[Mwell24]

Welp, fiancé accidentally scraped front right tire on a curb in a very tight parking lot. Its about a 3 inch scrape on the edge next to the tire about half a centimeter wide, if that. I have the 22" M Double-spoke black wheels. I know BMW has some touch up paint but I wasn't sure if any of those colors were a perfect match for these rims? Also does anyone have any tips if I do in fact go with that touch up paint option. Really want it to look as close to perfect as possible pretty upset this happened after only a few weeks of owning it. Thanks for any insight.

[DG-X5]

Here's the thing. With 22"s for the last 9 months, I've learned this is just a way of life. Can't do much about it, and unfortunately it's gonna happen again. Stupid drive throughs, parking garage exits - there's tons of places that even your 360s won't fully save ya all the time.

That said, your local dealer should have a PDR/rim repair guy who comes around every few weeks for their loaners and used car fleet. If it's just touch up paint, it's been $25-50/wheel from my experience in the Midwest and Northeast, and for anything more that needs the wheel to come off, it's $150/wheel, usually with a 3+1 free kind of deal, so ~$500 for the lot including the fees and tips. I've also heard about some folks getting them powder coated after damage, but I have no experience with that.

My 0.02. Unless it's all the way through and going to rust, let it be. You'll have enough brake dust to cover up the cosmetic damage soon enough, anyways. 😂

[Chas8283]

Without a photo I can't be sure but sounds like it's pretty minor. I agree with comment above that this is a fact of life. My compromise for not going crazy trying to keep the wheels perfect while also keeping the wheels looking nice is to DIY the repairs.

I tape off area around damage so that I don't touch the areas in good shape. If alloy is rough (usually is from curb) I knock down the rough edges with course sand paper first and then work up to a finer grit. Work with small pieces of sand paper and work slowly. You won't be able to make the alloy look perfect but it will make a big difference. If the scratch is on an area with a machined finish (aluminum vs paint), there's a pattern in the wheel from when they faced it. I'll step back up to a higher grit sandpaper and do one pass in the same direction as the machining and this is usually a pretty good match (obviously I don't do this for painted surfaces). Paint prep cleaner and then touch up paint followed by clear (clear only if it's machine finished). Once the paint has cured (wait a week), I use super fine wet sand paper to knock down the edges and also sand out any defects in the clear and then give it a good polish.

It's not perfect but from 5 feet away you'd never know. Maybe an hour or hour and a half total time.

All that said, if you have no experience sanding, prepping and painting anything then I'm not sure I'd start off on a luxury SUV.

[Mwell24]

Originally Posted by DG-X5

Here's the thing. With 22"s for the last 9 months, I've learned this is just a way of life. Can't do much about it, and unfortunately it's gonna happen again. Stupid drive throughs, parking garage exits - there's tons of places that even your 360s won't fully save ya all the time.

That said, your local dealer should have a PDR/rim repair guy who comes around every few weeks for their loaners and used car fleet. If it's just touch up paint, it's been $25-50/wheel from my experience in the Midwest and Northeast, and for anything more that needs the wheel to come off, it's $150/wheel, usually with a 3+1 free kind of deal, so ~$500 for the lot including the fees and tips. I've also heard about some folks getting them powder coated after damage, but I have no experience with that.

My 0.02. Unless it's all the way through and going to rust, let it be. You'll have enough brake dust to cover up the cosmetic damage soon enough, anyways. 😂

Thank you for the reply! And yes I think I sort of agree it’s just something that’s going to happen, just wish I at least got a few months in before it did haha. I’m definitely going to reach out to the dealership that I ordered from and ask if they wheel guy that comes out. My dad actually owns a powder coating company but he’s 800 miles away from me lol. He mentioned the paint match would be the issue because the whole wheel will most likely need to be refinished.

[Mwell24]

Originally Posted by Chas8283

Without a photo I can't be sure but sounds like it's pretty minor. I agree with comment above that this is a fact of life. My compromise for not going crazy trying to keep the wheels perfect while also keeping the wheels looking nice is to DIY the repairs.

I tape off area around damage so that I don't touch the areas in good shape. If alloy is rough (usually is from curb) I knock down the rough edges with course sand paper first and then work up to a finer grit. Work with small pieces of sand paper and work slowly. You won't be able to make the alloy look perfect but it will make a big difference. If the scratch is on an area with a machined finish (aluminum vs paint), there's a pattern in the wheel from when they faced it. I'll step back up to a higher grit sandpaper and do one pass in the same direction as the machining and this is usually a pretty good match (obviously I don't do this for painted surfaces). Paint prep cleaner and then touch up paint followed by clear (clear only if it's machine finished). Once the paint has cured (wait a week), I use super fine wet sand paper to knock down the edges and also sand out any defects in the clear and then give it a good polish.

It's not perfect but from 5 feet away you'd never know. Maybe an hour or hour and a half total time.

All that said, if you have no experience sanding, prepping and painting anything then I'm not sure I'd start off on a luxury SUV.

Thanks for the reply Chas. It is pretty minor I had her stop car the second I noticed She touched the curb and got out of the car to see best way to back up without further damage so it’s just in one spot not deep at all. I’ll definitely use your tips and watch some videos before trying it myself if the dealership option doesn’t work out. Thanks again!

[Chas8283]

Originally Posted by Mwell24

Thanks for the reply Chas. It is pretty minor I had her stop car the second I noticed She touched the curb and got out of the car to see best way to back up without further damage so it’s just in one spot not deep at all. I’ll definitely use your tips and watch some videos before trying it myself if the dealership option doesn’t work out. Thanks again!

Great. And tell your fiancé you're sorry for freaking the f out. I did it to my partner the first time he scraped our old 3 series wheels years ago. He felt bad and it was a mistake and my reaction didn't help. The positive of the DIY method (or an affordable dealer option) is you realize it isn't the end of the world.

[MJBradley1967]

I've found that most wheel refinishers want to redo the entire rim, similar to how paint shops want to repaint the entire side of a vehicle, so the whole thing matches.

It depends on whether it's painted or just clear-coat over bare polished aluminum too.