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It's
no surprise that rims come in all different sizes, shapes and even
finishes. Whether painted, machined or chromeplated, keeping those
expensive rims safe from the mean streets can be a difficult task,
and sometimes knowledge is the best defense. Here at Rim & Wheel
Works, we have seen all kinds of wheels and all kinds of finishes,
and we have repaired all kinds of damage, from "curb rash" to salt
corrosion.
There are many types of finishes used for automotive wheels, including
paint, polish, machine polish, hypersilver, anodization, and chromeplate.
Each process is different, and methods of refinishing wheels have
changed dramatically over the past fifteen years we have been in
business. The illustrated descriptions below will help you identify
the cosmetics of your wheels, and tell you what you need to know
to keep them looking great and of course, what we can do to help
when they need to look better. |
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While
we do straighten while you wait, we do not recondition while you
wait, as refinishing wheels will take at least 7-10 business days.
We can either store your car while your wheels go out, or we can
sometimes loan you wheels while your wheels are out so your car
remains on the road. This is obviously a service we can only provide
for local customers. If you're unsure about how we can arrange to
have your wheels restored, please feel free to call us. All refinishing
prices are estimates, and are subject to modification. Mounting
and balancing tires is an additional charge.
Click on any picture below to see a larger view. |
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Painted wheels are sprayed with an automotive-style paint
using an HVLP (High Velocity Low Pressure) spraygun. The process
of painting a wheel consists of prepping the wheel, priming
it, painting it and applying a clearcoat, which seals the
finish against corrosion. |
| The
pictured BMW wheel is finished with a full face paint in a normal
BMW flat silver. Notice that the color is uniform across the
entire wheel. Reconditioning a one piece full face painted wheel
is $150 up to a 17" wheel and $175 for an 18-20" wheel. Although
we used to do most of our painting in house and were justly
proud of our work, our refinishing is now performed by vendors
who do an even better job. Among other improvements, our reconditioned
wheels are now all finished with a powdercoated clearcoat, which
is baked onto the wheel at high temperatures, creating a much
tougher protective coating than liquid-spray techniques.Our
vendors use standard OEM paints for restoration-quality refinishing
of all types of wheels. |
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| Full-Face
Paint |
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Not so long ago, painted wheels came mostly in shades of
silver with an occasional white, black or red wheel. Now there
are many new types and colors of paint, giving many more and
different effects.For a change of pace, however, many people
like to paint their wheels in different colors - very often
an anthracite grey, gun metal gray, or even a plain black
or bright white. Some of our customers have had their wheels
painted the exact same color as their car! It's often surprising
what an effect this kind of thing has on the "look" of the
car. Using a slightly different silver, for example, tends
to make the car stand out, but in a more subtle way.
A clearcoated wheel should be cleaned with a product that
is non-acidic and non-abrasive. Any product that says to spray
on and remove within 2-5 minutes is probably a low-acid solution,
which burns off the brake dust, but also eats away at the
clearcoat.
The only products that we will use or sell for clearcoated
wheels are Auto Magic Magnificence and Wheel Wax. Auto Magic
Magnificence is non-acidic, non-corrosive and non-toxic, and
removes brake dust by neutralizing the ionic charge that causes
dust particles to stick to the wheels. Wheel Wax, designed
for application on clean wheels, uses an opposite ionic charge
to prevent brake dust from sticking to the wheels in the first
place, and making particles that do stick easier to remove.
Our customers love both products because it takes off the
brake dust without breaking their backs. |
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Hypersilver
is a paint process developed in Europe that uses a metallic
paint laid over a black undercoat to produce an extremely
deep, shiny finish. Many BMW, Audi and Lexus wheels have been
finished in Hypersilver. Unfortunately, the metallic paint
contains large amounts of lead and cannot be imported into
the U.S. It has taken the refinishing industry in the U.S.
several years to find a way to reproduce this finish without
the lead paint, but it is now possible to refinish Hypersilver
wheels to restoration quality. |
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The
cost is more than a regular paint because it's a multi-stage
process and the paint costs three times the cost of a regular
painted wheel. (But we don't charge three times as much!) Reconditioning
a one piece Hypersilver wheel is $210 for up to 17" wheels and
$250 for an 18-20" wheel. You care for your Hypersilver wheels
just as you do your other clear-coated wheels with a non-acidic
wheel cleaner.
Most OEM wheels that are Hypersilver can also be painted in
a regular flat silver color. If that's true about your wheels,
you can have them painted regular silver and save the cost difference.
