Alot of you guys have any dings/scratches on your OEM wheels?

[orangeblast22]

Man....I just bought my 06 SE...had it for about a month now and my front right side and rear right side wheels have friggen a few scratches and rough scrapes on them already. And this is through street driving! not to mention I got a flat tire as well...so lame....anyways just wanted to know how many of you guys have such scratches and scrapes and if by any chance you have repaired them or had someone repair them...

I asked www.denttime.com about there service but don't have a response yet...we will see.

I know it bound to happen...drivng on the streets and all and especially if one goes off-roading....just sucks that my 4runner is so new...and now its NOT so new anymore w/ these scratches and such.

blah!!

 

[savagebeast]

nothing stays new forever.
sad but true..

 

[BenSD]

I have a ding on one of my wheels from a rock while offroading. I wasn't too happy about it at first, but I don't notice it anymore. Now it's actually quite handy because it lets me know if they rotated the wheels like they should when I take it in for service.

 

[dingo]

I have several on my alloys and although it is a pisser at first you will learn to accept fate. Don't worry about it, IT WILL HAPPEN. The best you can do is just be mindful of the road you drive on and keep away from all those damn gravel trucks too. I have a few light scratches around the spokes and a few chips inbetween. One next to the tire stem valve. I also make wider than usual turns around curbs to avoid scrubbing the outer bead of the rims. I am worried more about getting chips on my windshield these days.

Does anyone use any kind of coating to protect their rims? I was cleaning my stock wheels and noticed that the inner part (between the spokes) look like they are painted and sealed with some kind of clearcoat. I was thinking of even waxing those parts but was afraid it would ruin them down the line. Does anyone even wax their rims (at the risk of sounding a little nuts)?

 

[orangeblast22]

yea I was wondering the same thing....are there any wheel protectants? ....like I dunno...3m clear bra for a wheel haha...something like that? or a coating of something?

 

[alpha]

the wheels are clearcoated, not just inbetween the spokes. and yes, it is safe to wax them, since they are clearcoated. you can feel and see the difference. i have waxed them..

 

[Northof49]

No scratches on mine.....mostly because I don't scrape them sideways on curbs :

 

[dingo]

the wheels are clearcoated, not just inbetween the spokes. and yes, it is safe to wax them, since they are clearcoated. you can feel and see the difference. i have waxed them..

Alpha,

I think I will wax my rims once I get to clean them tonight. How about the plastic wheels caps? Do you usually wax those too? Just curious, sorry for the dumb questions. :arrow:

 

[EDGE]

The Dealer scraped the hell out of all 4 of my rims, pissed me off but I don't really care anymore sort of, the clear coat on them is not that great, my Nissan Rims that go through the same abuse look like new many miles later:

 

[alpha]

Alpha,

I think I will wax my rims once I get to clean them tonight. How about the plastic wheels caps? Do you usually wax those too? Just curious, sorry for the dumb questions. :arrow:

Not usually, no.. And its ok, I have my dumb questions too..

 

[silversport03]

I have used Maquires TechWax on the wheels to get rid of the scratches temporarily. Since we are on the topic of wheels, has anyone had problems with the finish flaking? I have SE wheels and I am starting to get flaking around the air valve hole and edges of the spokes.

I live in Chicago and in the winter our city uses a huge amount of salt on the roads, so I thought that was a possibility. My T4R is an 03 so it's now going through it's 4th winter.

My other thought was the wheel cleaners. I have tried a few different brands over the past few years and wonder if one of those was too harsh. I always buy the ones that say they are clear coat safe for alloy wheels but I have a feeling some are just too strong and eat away at the finish.

My theory is, If you buy wheel cleaner and it really does get rid of the dirt just by washing off the wheel, they you probably shouldn't use it, it is also eating away at your wheels.

 

[alpha]

I have used Maquires TechWax on the wheels to get rid of the scratches temporarily. Since we are on the topic of wheels, has anyone had problems with the finish flaking? I have SE wheels and I am starting to get flaking around the air valve hole and edges of the spokes.

I live in Chicago and in the winter our city uses a huge amount of salt on the roads, so I thought that was a possibility. My T4R is an 03 so it's now going through it's 4th winter.

My other thought was the wheel cleaners. I have tried a few different brands over the past few years and wonder if one of those was too harsh. I always buy the ones that say they are clear coat safe for alloy wheels but I have a feeling some are just too strong and eat away at the finish.

My theory is, If you buy wheel cleaner and it really does get rid of the dirt just by washing off the wheel, they you probably shouldn't use it, it is also eating away at your wheels.

I'm ol' school when it comes to cleaning my wheels. Soap and water, and a little elbow grease.

 

[>MR2turbo4evr<]

We have a 2005 4Runner with almost 7k miles on it and the wheels almost look like brand new. There are just some very light scratches on the clearcoat or whatever from wiping them off with a cloth.

 

[spyne]

My '03 wheels look like new. No problems with the clear coat peeling and no scrapes around the edges. I'm very careful about how close I park against curbs, so there's no curb rash. Never used any of the wheel cleaning products, I'm old school and just use soap and water and a bit of elbow grease. I also clean the he** out of them every time I rotate the tires. I spend about 30 minutes a wheel cleaning them front and back at every rotation.

I've been off road several times, but I've been lucky, and never wound up with one of the wheels against anything that would do damage. If I ever do, I'll consider it the price of admission for having fun.

 

[Spider5]

The main four wheels are in perfect condiction, its my spare that has a nasty scratch on it when I backed up on a trail and a rock grinded across it.