Alloy wheels paint chip repair

[bill888]

I had all four tyres changed on my year old Jazz recently if you have been following the 'Quiet Tyres' thread.  In doing so, the tyre fitters managed to scuff and chip the paint off one of the wheels up to quarter to half inch in size, when I guess they presumably used a flat blade to lever off the centre plastic hub cap, or when the wheel was fitted onto the wheel balancing machine.

Honda weren't very helpful.

Halfords sell an Alloy wheel repair kit for £30.  No Thank you.

All I wanted was some matching silver paint and clear lacquer in touch up pen form.


Eventually, I bought the GetSmart 'Pro Painted Alloy Wheel Scuff Touch Up Kit'.  £11.49 delivered.



You can find it on sale on ebay.co.uk too.

It comes with 3 bottles of silver paint.  Hopefully one of the bottles will be a direct match for the Jazz Alloy silver.

I will report back later how I get on at my DIY (bodged?) attempt at touching up the paint chips.

[bill888]

Quick review.

All of the bottles of primer, paint and clear lacquer are very watery/thin.  Similar in consistency to the stuff you get from aerosol paint sprays.  Application brush fitted to lid of each bottle.

Includes instructions, disposable gloves, and 3 grades of wet & dry paper.


I found the kit was not ideal for my type of repair.  All I wanted to do was touch up the chipped off paint.  The supplied paints were just too thin, unlike the thicker paints supplied with normal touch up pens.


Before repair


After DIY repair

I had to apply countless number of layers of paint to try and fill in the chips over the course of a day.


In hindsight, I may have been better just visiting Halfords and buying a touch up pens for Silver (or aluminium) and clear lacquer for £4.49 each.

[JazzyB]

I dont why they needed to take off the centre cap?

The wheel nuts are exposed anyway as i can see in your picture

All they would of needed is the locking nut key

I would complain and get them to sort out the wheel damage

Totally unnecessary as far as i can see

I have removed the wheels on my jazz and caused no damage whatsoever

Having said that i think they would have had to remove it in order to balance the wheels so i would of just pushed it out from the inside.

[bill888]

Compared to the alloy wheels fitted to my previous 98 Civic, the paint in incredibly thin and brittle on the Jazz alloys imho.  It had to be a contributory factor.   Didn't someone post on this forum they had four new replacement Jazz alloys fitted before the warranty expired due to corrosion?

A friend had a puncture repair on one of his 06 Jazz alloys carried out by KwikFit last year.  When I asked them to check their centre hub cap, they confirmed there was evidence that the centre cap was levered out from the front.  Fortunately no damage to the paint.

I had a look at a few used Jazzi at my local Honda dealership and noticed a couple that had non original tyres fitted had bruised or patched up paintwork near the centre hub caps too.

Unfortunately, I didn't see how the fitters removed the hub caps. 

It is also possible the alloy was damaged on the wheel balancing machine when the large wing nut is tightened to keep the wheel on the machine.

There is also a paint ship around one of the wheel nuts which suggests it may have been caused when the wheel nuts were removed/refitted.

[RichardA]

I have seen a few older Jazz's with wheel corrosion.

Corrosion can set in under kerbing scrapes or by using certain alloy wheel cleaners.

A friend of mine used some silver paint designed for model planes - don't know how long the touch-in lasted but as a quick fix (he was selling his car) it worked!

[bill888]

I think alloys are more trouble than they're worth. 

They seem to need frequent cleaning, and when they get kerbed....

Gimme steel wheels and replaceable wheel trims any day


If anyone hates cleaning their Jazz alloys, can I suggest TurtleWax Brake Dust Barrier?

It won't stop the alloys getting dirty but it does seem to make the alloys easier to clean.  Especially the front wheels which seem to attract brake dust.

Takes me less than 5 minutes to apply to all four wheels after each wash.

[RichardA]

bill888, thanks for you reply on 7th March. Your picture has sovled a year-long mystery!  I had a tyre replaced a year ago following a puncture and soon after I noticed a small chip on my wheel near the centre cap. It's too 'neat' for kerbing damage and I've been no-where near any kerbs so I was lost as to how it got there (incidently the same tyre fitters fitted the tyre the wrong way round).

[JazzyB]

I think the best thing to do is if you're gonna be replacing a tyre or tyres is to remove the centre cap yourselves at home. Then go to a tyre fitters. That way theres no chance of a tyre fitter damaging your wheels. Well just the centre cap at least! and then just fit them when you get home.

[guest765]

anyone wkow the name for a standard SE Jazz 005 wheel please?

[russd1978]

I think the best thing to do is if you're gonna be replacing a tyre or tyres is to remove the centre cap yourselves at home. Then go to a tyre fitters. That way theres no chance of a tyre fitter damaging your wheels. Well just the centre cap at least! and then just fit them when you get home.

Hi, sorry to revive an old thread, but I wanted to ask.  Is there any way to remove the inner hub caps simply while the wheel is still on the car without damaging the wheels?  I'd guess a flat head screwdriver would work but could still damage the wheels?

The reason I ask is that I will be needing some tyres soon and I'd like to remove them before taking them to be changed.

Thanks

[Ozzie]

Centre caps should be removed by tapping the reverse of the cap once the wheel is removed,

I am thinking that the damage to the wheel photographed could be done by a misaligned socket on the air wrench as it seems to be around one wheel nut. Not a bad DIY repair though.

Oz