Curb Rash on 18" AMG Rims Incapable of Being Repaired
 

Notice how the edges of the rim have this machine like finish and if you look closely you can see these fine detail lines. And on the inside parts, it is a different color and is composed of what is usually found in rims.

Well I had a mobile curb rash guy come out yesterday and he mentioned that he could not duplicate the machine finish and that the color will look close but not exact. I am pretty anal overall about my car so I didnt go through with it.

I am planning to call some guys with an actual shop to see if they have better tools for the job but that means I have to track 40 miles to get there.

Have you guys done curb rash repairs on your amg rims and it is possible to fix perfectly and duplicate the machine finish?

The guy you spoke to was right. They can blend the rash but no one can match that machined finish.

Where's the pics?

There are specialty rim shops that will weld overlay the aluminum, and likely use a lathe to machine a new face surface (about .03" deeper vs original) and match the paint.

Send some pic's around.

.

Well then this is just bad design then if it cant be fixed. I am usually really careful but this one rim got scratched last week when I was pulling into a spot. In my defense it was raining :p:

also random scratches are on the same rim and only this rim so I want to get it all fixed.

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AMG curb rash
 

Hi,

Here in the UK there we can get wheels such as the 18 in AMGs with machined faces on the rim and spokes re-engineered quite easily. I had my 18s done this year.

The process is this: Wheels are stripped of all coatings and then machined to remove the curb rash (and aluminium weld built up where necessary). Then they are epoxy powder coated with primer and liquid coated with the bright silver finish (or whatever colour you choose). The wheels are then remachined on the lathe to remove the paint coating from the rims and spokes. The finish obtained is called "diamond cut".

After this the wheels are then powder clearcoated (this is important as ordinary liquid clearcoat is not robust or thick enough to give suffcient duarbility over the unpainted alumium). I had all 4 wheels done for about $450.00. My wheels now look great and just like new. We have many vehicles with machined faced rims here - Ford, VW as well as MB. They look great but you have to be careful!

Out of interest I had some warranty issues with the wheels but the dealer wasn't interested in dealing with the quite serious flaking I had around the centre caps when he saw the slightest mark on a rim. In the end I had two wheels replaced by MB but they were a completely different silver from the original. Couldn't stand they way they looked so had them recoloured as well!!!:)

In my wife's last W204 C350, she did scratch one of the wheels (similar wheel to yours) while parking the car. I brought the car back to my Mercerdes dealer, and it did its best to repair it...

And yes, it is right, the machined-finish is difficult to be repaired to its original look (at least not at the price that my dealer charged me, about $120)...

The repaired wheel came back with with a little matte-like finish, seemed it was being painted over. Did the repair look as perfect as the factory finish? No.

Did the repair look acceptable? From a few feet away without direct sunlight, most people probably would not notice it was repaired, except its color is not as shiny.

To upkeep and prolong its finish; whenever I washed my car, I did pay a little extra attention to that wheel and put a thin coat of wax on it to preserve its shininess.

Hope it helps.

With best regards,

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/ext43.shtml




:):)

Bumping this old thread up - Fletcher Jones Mercedes - Fremont, CA curbed rashed my AMG wheels from my E350 while the car was in their care: they said they'd take care of it after the Service Advisor, Kimo Sanchez was being totally unreceptive and tried to give me bs insisting the curb rash was there prior-

My question is does anyone have experience with how dealers handle these curb rash repairs? I'm sure they'll outsource the work but anything else to know in order to ensure dealer liability and responsibility for the lifetime of the repair in case it peels /cracks since essentially they ruined my perfectly fine new wheel.

I have the same rims as pictured in the original 2011 thread. Recently, during a tire change, all 4 rims were cosmetically damaged by the machine during tire dismount. They were all professionally repaired on the dealer's dime and I could not spot any difference.

How they did it, I don't know. But it can be done.

My wheel repair shop re machines the edges and can repair AMG rims no problem. Mine like LILBENZ230 above had some dip s h I t ham fisted maniac at the tire shop ruin my wheels.


All wheels refinished on their dime. I even asked the guy at the counter 3 times if they used a soft socket and knew how to change tires without damage.


I guess not.


Even though these days almost every bloody car has alloy wheels they still managed to F them up.

My Dealer has its own shop to repair wheels in house. I have had one of my C class AMG wheels fixed. Looks great.

Thanks so much for the positive feedback everyone, that our wheels can be restored.

Bad news for me yesterday, as I came to pick up my car from the wheel repair job is Fletcher Jones Mercedes, Fremont CA Service Dept. proved themselves to be the worst ever.

First they tried to deny curb rashing my wheel, then now after admitting they did -they had outsourced it to Wheel Repair Solutions in San Rafael to get fixed...so guess what, the area is fixed but I found a new 2" area on the rim lip that appears to be caused during mounting. Of course my service advisor did not even check and I found out again upon picking up there car. Additionally, obviously they didn't use a SOFT SOCKET as all my new lug nut holes are scraped now.

This dealership continues to fail on all accounts of customer service and accountability along with quality control responsibility especially after they messed up a customer's car the first time. Not one apology from the SA, none.

I ended up having to address the new wheel damage and again my car is with them for another week or so to get resolved while I'm driving a loaner.

This is just unacceptable and I'm going to contact MB USA along with the GM of the dealership to share these ongoing issues once my wheels are fixed (hopefully correctly).