Caring for Painted Rims

Here is how to keep your wheels in great shape so you keep rolling in style.

Most people don’t realize that almost all alloy rims, event the silver ones, are painted. That means that your alloy rims are coated in a primer, pigmented paint, and protective clear coat (just like the body panels of your car). The clear coat seals everything up and protects the paint and metal underneath.

Colourful Options

Once upon a time, vehicle rims were all various shades of silver, with an occasional set of black or white rims to spice things up a bit. However, modern motorists have realized that colourful rims are a fantastic way to add style and customize their rides.

There are limitless colour pallets and paints styles for alloy rims for motorists to choose from, each making a slightly different statement. If you are getting your rims repaired from curb rash or other damage, it’s a perfect opportunity to get creative with your wheels.

Repairing Damaged Wheels

One of the services we offer at Island Color is rim repair. Repairing damaged rims is important to keep the metal in good condition, and makes a huge difference for the overall appearance of your vehicle. Simply touching up a damaged area does not sufficiently protect the metal from future damage, so it’s important to bring it in.

For us, rim repair is a three stage process. Here is how we do it:

• First, we take the wheel off the car and mask the circumference of the tire to help protect it while we work.
• Second, we grind and sand all of the damaged areas to make the surface as level as possible. One of the unique issues with curb damage on tires is that the resulting blemishes are not just pushed in, like when you bang you car door, instead, the aluminum makes ridges, peaks, and valleys that can be very sharp and require grinding to smooth them out again.
• Finally, we match the paint code for your rims and we paint the ground down areas and blend it into the rest of the rim. Using the manufacture paint codes guarantees and perfect match that is undetectable to the naked eye.

The final step is where the opportunity arises to bring whole new life to your wheels. It’s easy for us to simply match the factory paint on the repaired section, but we can also transform your wheels into something completely new.

Caring for Painted Wheels

Wheel maintenance should be thought of similarly to how you maintain the rest of your vehicle. You should use a product that is acid and abrasive free, or else you will most likely damage the clear coat. Most commercial products sold as “wheel cleaners” are probably too aggressive; although they are good at removing break dust, they are also good at removing layers of clear coat.

Make sure you read the label on cleaning products that you buy to make sure that you aren’t slowly dissolving or eroding the clear coat on your wheels. If your wheels are beyond repair, or you are looking for a fresh new look, just bring them by.