ttb

ok, i'm an idiot...i went through one of those car wash things and i scratched the lip on my front left wheels. i've been through this car wash a lot, never had a problem, but i guess with the wider wheels/tires i was off. so for people who have scratched up their wheels what do you guys do (besides get new ones or live with it). can you sand it down or something?

artowar2

How bad is the scratch? And where is it located? If you just scraped off some paint on the lip, you could always sand & paint it yourself for a 5 ft. job. If you really want it fixed, there are places that do wheel repair, but I don't know how much that costs-- maybe it's cheaper to find another wheel.

Now, I don't mean to tell you what I would do, but here's what you should do-- bang those wheels up some more until there is no choice and you *need* new wheels Then you can start these threads:

1. "Which wheels should I buy?"
2. "Will these wheels fit?"
3. "Where is the cheapest place to buy these wheels?"

Repeat until you pull the trigger on the purchase, then start these threads:

4. "Hey, where are my wheels?"
5. "Check out the pix of my new wheels on my car!"

Then you can bask in buyer's reassurance as people tell you how great they look, or wallow in buyer's remorse as other people tell you how they look like crap.

After that you can enjoy your new wheels for a while, until someone else finds & posts pix of newer wheels that are lighter, stronger, better looking and cheaper than the wheels that you bought.

At that point, you should head back to the car wash and start over

No, I'm not trying to make fun of anyone here. I'm just observing one of the cycles on this section of the Forum. Personally, I'm between 4 and 5, since I got my wheels, but don't have them mounted

ttb

laughter is the best medicine....thanks for the funny yet true post.

been doing a search on google and yea there are places that will fix scratches....

but i'll probably do what you suggested, just live with it until i **** them up some more and decide to get new wheels....

the thing that pisses me off is i kinda knew that i would hit the side, but i said "**** it, lets just see what happens." i have a bad habit of doing this

rynberg

Are these your new SSR GT1s you scratched? Ouch!

BTW, I personally would NEVER take my FD (or any car I owned for that matter -- beaters excepted) through a car wash. I take pride and joy in washing and tending my baby.... (I say as my poor FD sits in the driveway covered in 3 weeks of dust)

artowar2

I curbed a wheel about a month after I bought my FD. I was so pissed, because that was the first blemish on the car, and you could see it (well, I could see it) from across a parking lot. After a while I fixed it by getting the set polished, then powdercoated. When they polished the wheels, they also polished out the scrape.

artowar2

Oh, I didn't know that ttb had new GT1s ! Yeah, that is an ouch. Well, you can always try your own fix (for the cost of spray paint), and if you don't like it, get the repair shop to look at it...

ttb

yup, my new SSR GT1s...it hurts...less than two weeks...i totally agree with you about the car wash thing....but.....i live in a ghetto apartment complex and don't have a place to wash my car....in the past i have taken it to a self wash placed and carried bottled water with me to wash the car now the car wash place I go through isn't one of those brush/cloth car wash..it just sprays water on (touchless)...so it's good for just getting off the dust and some dirt. in the morning i'll check again but i think the scratches aren't that bad (none of the spokes).

SleepR1

man that sucks...I feel for you dude! FWIW, silver paint is relatively easy to match, so you might just touch it up?...

rynberg

Oh, I apologize then. I remember what that was like. I guess I'm just spoiled by having my own driveway to wash the car in.....

That really sucks about the damage, hopefully you can make it look acceptable without too much trouble. Good luck!