I got a set of Bronze TE37 and I have two curb rashes on the Bronze lip..Its not big but I like everything to be perfect...are they reparable or not? Thanks.

 

I curbed one of my nismo rims and was told that they can repair the rash, but not get it the right color again (I think the nismos are anodized)

 

the forged 1 piece wheels are powdercoated.

yes, they can be repaired, but how... i really have no clue. could be aluminum welded and machined, however the powder coating to exact color is in question.

 

I am sure they are anodized...too bad..lucky they were pretty small...

 

Any wheels can be reconditioned. The labor is intensive and expensive. You have to decide if it worth the expense. Where is a good place to have wheels reconditioned? Ask in your regional forum.

 

Forget matching the color...I checked and Volk doesn't release the paint code for their wheels. I have an inch curb on mine and I'm gonna wait to refinish all four. So, if you're gonna repair them, do it all the way and repaint/powdercoat all four to match the color. .02 cents included....

 

The TE's aren't anodized, they are powdercoated

 

ic..maybe I should get them painted Gold if i get more rashes...hope not tho lol

 

when they do that wheel repair / reconditioning, don't they heat it up to a very high temperature? Does this weaken forged wheels such as volks?

 

I don't think so, as forged wheels are made to use in racing, high temperature on the wheel is unavoidable. Plus volks forged wheel is usually more solid than most of other wheels out there.

 

I've seen wheels being repaired by an excellent wheel shop here in the Denver metro area. They spin it on a wheel lathe and check runout on the wheel. If it's within spec, they use a fixed blade to save away a small bit of the curbed lip as the wheel spins. They can't take off too much material, but if it's a light rash, it cleans up nicely.

This type of repair usually leaves behing a clean section of metal. Hopefully a silver wheel just needs a light clearcoat to match the sheen. But a powdercoated wheel is impossible to color match.

Good luck!

 

depends on the shop some have processes that do not involve heating them up to high temps...thye used a lathe of some sort for mine

 

depends.

repair and color stripping doesn't involve heat, but involves machine and chemical work.

powder coating involves baking the sprayed product in an oven up to 400 degrees fahrenheit. i doubt the baking will reduce the integrity of the wheel.. i mean, rays do it to their wheels, why can't it be done anyways? besides, i don't think 400 fahrenheit is high enough to destroy the wheel as the melting point of aluminum is around 1200+ fahrenheit.

found a shop that'll repair AND powdercoat my wheels at 75 bucks a wheel. now that's a steal!

 

Volk Bronze is an anodized color. Everything else is painted.

 

I had mine refurbished and powdercoated

 

a good wheel repair shop should be able to.

 

in fact, hows the finish differ from powercoated to anodized?

 

anodization will leave a lustrous metallic hue, as the dye is translucent over bare aluminum. powder coat is same as paint... opaque and the shine will depend on the coating itself. for a nice glossy look, can always clear coat over powder...

 

I did alot of research on this. no, powdercoating is not likely to cause issues... However, using bake-off oven to strip should be avoided, especially with forged wheels. Baking off a coating can reach 500F+, or higher if the operator isnt paying attention. Alot of wheels are so strong, even if they come close to that annealing temp, it will be ok. However, for very light wheels with thin spokes, well... you've seen the pics on the net. They can crack. Enkei isnt to keen to some of their wheels being recoated, or so I've read, but again I think its more avoiding baking off the original coat. The wheel can become more brittle, it 'ages' the wheel, so to speak.