When and Where to Find Professional Rim Repair in New York City

Your car is a finely tuned machine made to roll over many thousands of miles to carry you from place to place for years. However, as a New York Resident you may eventually need rim repair in New York City. Rough and uneven surfaces caused by cracks and errosion make for a bumpy ride and things like potholes and large rocks in the road can actively damage your car. In fact, every time you face a severe blow in the car, it is not a bad idea to check your wheel rims in case they have been scratched or bent and need to be repaired. Some repairs you can do for yourself at home or in a private shop, but others are best left to metalworking professionals who can melt the part and bend it back into place so that your car will roll smoothly again.

What Can Damage Your Rims

The rims of your car can take damage any time the road is uneven or covered in objects that could serve as obstacles. The most common type of rim damage is scraping, which can damage your finish. Scratches that go deep enough caused by a forceful scrape against a very hard object might even cut into the metal. While almost any object can scrape your rims, the most likely culprits are curbs. When people take turns too tightly or frequently parallel park against tall curbs, they increase the chance that one or more of their rims will get scraped

While scraping may be unattractive, it is a fairly minor form of damage that is perfectly safe to keep driving on. However, some driving conditions can result in rim bending, in which an impact pushes the rim out of shape so that the car will no longer roll in a smooth and balanced fashion. Potholes are a major cause of rim bending, along with driving on uneven pavement, hitting curbs, and spinning out your car. One of the most common causes of a bent rim, however, comes from people who blow a tire without a spare, then drive too long on the unprotected rim.

Continuing to drive with a bent rim can wear the tires down unevenly and puts you at a higher risk of a blow-out on the road. Because it will now wobble with every spin, bent rims also pose a problem for the other moving parts of your car that rely on an even distribution of weight and velocity, meaning driving on a bent rim for too long can cause additional damage and cause a need for even more extensive repairs.

Repairing Your Rims at Home

If you have a shop area and the right materials at home, you may be able to perform some of your own rim repair in New York City to save money and hassle, but it will not be as pretty or professional if you do not get it done by an official auto-body or metal shop. If you are dealing with a scratch or scrape, you can either fully re-finish your rim or spot-repair it in a way that may be apparent up close but nearly indistinguishable at a distance. To do this, first clean the area around the scratch.

If the finish is alloy rather than chrome, you can use a combination of low and fine grit sandpaper to clear away the damaged finish along with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any remaining rust spots. When the finish is clear, use the sandpaper to work out the scratches, then polish to regain your smooth alloy texture. Then, simply apply a new area of finish to your repaired section.

If you have a chrome finish, you will want to treat the rims with much greater care or risk having to do a full re-plating to regain the desired effect. Scratches in chrome should be polished clean with rubbing alcohol, then touched up with a hard epoxy filler and then cover with chrome rim paint. Never use steel wool, as you risk adding unnecessary scratches to your chrome.

When to Seek Professional Rim Repair

Unless you are already a professional at metalworking, it is important to leave structural damage to the experts. Examine your rims carefully or ask your auto mechanic to do so for you if you do not trust your own perceptions. Rims that are bent are very dangerous to drive on. While the rim itself is fairly inexpensive to repair, letting one throw your car out of alignment can cause much more extensive, and expensive, damage.

To repair your problematic rim, the damaged area will first need to be heated until it becomes soft. Bending metal without heating it causes stress and creates weakness, while this method allows metal workers to reshape the bent area while maintaining and, in fact, restoring the integrity of your rims. Once the rim is soft, it can be pressed back into shape with a hydraulic press which will remove any bends in the lip.

If you lost material due to an impact or accident, more alloy can be added to fill and will be welded into place to shore up your rim rather than requiring full replacement. Next, a lathe is used to finish straightening your rim and remove any additional material. Now that your rim is back to structural functionality, your metal worker of choice will polish it and coat either with a paint to match your other rims or a clear protective finish.

Professional Rim Refinishing

Whether you love your shiny chrome rims and hate to see them scratched or are looking to restore old, grungy looking rims that have served you well for years, sometimes a full refinish is the only way to get your rims back to good-as-new. To refinish your rims, metal restoration professionals can clear away all possibly troublesome particles by sanding or even sandblasting your rims. This will remove any sign of an old scratch and flecks of rust in order to make way for the new finish. They will then polish the metal and apply a brand new coat of finish. If you like chrome, you can get a complete re-plating, but you can also request your favorite color of rim paint, a custom finish, or a clear finish to show off the original metal of your rims.

Rim Repair in New York City

Rim damage can occur anywhere people drive cars, but anyone who lives in or around New York City is no stranger to potholes and uneven roads. If a recent jostle on the road has caused lasting structural damage to one or more of your rims, it is time to seek out the help of one of the best metal restoration teams in the region. TLC Metal Restoration is a family owned and operated metal shop, providing high-quality restoration and rim repair in New York City to customers throughout the tri-state area. We care deeply about every project we work on, no matter how big or small, and are always happy to bring safety and attractive shine back to any rims brought to us for repair.

Whether you are looking to refinish your rims, repair a recent bend or both, our expert team here at TLC Metal Restoration is ready to help. For more information or to schedule your repairs, please contact TLC Metal today.