JerrySC

Well the wife swing wide coming out of a parking space and got into the curb in about three places on the right front wheel. I was ready to go buy another and a friend handed me a phone number and said to give them a try. Called the guy and he said he would fix it up, no problem. A few days later a truck came by the house towing a big trailer. The guy asked to see the car in the garage and I showed it to him. He took the wheel off the car and disappeared into the trailer for about an hour. He rang the doorbell when he was through and asked me to come look at it. It looked like new. There wasn't a trace of rash or bare metal and it was as smooth as ever. I couldn't even see where the paint match was done. Total cost $100. The guy was amazing. He gave me a tour of the work trailer. There were tons of small cans of different colored paint, filler, clear coat, etc. He had a balancer, a fixture to hydraulically straighten bent wheels, and a host of other things. He showed me a wheel that he had done for a dealer on the fixture. It had less than .003 of inch runout on his dial gauge. Pretty darn good. If you are lucky you can find one of these geniuses in your town.

jjashaa

iTrader: (2)

he has no business name?.......

JerrySC

Alloy Wheel Repair of Charleston, SC

JDR76

When I had my IS, I curbed a rim. It's a terrible feeling when it happens.

I ended up getting it fixed through my dealer. Similar to what you used, they used a mobile company to do the repair. I dropped it off on the way to work, was given a loaner, and returned later that day to a near perfect wheel. Very impressive. These repair folks are artists. My cost was $130 as I recall.

One time in my GS, I had to swerve into a median to avoid a car drifting into my lane and hit both left wheels on a curb. That damage was so bad neither wheel or tire could be repaired. I had to replace two wheels, two tires, and have an alignment. Cost me around $2k. Ugh.

A poster on the 3IS forum posted this thread about how he did a repair himself.

faifai83

The dealer refinished my wheels (most likely outsourced) and now one wheel is darker than the other 3. (similar to repainting a panel from a body shop...)

Infamous3

I just scratched my rims today, one of the saddest moments of this year not gonna lie lol once i felt it i knew i ****ed up

I asked one rim repair shop and they told me i need to bring them the rim alone, and that it'll take 2 days to complete. Not the ideal situation, gonna talk to more people about it tomorrow

FLBuckeye1

I curbed a wheel while on a date-night with my wife....almost ruined my entire evening! Took it to the dealer and after a day and a $100 it was as good as new. Can't tell any difference. I was planning on finding a mobile specialist like the OP because I assumed the dealer would charge an arm and a leg. I was pleasantly surprised, both with the quality and the price.

JerrySC

To be honest I didn't expect the paint on the repaired rim to match as good as it turned out. I have an atomic silver color and the wheel is very close to that. It is truly an art mixing paints to come out right and the fellow that did mine was really good. He said the bulk of his work comes from body shops and dealers who tack on some profit for themselves over his price. I don't know what a wheel costs for my car, but I'm sure it's way more than $100!

I watch a TV program called Wheeler Dealers on Velocity network. That is where I first heard of people repairing wheels rather than replacing them.