Gentlemen,

Today I was fortunate enough to forget my car was parked in reverse, tires turned in, next to an island. To make a short story even shorter, started the car, let off the clutch, rashed the hell of of the factory 19" front passenger wheel. Haven't rubbed on a curb or anything for that matter in 7 years, and out of no where here comes this. Sorry about the rant, little upset about it.

Anyways, here are some pics. I've never had to repair a rim before, is it best off to find a repair shop in NJ to fix this or should I sell it as is and replace it with a new rim? The car is a lease and will eventually have to be returned, plus I can't stand looking at curb rash on a 40k+ car, something about it is so wrong.

Any suggestions / advice guys? Also, if you're in NJ and you've dealt with this before, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm in essex county. Thanks.

 

just get it repaired. not worth buying a new wheel.

 

The repair will not match the finish on the other wheels. I'll put money on it. It'll be close if the shop is good, but no US repair shops will be able to match the color of the OEM wheels exactly because the process isn't conventional, and doesn't meet US regulations for some reason. Its a black basecoat with a translucent silver clearcoat

 

The color not matching is what I'm afraid of. Looks like a new rim it is

Best place to buy a new rim that won't break the bank or at least pick up one in excellent condition? Also, is there a difference in width or offset between the front and the rears on this car?

 

@mitsu: I feel your pain, man. I was leaving a parking garage last weekend and the pay booth lane was tight and had a sharp turn in it. I didn't see the high curb cutting the corner and have almost the exact same damage you've got. If you find a good place to get a replacement OEM rim, I'd appreciate if you could post it here. I'll do the same.

 

just go mobile wheel repair. no downtime. I am headed that way next paycheck.

 

I was at the dealer for an oil change this week and mentioned the curb rash. The service tech winced and said "Ouch, that costs $350". Since I'm new to this whole game, I had no idea so naively asked "$350 to replace the rim?", to which he laughed and replied "no, $350 to repair it. A new one would cost over $1000." Is that really how much these OEM 19's cost?

 

The wheels cost $750 each from infiniti-parts.com. I would never buy one from the dealer. But in all seriousness, find someone who does a mobile wheel repair. I got mine done about a month ago and was very happy with the results.

 

Thanks, ligersandtions, I'll look around Toronto for one.

 

Well as a followup guys, I just spoke with a rep from Mobile Wheel Repair, and I'll be having the rim repaired next weekend for the low low cost of $100 As soon as I mentioned the G35, the guy I spoke with new the exact finish on the factory 19" rims, and explained the differences between the paint that he uses. From what I understand, it will not be a perfect match, but it will be very hard to notice to anyone not directly looking for it, and that sure beats a $750 dollar replacement or a rashed up wheel.

Thank you Hitman for the recommendation, hopefully this works out as well as it sounds like it will. I'll post pics / my opinion on the service when all is said and done. And btw, 2 hours, barely any downtime, and they come to your location on a weekend? Sounds great to me, didn't realize companies like this still exists. Thanks guys.

 

If you repair it, it will not match the other rims because you have to sand out the rash and take off the factory paint. You could sand it out but you'd have to sand the other wheels too and paint them all the same or polish them all. Either way it's a buttload of work. Probably more time/cost effective to replace the wheel. Should be able to find a used one in good condition for not too much $$.

 

repair it then paint all 4 wheels it may be cheaper than buying a new wheel

 

Hey guys, I have the wheel + the rear wheel on the same side of the car repaired yesterday by Gene Rombola of Mobile Wheel Repair in New Jersey.

All I can say is WOW. My wheels look absolutely perfect, not one slight imperfection, and best of all, the finish is such a close match its damn near impossible to tell that they've been repaired. Holding the wheel next to one that wasn't repaired is almost a perfect match, and unless a professional is really looking for differences, its unnoticeable to a human eye.

Furthermore, Gene is an awesome talented guy and his price was absolutely unbeatable. I had both rims restored to like new condition for $150.00 !!!

So anyways, if anyone is in the NJ area and looking to have this done, I can't recommend his services enough, plus his price is really unbeatable. He also recommendeed a great local body shop about 3 minutes from my house, so now my RavSpec rear valence will be painted and installed by this monday.

His contact info: Gene Rombola Phone: (201) 657-8555. Tell him John from Nutley sent you. Hope this helps some of you guys in the same dilemma I was in. I'll get pics up soon.

 

Thanks a million, I'm giving him a call later.

Searching FTW!

 

Learn from this guy!