what to do about curb rash...

[evan938]

so the nippon wheels i got have finally been sandblasted down to bare aluminum. 3 wheels are in pretty good condition. the 4th wheel has pretty bad curb rash around about 65% of the wheel

theres a place about 15 min from my work called wheel medic that can fix it in 2 days and it will cost 110$ or so. not bad. but so far, ive spent 250$ on the wheels/tires, 20$ for unmounting/mounting (tires off car now, but mounting is covered), 60$ to get them all sandblasted, and its going to cost me 2-300$ for powdercoating.

so should i spend the extra 100$ and get the one wheel fixed or should i not worry about it and just powdercoat over it. they'll be black, so it wont show as much, but i know it will be there

i think what im going to do is go get 2 wheels from my storage locker at lunch, take the good one to the powdercoater (also 10 min from my work) get a price quote from him...ill try to talk him into quoting me 50$/wheel and if i can get the set done for 200-225$, try to see if the wheel medic to stay for an extra 15 min, drop it off after work (they close @ 5 and im off at 5) get the 4th wheel fixed and then drop it off in a few days.

[pjc6281]

dunno even, do u think u can try to smooth it out yourself then powdercoat it? It depends how much a stickler u are for detail. Personally i would get them sand blasted then powdercoated, probably cause im OCD and knowing it was scratched would bug me :)

[evan938]

they have already been sandblasted. that wont take away curb rash, just the paint/powder that was on them already (...base layer of these were powdercoated bronze...argh!)...the lip will have to be done professionaly if i decide to get it fixed. im just debating on fixing it or not

[hyunelan2]

How would they fix it? Basically they're just going to put a grinder on it and make it smooth, aren't they? Couldn't you grind it out yourself?

[evan938]

I dont have a grinder or the experience to do it. they MAY add material and grind it down back to shape. it wont be half assed...its the only wheel repair shop reccomended on columbusracing...i didnt see any others

[hyunelan2]

I would say if you're already spending all this money to have like-new rims, you might as well make the rims like-new. Why shell out the money to have them sandblasted and powdercoated if it's going to be less-than-perfect? I say get it fixed.

[ArunSenior04]

Ouch. So at the end of the day, you're looking at about $600-700 to fix these. For $400 you could have gotten 10lbs wheels.

[evan938]

i called the guy doing the powdercoating and he said hes about 90% sure he can fix it as long as the rim is not bent. im going down after work to show him the beat up rim to get a price on repairing it and powdercoating all 4. he said if he can fix it, its going to be much less than the 110$ wheelmedic wanted

[Tx_boy]

I did not even know you could do that to rims. I thought once they are messed that is that. Amazing what they can do now-a-days!!!!!!

[felex]

it may look wavy when finished.

[evan938]

well i went and talked to the guy at the powdercoating. he is going to try to smooth it out best he can. the rash goes in to the center of the wheel (where the tire covers) a bit, but the tire covers it up. hes going to smooth it out, and he said with the powder, it should fill in any small spots he missed. he said 1 coat of powder = 3 coats of paint. hes doing each wheel for 50$, and another 50-75 for the repair on the one wheel. he had an example of how glossy the black would be, and let me say...its nicer than the paint on my car when it was a day old. its so nice. dropping off the other 3 tomorrow, said it should take him 5 days. not bad

[evan938]

went and dropped other 3 wheels off today. guy looked at em and said whoever blasted them didnt do too great of a job. i asked what hes talking about, and he points out all these real faded beige areas that arent really visible...says it looks like an epoxy or an enamel or something used for bonding the wheels...ugh. its not on a lot of the wheel, but its gonna take a bit. hes going to call his guy who does sandblasting and said he THINKS it should only cost about 10$/wheel to finish them up. said his sandblaster wont be able to get it as good as this guys...ugh

im not too upset/suprised though...all other places wanted 80-120$ to sandblast them all, so figure i paid the 1st guy 60$, and another 30$ for these puts me at 90$...i would take em back to the first guy but i want to get these done, and with his shop being an hour away and taking him 2 weeks to do em first, ill pass.

i also checked on the rim i dropped off and it looks MUCH better...at least the visible part. he said the part thats the worst he is going to powdercoat it 2x to fill up any small knicks and then hit the rest of the wheel with powder for 1 coat.

if the guy gets the wheels blasted by tomorrow, i should have them by next friday...he said even if they come back monday, he may be able to have them done by friday. sweeet

[cbehage]

Damn man all this for some rims? J/K

sux doode. I didn't know you were doing all that.

[evan938]

its cool...i want em to look pimp for HITH

[BlackElantraGT]

I would say if you're already spending all this money to have like-new rims, you might as well make the rims like-new. Why shell out the money to have them sandblasted and powdercoated if it's going to be less-than-perfect? I say get it fixed.

:iamwithst

I can't wait to see the finished results.

[evan938]

they will be done soon enough. the guy from the shop called, said the powdercoater said 10-15$ (max) per wheel to get them finished up...should be back tomorrow/mon and done by next week

still trying to find centercaps for them though

[tharptroy]

damn that is alot of work for soem wheels. they had better look good when its all done.

[evan938]

just called the guy, said he just got done w/ the wheels and was getting ready to put them in to bake. said that should be about an hour to bake. he said once they're done, hes gonna check the wheel that had the rash. he said the powder should cover a lot of the small imperfections that didnt get covered, and if i wasnt satisfied, he would sand it back down and do another coat of powder. i told him as long as it isnt as bad as it was before id be happy. he said theres a good chance i could have the wheels back as soon as today. w00t!