You can also "color match" another color to your car. Generally
speaking there is no "up charge" for a different color unless
they have to create a non-OEM color, which generally costs $50
for the set. |
| Another option
for Hypersilver is a paint that was originally created as an
alternative called Reflectachrome. Reflectachrome is very similar
to Hypersilver but not quite as shiny. However, the price for
reconditioning with Reflectachrome is the same as a regular
painted wheel, so that saves you money over the Hypersilver
process. |
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This is a machine polished or
"machined" wheel. The entire wheel face is machined on a CNC
(computer numeric control) lathe. The whole wheel is then
clearcoated. As with painted wheels, our vendors use a powdercoat
for this process. |
The surface of the wheel is very
shiny and has tiny lines in the finish which resemble the
grooves on a record or CD. Many people think this is a natural
metal finish, but it is not. The natural color of a wheel
that is untreated is a very bleak gray.
Machined wheels can also be painted in a contrasting color,
giving a two-toned effect. The wheel is painted and then the
lip and spoke surfaces are machined, leaving the paint on
the low spots around the spokes. This is called "paint in
the pockets." Some wheels are machined only on the outer lip,
leaving the center painted. We call this type of finish "flange
cut." |
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Full-Face Machined Wheel |
| The cost to recondition a one piece
machined wheel is the same as a painted wheel: $150 up to 17",
$175 from 18-20". You care for this wheel as you do for any
clear coated wheel. Again, this is restoration quality work.
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Some wheels are polished
by machine and/or by hand, giving them an extremely shiny, almost
chrome-like finish. Older polished wheels did not have a clearcoat
at all, requiring owners to clean and wax the wheels nearly
every week, as the bare metal remained exposed to the elements.
Most of us are too busy to do this. Our vendors now use a powdercoated
clearcoat on polished wheels. Always insure that anyone who
is reconditioning a polished wheel for you is an expert on polishing
wheels (a wheel refinisher) rather than a polisher (who does
many objects). Wheels can be very tricky to polish because of
their dimensionality. Polishing and clear coating one piece
wheels costs $210 for up to 17" wheels, $250 for 18-20". |
| Polished
Wheel |
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In
addition to one piece wheels (not counting the center caps) wheels
also come as two piece (attached by rivets), fake two pieces (rivets
on but it's a one piece wheel), and three piece wheels (the face
plate, the outer flange and the barrel). If a wheel has any rivets,
either because it's a two or three piece or fake two piece, that
adds to the reconditioning cost as it adds significantly to the
labor. |
True
multi-piece wheels need to be disassembled before reconditioning
and reassembled after reconditioning. This is labor intensive. The
rivets need to be torque to the proper strength or there can be
problems. The reconditioning plants that perform this work for us
do these wheels day in and day out and have the expertise to insure
your safety.
If you have a multi-piece wheel that requires refinishing, please
call so we can determine the cost. |
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Chromeplating
is a process in which the wheel is usually polished, and then
plated individually with a layer of nickel, then bronze, then
chrome. The nickel adheres to the wheel which then allows
the bronze to adhere to the nickel which then allows the chrome
to adhere to the bronze. The wheel is then finished - there
is no clear coat applied to the chrome. If the materials are
good, then the chrome should last many years.
We do not offer rechroming services for wheels any longer.
Chromeplating is a process with extreme environmental impact,
and is close to being banned entirely in Europe and the U.S.
The EPA has set a very high bar for new chromeplating companies
to earn licenses, keeping the industry very small and mostly
centered in California. We are no longer able to find a chromeplating
vendor who can consistently meet our standards or those of
our customers. Additionally, most wheels that are chromeplated
have had the face of the wheel "eaten" by the process so that
painting or other refinishing processes are no longer a usable
option on the wheel, as the paint will not stick very well.
Because chrome wheels do not have a clearcoat, they should
be cleaned carefully with a metal polishing product such as
Nevr-Dull, which is available nationwide.
Chrome wheels should always be taken off your car during
the winter weather, particularly in areas like New England
that use road salt. Salt and salt water are chrome's worst
enemy. When chrome is exposed to salt, a chemical corrosion
occurs in which the salt literally "eats" the chromium right
off the finish. This causes the chrome to eventually flake
off and pits the metal surface of the wheel, often causing
a condition in which the tires cannot seal correctly because
the underlying surface of the wheel is flaking and pitted.
We can usually correct this problem by removing the flaking
chrome and underlying corrosion with a special grinding disc.
Salt corrosion will destroy a chrome rim within 1-2 years.
Many of our customers with chrome wheels will keep an extra
set of steel or alloy wheels with snow tires mounted for winter
driving. |
Chromeplated
Wheel |
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Salt Corrosion on Chrome |
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We love wheels here at Rim & Wheel Works, and we hope this information
will help you navigate the labyrinth of wheel-related information,
not only to care for your particular wheels, but also to know what
to do when and if the worst happens and your clearcoat peels, or
that curb just jumps out at you! |
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