn't as bad as I thought. The impact dislodged some sticky weights and the tire lost some air pressure. But it was drive-able.
After spending a few days cringing at the damage I started searching for a way to fix it. I stumbled across a post on a 350z forum that suggested these guys. Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists, LLC | A Full Service Alloy Wheel Repair & Replacement Company. The site referred me to their local affiliate Todd at Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists of Tampa FL. An email and a picture later I had a quote for $150 to repair the damage. And it was worth every penny for the f**king magic trick he pulled off.

He came to my house and after working on it for about 1.5 hours I couldn't tell where the damage had been. I had to look at the pictures I had taken before. And even knowing where it was. I can't tell from looking at the wheel.













Todd you're a miracle worker.

Wheels3309

Looks amazing! We have a local guy here (the Rim Doctor) that I've used in the past with a similar situation... Mad voodoo these guys do...


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TreeSemdyZee

Nice.

Just found out (after your post) that there's one local to me too. Might have to check them out.

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somms

I would totally pay $150 to get my curb rash fixed. Will have to find someone in the boston area.

Jayhovah

Thanks! Good reference as I am also in Tampa area... Also I can be kind of a curb magnet for some reason.

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omG37S

Looks good, man. It really came out great. Hopefully you never have to do business with him again, though. I know that feeling -- your heart drops when you know your wheels have damage. I didn't even want to look at my car after.

I've had three different wheels on my car get messed up.

-The first time was from someone driving me to their house after a wedding; she curbed it pretty bad when parking too close. I don't even remember them taking my keys. I wasn't upset because, had I driven, the damage could have been way worse.

-The second was from NTB not tightening the bolt on my camber arm after my alignment. My wheel cambered all the way in, and must've hit something along the way because there were a few indentions. I say it was something metal because there were no scratches or other marks around the dents.

-Third time was from a friend backing up my car eight feet to make room to move a car. (Never letting anyone drive my car again, no matter how short the distance.)

I was lucky because a local guy in my car club has a machine to fix wheels, and he really hooked me up with cost and time. First wheel was done while I waited, the other two were finished before I woke up the next day.

Here was one of my damaged wheels and the machine he used to repair it.

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kenchan

So he welds on new metal then shaves it down?

omG37S

If the rash is deep enough, yes; that is the ideal route. Or, if your wheel's lip is thick enough, he can just take away a tiny bit and it'll still look normal.

OldGuyFla

Looks great, good info. will file that away. Thanks

barncobob

this is why no one drives my car but me

Lunar-Eclipse

When I saw the before and after pictures on the website I was thinking some of them were touched up (Photoshopped). I was assuming the repairs would be visible on close inspection. Whether that was the damaged metal being ground down or the paint not matching perfectly. So you can imagine my surprise when he was done. I was in awe. I don't know if he welded some metal onto the wheel or used some kind of metal filler. But it's spotless. Unfortunately I was working while he was doing the repairs so I never had a chance to go out and see what he was doing until he was done.

Because he did such good work is the reason I posted this. Like omG37S said above. This guys like a plastic surgeon. You hope you never need his services. But if you do. You want an expert. I also wanted to make sure to post what it costs because I know the price of these kind of things can vary wildly depending on the damage. I hope none of you need this service but I'm throwing it out there just in case.

kenchan

for ur sport wheels, chances are he used spot bondo, sanded, and painted over it.

Lunar-Eclipse

I don't know metal work but I thought bondo was a pretty soft material. I didn't think you could use it on a high tension area like the lip of a wheel. Wouldn't it be damaged/deformed the first time you went to change a tire?

kenchan

if its for cosmetic repair on the outside of the lip it does fine. ive used it on my own wheel repairs before painting the entire wheel.

but if it is on the bead then yah, probably dont want to use dat. lol

Zerafian

Id like to know what a pro shop would recommend for wheels that have anodized barrels like work or rays. You can just polish it up on the edge and call it a day.

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