what to do with these rims

Long story short, my wife tends to drive like.....well....poorly sometimes. A few years ago she curbed the hell out of two of the rims on her Fusion pulling into work. I was pissed at the time and told her I wasn`t going to put a nickel into new rims. Well we haven`t had an incident since and she`s gotten better. The rest of the car looks good, so it`s driving me nuts having these two crap looking wheels on it. Any thoughts on a cheap at home fix? I`d be fine with plasti dipping them, but there`s some pretty good gouges, so they`re gonna need to be sanded any way. I`m just worried that some of it is too deep to really sand out. Thoughts?

[IMG]http://natehelgerson.smugmug.com/Ran...4755_001-L.jpg[/IMG]

How many wheels are damaged? Is there a Ford Fusion forum where you could scoop up a couple wheels cheap? Craiglist??

2. I`ll have to look again. I looked just out of curiosity when it happen and for whatever reason I couldn`t find any that weren`t expensive as hell

Eh, easy for me to spend your money, but if those were on *my* wife`s car I`d either have them Pro-refinished or I`d buy already-redone replacements. Wheels Tires and More dot com sells *VERY* nice refinished wheels for (IMO) very reasonable prices.

I too can get irritated by driving errors, but when it comes right down to it I want my wife`s car to look as nice as possible.

AND- it looks like the damage has left a somewhat thin, possibly even sharp, edge near where the tire seats (left-most area of your pic). During a emergency maneuver that could lead to literally fatal consequences. Wouldn`t want somebody do die over curb-rash.

With all the safety features on today`s vehicles, there are *still* a lot of roll-overs, most of which come down to the wheels/tires in some way.

All Factory Wheels | Car & Truck Rims | Aluminum & Polycast Wheels

Maybe would help?

I`ll check those sites out. Thanks guys

google search for a mobile rim repair company in your area
a lot of dealerships use these guys and usual cost is about $90 per wheel for full refinish

You might be able to get a quote from a local bodyshop. Depending on how dinged up and how deep the abrasion is they may be able to polish/sand it smoother.

I also vote for a mobile wheel place..
They can even come to you with a van fully equipped to dismount the tire if necessary, repair the dings, repaint the area or whole wheel, dry it, and install it back on the car if needed..

I think the guys I used for Clients in WA were called Alloy Wheel Specialists. They were really good..
After they did the work, I could NEVER find where it was before the repair... Yeah, that good...
I painted before and I know what to look for, so its not just a fluke, etc..

I also had a PDR guy like that - could never find the ding/s after he did his perfect work..

I have seen their shop here in Texas, so they may be nation-wide..
good luck!
Dan F

Bondo and sandpaper will fix the gouges.
Wurth, 1Z, and Duplicolor make wheel sliver spray paint.
Those companies also make wheel clear.

I`ve seen youtube videos of guys redoing their wheels while they`re on the car and the results were good.
Mind you, not nearly as permanent as a professional shop but pretty good nonetheless.

Something to think about anyway.

edit: just remembered this link too:
BMWTips wheel-scuff repair

I`d have to see it in person to be sure, but if the outer edge of the rim is thinned as much as it appears to be, it`d need *metal* added back in (not cost-effective on those wheels) to provide/restore structural integrity.

Nobody seems to be taking the safey aspect of this seriously...I mean, what..you wanna test the vehicle`s rollover behaviour? Blow out that tire and that`s what could happen- Game Over, end of story, vs. a few hundred bucks for a wheel.