Painted Wheel Repair

When performing alloy wheel repair on painted wheels its important to be able to Colour Match the Wheel colour by eye. After the rim repair is complete we use this colour to blend the section for a great finish. If needed we can Change Wheel Colour for our customers.

Painted Wheel Repair also means that your wheel will be 95% to brand new when the repair is completed.
There is a 2 year warranty on all our painted repairs.

Machined Wheel Repair

When repairing machined wheels which have fine CNC lines and a gloss coat on them, we fix the damage using various sanding techniques, after the damage is repaired we buff and polish your wheels to their original finish.
This machined wheel repair method requires no painting but the repaired area will be slightly noticeable compared to the rest of the wheels.

The below video will show the difference in shine after a sanded polished repair on a machined wheel is completed

Shadow Chrome Wheel Repair

Shadow Chrome is a specialty colour which is very difficult to match. We can repair 95% of shadow chrome wheels to a near perfect matching finish by using our Wheel repair Colour Matching Technique .

2 Year Warranty

We use only the highest quality 2 pack paints and products to ensure that your wheel repair is stronger than or equal to a factory finished wheel.
We back all our wheel painting and wheel repairs with a 2 year warranty unless specified otherwise during quoting

Alloy Wheel Repair Methods

Alloy wheel repair requires understanding of surfaces, metals, materials and their properties.
There are some types of damage which we cannot repair such as cracked wheels or wheels with missing sections.

Alloy wheels for repair can come in many types of finishes and constructs.
Some of these include - chrome plated wheels, painted wheels , pure alloy wheels, powdercoated wheels, machined wheels, two piece wheels, 4x4 steel wheels and some are a combinations of these eg.( shadow chrome wheels, 2 tone wheels etc ).

Each of these repairs has a different repair process and labour time.
We will advise you on what is the best method of alloy wheel repair for your alloy wheel.

3 Reasons to Repair your Wheels

1. It is much cheaper than buying new wheels When you purchase new Alloy Wheels you likely will have a different tyre offset. This means you will also need to buy tyres. Additionally you are also loosing the use of your current tyres which may have plenty of tread left.

2. Maintain your resale value It is a proven fact that people are more comfortable buying a car fitted with factory parts. It is much easier to sell a clean un-modified car . Shiny clean and undamaged wheels present a car that has been well looked after When there is nothing to fault on a car it holds a higher value during sale and ownership.

3. Good time to customize If your wheels are damaged you could choose to do a full respray on your wheels in any colour. Biggest trend at the moment is black wheels, its a great way to give your car a personal touch. All the damage to the wheels is fixed during the respray process so its a win win.

2 Pack vs Powdercoat

At Wheel Buddy - we offer 2 pack painting only for all our repair and respray work.
A lot of people ask , what is the difference between 2 pack and powder coat , how strong is it or which is better .
Well here is the 2 processes explained

Powder Coating

Powder Coating is a process where you take an object and heat it up to such a temperature that any powder sprayed around or near it will fuse to the object .
Afterwards you need to wait for the object to cool down.
It is very long lasting and usually this method of color application is used in industrial processes.
eg. a lot of shopping center fittings and building industry materials are powder coated using this method.

Pros : High Durability and long wearing, chip resistant. Usually a little bit cheaper than 2 pack

Cons : Cannot achieve high gloss , selection of Colors is limited.

2 Pack Painting 2pack wheel painting

2 pack spray painting is a process where an object is sanded with machines or by hand to create tiny grooves.
These grooves allow for the paint to sit inside them grab onto them and stick to the object.
A painter or a machine sprays the paint over the object to the desired finish level.
2 pack paint is very durable , unlike common house paint or spray can paint...2 pack paint is made of 2 parts,
1. the paint itself and 2. the hardener .
When the 2 parts are combined the product has to be used immediately as it will begin to harden from the chemical reaction.

Pros : High durability and Long wearing , chip resistant , Large Color Selection , Can do High gloss , Satin , can do metallic and pearl finishes.
It is the industry standard for automotive paint.

Cons : More labour intensive and more complicated to prepare an object correctly. Slightly more expensive than powder coating

In summary both methods are durable and strong when done correctly, it comes down to budget and logistics for most people.
We prefer the 2 pack paint because of the large selection of finishes and applications and for its mirror gloss properties.

Using Body Filler

filling deep gouges and damage on wheels

Sometimes we come across damage which goes too deep to be sanded and smoothed.
The only options in this case are to either weld in new alloy material Or use standard automotive body filler.

We prefer to work with filler in this case because it is more affordable for the customer and because it offers a lot of repair method shaping flexibility .

If you have lots of deep gouges we can fill them in with a special filling compound and then shape that compound to bring the level of the damage up high enough to get a smooth uniform finish with no hint of a hole or gouge.
This technique does take more time and it is limited to being done only on painted wheels but the results can make even the worst wheels look like new.
For machined face wheels the only option is to weld in new alloy material and then machine them.

Shaping body filler is pretty easy it can be shaped with most abraisives, sand paper , files etc,
Because shaping and filling does take conciderable time , the cost of a filled wheel repair is generally a little bit more

For more info on this topic try youtube which has lots of demonstartions and strength tests.

Our Process

1. Clean Wheels

The first step of rim repair is to clean the damaged wheels to expose all areas in need of attention. In most cases we remove the wheels from the vehicle for better access.

2. Hard Sanding

The next step in alloy wheel repair is to machine sand the areas of damage. This removes surface blemishes and smoothes down hard gutter rash, scratches or gouges

3. Filling Deep Damage

This step is optional and if the gutter rash is deep or wheel is badly chipped, we apply a putty filler compound to fill the damaged groove. The sanding process needs to be repeated after this process

4. Fine Sanding / Prep

Fine Sanding and Treatment The next step in alloy wheel repair is to smooth sand the repair area. The goal here is to create the smoothest and cleanest possible surface before any paint application

5. Paint Application

The wheels are nearly refurbished , we need to Match the colour of the wheels of the wheels, We then spray a ground coat, colour coats and final gloss coating.

6. Baking / Infrared Curing

If necessary we can use our heated spray booth to bake the wheel or use warm infrared light to heat the paint for a faster drying time.

Wheel Repair Videos

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