took to wheel shop and these can not be repaired or should I say refinished because of the anodized finish. they can polish the lips, but can not clear coat.

what would you do? have lips on all four wheels polished so they match or just buy a new wheel?

 

Buy a new wheel. Once you strip the anodized finish, you will have bare aluminum to polish. To maintain the shine, you'll need to re-polish each wheel every so often. Too much work, IMO.

 

+1, the cost of dismounting, mounting and polishing 4 wheels will likely come close to the cost of 1 wheel anyways

 

^^^was just about to mention that, LOL.

 

what do you do when they eventually need to be refinished due to scratches?

have the lip machined or powdercoated? what options are there besides polishing?

thanks for helping me with my decision.

 

you can buy anodizing "patch" solutions,
(used to touch up contact points and such), but it wouldn't colour match.

machining anodized parts are always hard on tooling, even carbide, (aluminum oxide is basically what grinding wheels are made of).

powder coat may be a good option, but to correct the statement that you'd have just bare aluminum, there's always a thin layer of oxide that forms, and with polishing, a burnished finish will eventually form and resist fairly well.

 

trying to "patch" does not sound like a good option.

all wheel places I have called said there is really no way to repair.

a powder coat would look dull compared to the mirror like anodized finish. the wheel shops said the only option is to have the lips polished and just take good care of them to keep them looking shiny.

not sure if you can have the lips machined.

much thanks for your reply.

 

Like previously stated, fixing anodized lips is very difficult and thus, costly. Some wheels are harder than others, too.

 

Anodized lips can be bent back into shape correct? If there is no curbage and all I want to do is fix a bend on an anodized lip...that should not be a problem right?

 

^ i think that is gonna depend on how bad the bend is and if they need to heat it up to reform it

 

I have another thread out there discussing the heating method and the cold roller method. Not sure which one is better in the long run.

 

^ im not sure either