road rash repair - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mdlife · 05-03-2010, 04:16 PM

Have some road rash on limited wheels...done by previous owner. Any ideas for cosmetic repair? I thought about filing/sanding the damage smooth then coating the repaired area with clear. Or do they need to be repaired by a wheel specialist?

bear1906 · 05-04-2010, 07:24 AM

I went to Wheels America look them up online...They fixed my bent rim and refinished the wheel for ~$130. Did a good job - 1-day turnaround, picked up the rim, and everything. If you want an exact finish match let them take your spare rim as well. They have a few locations so maybe one is close to you.

87XJRob · 05-10-2010, 01:26 PM

Wife has curb checked several of the wheels on our 08 XLS and luckily they are polished aluminum w/o clear coat and I was able to sand down the rough areas with a Random orbital sander with 180grit, then stepped up to 400grit, and followed up by wet sanding with 1000grit by hand. Then I used my drill with the mothers power ball mini and the black magic bullet(far better design) with turtle wax polishing compound, followed up by the mothers mag polish. You won't find the areas, unless you really look for where the edges are rounded off a little(instead of the sharp edge that the factory has on them). I have never done work like this before on aluminum wheels and just started sanding on one, hoping for the best....a few hours later i was quite impressed with my work. I went ahead and polished up the undamaged wheels to match as the ones I worked on had more shine to them than the factory.

grandpapa · 06-01-2011, 02:02 PM

I am trying to see if I can DIY this. Our limited has some bad rash on the wheels, I will probably switch one out from the spare but still want to see if I can FIX the rest.

I think the Limited wheels are alloy. I am thinking about using a grinder to smooth out the rash but not sure what kind of disc I will need. Or should I use a sander? I also consdier having a shop to do the repair but I can't find any store nearby.

If you have any idea, please let me know.

***Tom in Tacoma*** · 06-01-2011, 10:15 PM

You might find this helpful if you're considering doing it yourself: http://www.autopia-carcare.com/realwhda.html

grandpapa · 06-02-2011, 11:00 AM

thanks TOM in TACOMA

Just did that from this link
http://tsx.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731189

seems like many people have DIY it
I double checked the limited wheels on our Limited, It is bright silver with line pattern. My guess is rather I sand it, grind it, it will end up with polished look.

I do have an additional limited wheel from my wreck so I may try to see if I can do a try out first.

CISA93 · 06-02-2011, 05:14 PM

We have a shop here in my town, but I've also bought some from Wheels America for another car...great job and those wheels (95 Nissan Pathfinder) we're balanced and checked for damage. Sometimes you can have you tire installer (I used Discount) and they've mounted the wheel alone to the balancing machine to check if' it's out of balance.

87XJROB sounds like you did a great job....I have painted (Phantom Pearl Gray as Toyota dubbed it) paint and wheels. I polish them every few months but use Meguire's instead only because I've used their professional line for many years and had great results.