Alloy wheel repair.

Alloy wheels fail cosmetically in a handful of predictable ways, and almost all of them are repairable. Replacement is usually the expensive answer to a problem the wheel does not actually have.

The four ways alloys go wrong

1. Impact damage

Kerbs and potholes tear material from the lip or bend the rim. Cosmetic tearing we machine back and rebuild; bends go on the press. See wheel straightening.

2. Corrosion under the clear coat

Once the lacquer is broken — by a stone chip, a kerb, or aggressive wheel cleaner — moisture gets underneath and the aluminium oxidises. It shows as a milky white bloom spreading out from the breach. Left alone it keeps spreading, so more material has to come off later.

3. Peeling and lifting lacquer

Usually age, heat cycling from the brakes, or a previous refinish that was not prepared properly. The fix is to strip rather than patch — a peeling finish will keep peeling at the edge of any patch.

4. Finish fatigue on machined faces

Diamond-cut wheels have a thin lacquer over bare machined aluminium. Once that lacquer is compromised the face corrodes quickly, and it cannot be sprayed back — the face has to be re-cut on a lathe to restore the grain.

Painted, machined or powder-coated?

What your wheel already is determines what the repair costs and how long it takes:

• Painted / powder-coated — most forgiving, fastest, cheapest. Often same-day.
• Machined / diamond-cut — needs lathe work to restore the concentric grain. A hand-painted imitation is visible from three metres and we will not do it.
• Polished — restorable, labour-intensive.

Not sure which you have? Send a photo to (949) 800-8502 and we will tell you.

Common questions