Clear coat touch up on alloy wheels

ol trigger

New member
I have the factory alloy wheels on an FJ cruiser. Unfortunately, when the wheels are balanced it seems inevitable the clear coat gets chipped when the old weights are removed. I have been touching up the chips with a little dab of clear coat touch up. The touch up is pretty visible but I figure at least the chip is sealed. Any other methods?

Thanks,

Jim

Tulsa
 
I like this method: Go to a tire shop that is more careful. Stick-on weights are usually more friendly than clip-on, unless the tire jockey carelessly pries them off with a screwdriver.



You can go to the Tire Rack website and look at their installer list and you're likely to find a place that's a little more used to AR customers. Just don't expect to find a place that will treat your wheels like you treat them, that's impossible, lower your expectations to "better than the place you go to now".
 
ol trigger said:
I have the factory alloy wheels on an FJ cruiser. Unfortunately, when the wheels are balanced it seems inevitable the clear coat gets chipped when the old weights are removed. I have been touching up the chips with a little dab of clear coat touch up. The touch up is pretty visible but I figure at least the chip is sealed. Any other methods?



The only comprehensive "fix" is to have the wheel(s) refinished, which may be an extreme remedy.



As Setec mentions, tape-on weights are a solution.



I've never been a big fan of touching up with clearcoat in a bottle. IME, the touched up area is often more noticeable than the damage was :wall



Another idea: Get the silver touch up paint for the wheels. I've had fairly good success with this strategy and it's far less noticeable compared to touching up w/clear.
 
Thanks for the replies. I fought the chips on the clear coat wheels on the last car we had. I like the idea of touch up with silver paint instead of clear coat. I think it would not show as much. I don't know why they just don't put weights on the inside.

Thanks again,

Jim
 
Many installers just hide the (tape) weights behind the spokes of the wheels. My '08 car is like this from the factory....you can't see any weights unless you look behind the spokes.



I've had real good luck with the silver touch up paint...my wife keeps me very busy with this task :( I was able to order the correct silver paint from one of the on-line touch up paint places...the match is essentially perfect. If you have a lot to do, I like removing the wheel and laying it down flat on the ground so the paint isn't running off.
 
Have anyone found a good touch up colour match for the FJ OEM alloy wheels? I have chips on mine that I want to fix. I am looking for the right colour. Not sure if you can get it from the dealer. Thanks.
 
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