a body shop messed up my Volk GTS recently when they washed my car after some work . Appears to have stripped some of the clear coat off of the wheels. They claim they can polish them back to look as good or better than original. Has anybody had their lips repolished? Pros/Cons? Pics?

 

Tell them to buy you new wheels! Period!

When my car went into the body shop I borrowed their glass pen and wrote NO ACID, NO CHEMICALS, ON THE WHEELS! CARWASH SOAP ONLY!

Yeah they think I'm too paranoid but when it comes to your JDM Forged wheels you can't take any less precautions.

 

Pros: once stripped to bare metal, they are easier to fix if they get damaged and can be periodically repolished to remove scratches etc.

Cons: Without protective coating, wheels oxidize easily and stain much easier, they need to be repolished quite often to keep their shiny appearance

 

If you need to have the wheels repolished as a result of the body shop, you really should fight for them to replace them.

If they just need a little tender loving care to restore the factory look, do a search for volk care and you should find plenty of help on detailing the polished lips.

 

they say they will not buy new wheels. They have oly offered to polish the lips.

 

Take them to court

 

I had all 4 GTS repolished and no, they will never look like the original. Make sure they take out the spokes and strip the old clear coats and torque the bolts to proper specification. Make sure to have them mark the original spoke with original wheel.

 

only decent solution is to get them chromed. they just think the lips are polished and not clear coated. chroming, imho makes the lips better and more durable, doesnt scratch easily like the cleared lip but it does add a little weight and if you curb it then you have to get it repaired and re-chromed.

 

yes they argued that the lips could not have a clearcoat on them, because the chemicals did not affect my paint, even after I had them speak with Sharif@ Forged and a Mackin Industry rep.

 

+1, I like Nexx's ideal better, I should have done that. How much to get crome ?

 

its not a paint clearcoat, its an anodized clearcoat, thats why it was damaged by the chemicals

 

The more and more I read threads like this, the more and more I think that the best course of action (in retrospect) would have been to put your stock wheels on before taking the car in to the body shop. That's what I will do if I am ever in this situation. Good luck getting this fixed tough.

 

yeah well hindsight is 20/20. I figured a shop with 30 years experiencewould be more careful. . . learned a hard lesson. Would certainly do things differently in retrospect.

 

ah ok

 

Take them to small court and to the Better Business Bureau. Then see if they are paying for your new wheels. But before doing all that, get it in writing that THEY damaged your wheels. Then after that you can take it to court because they could say that its not their fault if they know you're trying to take them to court for it.

 

I totally understand what you are saying, but wouldn't this equate to them scratching your car and you demanding a new car vs repainting?

 

not really because you can make a car paintjob look the same and or better but you cant make the wheels ever look as good as new imo. They messed it up either make them chrome the lips or take their asses to court.

 

they didn't damage the structure of the wheels. if they repolished them and cleared them, they should be comparable to the condition they were in. IMHO you are all being a bit over dramatic about the situation.

 

Get a quote from a wheel repair shop, take them to a shop and have them fix the wheels, should cost $80-200 each, I had one of my hiros done and it looks as good as new. even 3 years later

 

No it won't, paint clearcoat will not have the same finish as the factory anodizing. It is not as clear as anodizing so will haze the finish slightly, and it will have adhesion problems to the finely polished metal. There IS a reason why so many companies use anodizing on their multipiece wheels