If you take pride in keeping your vehicle in good condition, you may know the frustration of having a wheel scratched on the kerb. You can keep your car spotless inside and out, but having a scratched wheel rim can ruin the whole look.
How frustrating is it when you think you’ve done an excellent parallel parking job and then you hear that awful sound of the rim scraping against the kerb?! Many of us have tried to manoeuvre our vehicle into a tight spot or over a kerb. Only to find we’ve misjudged the distance or didn’t notice a manhole cover and have ended up with a nasty scratch on our mag wheels.
If you share your car with other drivers in the household or have co-workers who use your vehicle for work. It’s not a pleasant surprise to get your vehicle back and find your wheel rims looking worse for wear.
With that said, we’re seeing more vehicles needing mag wheel repairs. This is because of the growing number of vehicle models now with low profile tyres. However, it’s not just sports cars that have larger rims or mag rims. We see all sorts of vehicles with stylish large wheel rims. Meaning there is less rubber around the rim to protect your wheel rim from hitting the curb.
A bit about tyre and rim sizes
You may have heard a mechanic or car salesperson talk about a car’s tyres profile or aspect ratio. The profile is the height from the tread base to the rim. And the ratio is the percentage of the height to width of the tyre. A low-profile tyre has a smaller aspect ratio percentage.
The numbers on the tyre will indicate the tyre size and the profile or aspect ratio. If you see a number such as 205/60/R15 91V on your tyres, this is how to read it:
205 = the section width of the tyre in millimetres
60 = the aspect ratio or profile; the height of this tyre is 60% of its width; low profile tyres have smaller aspect ratio percentages
R = the type of tyre construction; in this case, it is radial ply construction, which is the most common (R for radial, D for diagonal and B for belted)
15 = the diameter of the wheel rim in inches
91 = the diameter of the wheel rim in inches
V = the tyre speed rating symbol
The most important number to pay attention to if you’re buying new tyres is the rim size. (15 in this example). The aspect ratio/profile number is essential if you’re a regular rim scratcher. If this number is low. You will have low profile tyres with less rubber to protect the rims, making them somewhat easier to scratch. Hence, you need to be extra careful.
What should you do if you scratch a mag wheel/wheel rim?
We always recommend bringing your vehicle in to see us at Mt Roskill Collision Centre if you have parts that have been damaged. Even if you are unsure about the extent of the damage.
Some scratches and scrapes may be just aesthetic or superficial damage. And they may not affect the function of the part or the vehicle’s performance. However, you won’t know until you have it checked out by a professional.
If your vehicle has scratched or damaged wheel rims. Bring it in to us for a no-obligation assessment. We can usually tell by our first look at the rim how extensive the damage is and what needs to be done.
Does a scratched wheel rim need to be replaced?
Not necessarily – it depends on how bad the damage is. In most cases, at Mt Roskill Collision Centre, we can repair your scratched or scraped wheel rims, and mag wheel rims to get them back to looking almost new. We can repair a single tyre, or we can work on more than one rim. However, this is depending on the current condition of your wheel rims.
You can choose to stick with a silver metallic finish or try a different look. If you have a sports car or are looking for a unique finish for your vehicle. We can modify all the rims with specialist wheel and rim paint. You might like to add or change your car’s look with a powder-coated black or a black gloss finish.
At Mt Roskill Collision Centre, we recommend using a professional panel beater like us for mag wheel repairs in Auckland. As we believe we can protect the tyres, sand, prime, paint and clean in a fraction of the time it might take you because of the specialist equipment we have. If needed, we can remove all tyres from the vehicle and remove the rims from the rubber in a fraction of the time you might spend on it.
Get in touch with us for more information on mag wheel repairs. As well as to discuss how easy it is to have your wheel rims looking brand new with Mt Roskill Collision Centre.
Additionally, if you’re updating the look of your vehicle with painted rims. You might also be interested in other paint detail work we offer at Mt Roskill Collision Centre. We can help with touch-up paint or colour changes.
The Mt Roskill Collision Centre promise
Our goal is to have everyone on New Zealand roads driving safely. Furthermore, we offer a lifetime guarantee on our car repairs from our panel beating and collision repair service centre in Mt Roskill, Auckland. Contact us online or call us on 0800 227 762 for a free quote or to book an appointment.
