Wheel repair

Do you guys send your wheels off to get repaired, or do you have a local-ish shop that will do it?

How much do you typically pay?

If anyone in IN, OH, KY, MI, IL have a place that won't break the bank, could you let me know?

The wheels ALL have curb rash, and one has a slight bend in the lip, still holds air. I want it all fixed, but i'm not too happy about paying $150 a wheel at the only local place i could find. That's over twice what i paid for the wheels.

Wheels in question are 16x8 Enkei RP01s.

I appreciatcha.

I live right outside of Chicago and their is a business on the Southside called Keystone Automotive. I've read on various forums that they do great work but each wheel is $125 and is about a two day turn around.

I have a bent rim I am planning to drop off there in a few weeks so I can let you know if you're interested.

ChesterRumble wrote: I live right outside of Chicago and their is a business on the Southside called Keystone Automotive. I've read on various forums that they do great work but each wheel is $125 and is about a two day turn around. I have a bent rim I am planning to drop off there in a few weeks so I can let you know if you're interested.

Urg. That's expensive. I may just live with the curb rash until i'm rich and just pound that one section flat with a hammer... The rim is still true and all that, just ugly.

Shoot me a message when you go if you remember, though. If it's the end of april, i may try to work something out with you if you're willing.

April 09 issue of Excellence magazine has a good article on DIY wheel repair.

For the curb rash, could you chuck them up in a lathe and face off the lip?

Dan

You're not going to get them done commercially for less than $125 per wheel.

I would pound out the dend with a dead blow hammer. Then take an orbital sander and smooth out the curb rash. It still won't be perfect but it will look a lot better. Try to sand down the lips equally around the wheel for appearance reasons, but don't worry about how much weight gets taken off since you will balance the rim and tire after mounting anyway.

The lathe is a much better option if you have it, but if you did, you probably wouldn't be asking.

My local mobile wheel repair franchisee does wheels for $75 per and he comes to you... He does all the wheels for all of the local higher-end dealers, I see him in the BMW dealer's lot quite frequently.

I may try the DIY method myself on my summer wheels, a couple of which have rash from the previous owner. Here's one of the often-copied writeups on how to do it: DIY scuff removal

pigeon wrote: My local mobile wheel repair franchisee does wheels for $75 per and he comes to you... He does all the wheels for all of the local higher-end dealers, I see him in the BMW dealer's lot quite frequently. I may try the DIY method myself on my summer wheels, a couple of which have rash from the previous owner. Here's one of the often-copied writeups on how to do it: DIY scuff removal

I think i sent a rep from that company an email, i got a phone number, i'll call later today and see what they say.

These things are really chewed up... all the way around. That method in that link might work for 2 of them. MAYBE.

I might just pound out the dent and roll OG JDM race status, y0.

They're pretty strange looking wheels in the first place. Maybe i can get by with the sander idea. Black wheels with a blue stripe all around.

just cover the rash all the way around with GRM stickers!!!

totally custom and no one will ever know the ugly truth hiding underneath

4cylndrfury wrote: just cover the rash all the way around with GRM stickers!!! totally custom and no one will ever know the ugly truth hiding underneath

I'll put a Grassroots sticker on the car... but it's not exactly a grassroots build. Besides the fact that it's a 17 year old Japanese sporty-LOOKING car.

This is probably the best of the 4 wheels, if this gives you an idea of what we're working with...

that doesnt look bad at all....I would rock as is....but thats just me.

which are they going on?

maroon92 wrote: that doesnt look bad at all....I would rock as is....but thats just me. which are they going on?

The Celica. The 17x8 Konig Runaways looked ridiculous. I should have known from the get go that 17s are just simply too large. They were nice and blingy, but i couldn't justify a $1200 wheel/tire package for something that i had to settle for, rather than wanted. So i sold them back to my local rice shop at a slight loss, and grabbed these.

Funky color combo, but they're kindof cool in a quirky way. Good thing i have a black car. But these are about 2lbs lighter apiece, and lets me use cheaper rubber than the rape prices of 245/40-17s. Now i can use 245/45-16s which is what i wanted all along. I'm thinking i'll have savings of about 4lbs unsprung per corner moving to this.

The major plus to the RP01s is that they have HUGE amounts of room for whatever brakes i may want to do in the future. Or not. Whatever, it's just nice to have that option. I hate doing the same upgrade twice.

I still need to find wheels for the Deathscort. Just waiting for a cheap set of Slipstreams to show up.

So that was the good one.... here's the ugly: Looks like really only one is all that bad, and that's also the one with the slight bend in the very edge. Do i bother doing a real repair? Or just use the orbital sander and rattle bomb the sanded parts?

I scored these sexpots for $350 shipped.