Has anyone had alloy wheels refinished?

[Layton]

I bought my 2002 325I a year ago and one of the wheels is scratched up pretty bad around the outer edge. It looks like it was driven up against a curb. The other wheels have minor scratches. I was thinking about getting the wheels refinished, but I'm not sure what the finished product will look like or how it will last. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm not sure if I should get the one refinished or do all 4. It costs about $85 CDN per wheel. Thanks,

Mike

 

[Tom]

Most likely you will have to get them repainted after the scratches sanded out. Some places do a good job, while others are just horrible. My best recommendation if you are real anal is to sell the wheels and get new ones. No matter how well a company refinishes the wheels it will never look completely new. I've had the wheels refinished on my older cars and both times I ended up selling the wheels because it wasn't a perfect match. Plus the paint they used wasn't as consistent as the factory.

 

[Layton]

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about removing the scratches and repairing the finish. They remove all paint and clear coat, then buff out the scratches, then repaint and apply new clear coat.

 

[tazza0712]

My Brother has the stock wheels from his car that he painted white while he had them, he then repainted them the stock silver and repaired little nicks and things in the wheels and you can't tell at all. Just traded it, so the dealer didn't have a problem either. If wheels are done well, I don't think you can tell at all, it's the same as any car body repair.